How to buy Bullet train (Shinkansen) ticket??

I had to purchase a few shinkansen tickets in my time I was over there, I had the JR pass, so I didn't need to hand over any money however. Get yourself to Shin Osaka station, follow the signs towards the shinkansen. There was a pair of staircases going up as I remember, most of the people going the left way, between the staircases there was a decently sized building with automatic glass doors and glass walls, inside was a queue, once you get to the head of the line, talk to the clerk, Its a shinkansen ticket building so they pretty much only sell shinkansen tickets. You go up to the clerk, say 'Tokyo ni kippo, sanmai onegaishimasu' its rough, but if she doesn't speak english, she will understand you, if you want the super express (will save you about a half hour, say nozomi, however, the time you save on the train might be nullified by the extra time you have to wait at the station) the non super express will take 3 hours 2 minutes, there is a woman that will come thru every 45 minutes or so selling snacks and drinks, the chairs are pretty comfy and the view is usually amazing. You can save a bit of money going non reserved seats, I never did that however, I always rode the reserved seats. If you have the reserved ticket, it will say along the lines of 4-16a that means car 4, seat 16a like an airplane there is an overhead bin to store your stuff. The ticket to Tokyo from Osaka is 13850 yen each and takes about 3 hours for the journey, there are other rail options that are cheaper but the time taken raises dramatically, there is a guide at: http://grace.hyperdia.com/cgi-english/hyperWeb.cgi that if you type in the start point 'shinosaka' and the end point 'tokyo' it will give you different paths and methods to get there My Japanese wasn't very good, don't worry it wasn't too hard to get around, the train system is usually pretty gaijin friendly, with the stations being announced on the speakers, the signs in Japanese with english underneath, and also in Japanese written with Kanji and then kana

You can buy it at any train station. It isn't difficult. I recommend you talk to the person at the train station ticket counter since this is your first trip. Good luck and have fun!

Most of the above is fine. A simple bit of advice. Write down where you want to go, the dates of departure and return, number of people, time you want to go, on a piece of paper in simple English. This WILL help a lot to avoid misunderstandings. Then talk to a clerk at the window. Or one of the helpers by the vending machines, they'll set you up. They're defintely used to dealing with foreigners at the big stations. Don't take the Kodama train, it's like the slow/local version.(The clerks probably won't even offer you the option anyway, no point.) Take the Nozomi or Hikari or Rail Star. Total travel time only differs by about 15 minutes amongst those, so just take whatever is convenient. You CAN usually sit together in the same row unless it's a busy time and you reserve at the last minute. Remember that shinkansen tickets are good for the shinkansen ride AND any JR trains you use to get to/from the shinkansen station within the city. So if you're starting at Osaka station, make your reservations there, and then you don't have to pay extra to go to Shin-Osaka station (4 minutes away) Cost is 13850 yen one-way per person on the Nozomi. Really recommended to get the JR Rail Pass from abroad beforehand if you have the chance.