Hikari
Shinkansen 700 Series Hikari Rail Star at Shin-Osaka Station
Service type	Super Express
Operator	JR Central, JR West
Line used	Tōkaidō Shinkansen, Sanyō Shinkansen
Started	1964 2000 (Rail Star)
Rolling stock	300/700/N700 series

Shinkansen 300 Series Hikari passing through Maibara Station

Hikari (ひかり, Hikari^?) is one of the train services running on the Japanese Tōkaidō/Sanyō Shinkansen "bullet train" lines. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. is a Japanese high-speed Shinkansen line opened in 1964 between Tokyo and Shin-Ōsaka. The is one of the lines of the Shinkansen High speed rail network in Japan. Slower than the Nozomi but faster than the Kodama, the Hikari is the fastest train service on the Tōkaidō and Sanyō Shinkansen that is covered in the Japan Rail Pass. is the fastest train service running on the Tōkaidō / Sanyō Shinkansen. Kodama (こだま is one of the three train services running on the Tōkaidō / Sanyō Shinkansen. The is a railpass sold by the Japan Railways Group, and is good for travel on all major forms of transportation provided by the JR Group with a few exceptions

When the Shinkansen opened in 1964, Hikari was the fastest train on the line, travelling from Tokyo Station to Shin-Ōsaka Station with only two stops (Nagoya and Kyōto). is a Train station located in the Marunouchi business district of Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan, near the Imperial Palace grounds and the is a train station in Yodogawa-ku, Osaka, Japan. It is the western terminus of the Tōkaidō Shinkansen, and the eastern terminus of the Sanyō Shinkansen is a train station in Nakamura-ku, Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. is the most important transportation hub in Kyoto, Japan. It has Japan's second-largest Train station building (after Nagoya Station) and is one of Hikari service was extended to the Sanyō Shinkansen later, although the Hikari trains were only slightly faster than the Kodama trains, earning them the derisive nickname "Hidama. "

JR Central Hikari services, which operate throughout the Tōkaidō/Sanyō corridor, currently use 16-car 700 Series and 300 Series trains. The ( is the main railway company operating in the Chūbu ( Nagoya) region of central Japan. The 700 Series Shinkansen trainsets for Japan 's Shinkansen dedicated high-speed rail lines were built between 1997 and 2004 entering service in 1999 The 300 Series Shinkansen high-speed Trainsets for Japan 's Shinkansen dedicated high-speed railways were introduced in 1992 on the Tōkaidō Most Hikari trains pull over at intermediate stations such as Shizuoka, Maibara or Himeji to allow faster services, mainly Nozomi trains, to pass through at top speed.

In March 2008, the new N700 Series Shinkansen was put into service on a morning Hikari service between Shin-Yokohama and Hiroshima stations, and a late night run between Tokyo and Nagoya. The N700 Series Shinkansen is a High-speed train with tilting capability developed jointly by JR Central and JR West for use on the Tōkaidō is a Train station in Yokohama, Japan. It is located on the Tōkaidō Shinkansen, Yokohama Line, and Yokohama Municipal Subway is a JR West railway station located in Minami-ku Hiroshima, Japan. officially, is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan and located on the eastern side of the main island Honshū. is the third-largest incorporated city and the fourth most populous urban area in Japan.

JR West began operating the Hikari Rail Star service in 2000. ( also referred to as, is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group companies and operates in western Honshū. This service is limited to the Sanyō Shinkansen, and uses special 8-car 700 Series trains with a distinctive livery and a maximum speed of 285 km/h. JR West introduced the service to provide better competition against airlines on the Osaka-Fukuoka route. The reserved seat cars on Hikari Rail Star trains feature a 2-2 seating arrangement instead of the 3-2 arrangement found on other Hikari. The front row of seats in these cars feature power points for laptop users.

The word hikari means "light" in Japanese. Light, or visible light, is Electromagnetic radiation of a Wavelength that is visible to the Human eye (about 400–700

Before and during World War II, Hikari was the name of the express train from Busan, Korea to Changchun, Manchuria. Korea is a geographic area composed of two sovereign countries a civilization and a former state situated on the Korean Peninsula in East Asia. Changchun ( is the capital and largest city of Jilin province, located in the northeast of the People's Republic of China, in the centre of the Manchuria ( Romanized Manchu: Manju,, Маньчжурия Mongolian: Манж is a historical name given to a vast geographic region in northeast In the 1950s, the name was used for express trains from Fukuoka to Kagoshima and Beppu. is the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture and is situated on the northern shore of the island of Kyūshū in Japan, across is the capital city of Kagoshima Prefecture at the southwestern tip of the Kyūshū island of Japan, and the largest city in the prefecture by some is a city located in Ōita Prefecture on the island of Kyūshū, Japan.

Hikari Stopping Patterns (As of March, 2008)

Key
● All trains stop
▲ Some trains stop
▬ No trains stop/Service does not run here
(###) Train numbers included in/excluded from table

NOTE: Stations not served by Hikari trains are not included in this table.

External links

• Kawasaki Heavy Industries: Hikari Rail Star description