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Shinkansen service2 min read

Asama

あさま

The Asama is a local-type high-speed Shinkansen service on the Hokuriku Shinkansen, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) mainly between Tokyo and Nagano. The Shinkansen service was introduced in October 1997, though the name had first been carried by a Japanese National Railways semi-express in 1961. It is named after Mount Asama, an active volcano near Karuizawa on the Gunma–Nagano boundary.

The name was chosen after a public naming poll for the 1997 opening, in which it received the second-most votes, behind Shirakaba; in the poll for the Nagano–Kanazawa opening on 14 March 2015 it placed seventh, but it was kept for trains running between Tokyo and Nagano. Every Asama calls at Tokyo, Ueno, Ōmiya, Takasaki, Karuizawa and Nagano; trains also call at Sakudaira, Ueda, Kumagaya, Honjō-Waseda and Annaka-Haruna. When the line was extended beyond Nagano to Kanazawa in 2015 the faster Kagayaki and Hakutaka tiers were added, after which the Asama took on an increasingly all-stops role.

An Asama service bound for Tokyo, operated by E7 series set F19, running near Sakudaira on the Hokuriku Shinkansen.
An Asama service bound for Tokyo, operated by E7 series set F19, running near Sakudaira on the Hokuriku Shinkansen. · MaedaAkihiko · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

History

When the Nagano Shinkansen opened between Takasaki and Nagano on 1 October 1997, the Asama began with 24 regular round trips between Tokyo and Nagano and 4 between Tokyo and Karuizawa. Services used a dedicated fleet of fourteen 8-car E2 series "N" sets based at the Nagano depot; these trains were designed to hold 260 km/h on the continuous 30-per-mil gradient of about 30 km between Takasaki and Karuizawa. During the 1998 Winter Olympics one specially modified 200 series train (set F80), limited to 210 km/h, added capacity. From the December 2002 timetable revision every Asama stopped at Ōmiya, ending the nonstop Tokyo–Nagano service. All Asama services became no-smoking from 10 December 2005. New 12-car E7 series sets entered service from 15 March 2014, initially on seven return workings daily and rising to eleven from 19 April 2014; JR West 12-car W7 series sets, based at the Hakusan depot, followed from 14 March 2015. The eight-car E2 sets were then withdrawn from regular service on 24 December 2015, the last running on 31 March 2017, after which all Asama services were formed of E7 and W7 series trainsets.

The E7 and W7 series carry ordinary, Green and Gran Class accommodation; unlike on Kagayaki services, no dedicated attendant is provided in the Asama's Gran Class car. Because of the Takasaki–Karuizawa gradient and the 50 Hz/60 Hz power-frequency changeover section between Karuizawa and Sakudaira, the trains used have high-output traction motors and can switch between the two frequencies. The service has since seen incremental speed rises on its eastern section: the Saitama Prefecture part of Ueno–Ōmiya from 110 km/h to 130 km/h at the March 2021 revision, and Ōmiya–Takasaki from 240 km/h to 275 km/h at the 18 March 2023 revision. In October 2019 Typhoon Hagibis (Typhoon No. 19) flooded the Nagano depot, submerging ten E7/W7 sets — a third of the Hokuriku Shinkansen fleet.

Timeline
  • 1997Shinkansen Asama services began on 1 October 1997 when the Takasaki–Nagano section opened as the Nagano Shinkansen, with 24 Tokyo–Nagano and 4 Tokyo–Karuizawa round trips, operated by 8-car E2 series sets.
  • 1998During the 1998 Winter Olympics one specially modified 200 series train (set F80), limited to 210 km/h, was added for extra capacity.
  • 2002From the December 2002 timetable revision all Asama services were made to stop at Ōmiya and the nonstop Tokyo–Nagano service was abolished.
  • 2005From the timetable revision of 10 December 2005 all Asama services became entirely no-smoking.
  • 2014New 12-car E7 series sets entered Asama service from 15 March 2014, initially on seven return workings daily, rising to eleven from 19 April 2014.
  • 2015When the Hokuriku Shinkansen was extended from Nagano to Kanazawa on 14 March 2015, JR West W7 series sets entered Asama service and the name continued for Tokyo–Nagano trains; regular E2 series operation ended on 24 December 2015.
  • 2017The last eight-car E2 series Asama services ran on 31 March 2017, after which all Asama trains were formed of E7 and W7 series sets.
  • 2023At the 18 March 2023 timetable revision the maximum speed on the Ōmiya–Takasaki section was raised from 240 km/h to 275 km/h.

Sources

Last updated 16 October 2026.

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