Was going through my old stuff in a storage and came out a receipt from Shinkansen Dining Car. Yes, kids, once in the past Shinkansen had a sit down dining car service.



Date: Aug. 17, 1983 (昭和58年8月17日)
Hikari No. 510

Items:
Scotch Whisky (medium) 620 yen
Shrimp and Fish Fry (エビと魚のフライ)　1600 yen
Soup (don't remember what kind of soup, but something like potage soup was standard back then) 400 yen

Sub total: 2620 yen
Tax (10%) 262 yen
Total: 2822 yen (today's rate: US$25.22, 22.80 Euro, or 20.49 British Pound)

No, it was not cheap. But Japan heading into the bubble era of economy Shinkansen dining car service did well for while. Especially between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka dining cars on Shinkansen was filled with business travelers in suits during Bubble era of Japanese economy. Once bubble burst, passengers at dining car service started to decline and JR replaced with another passenger cars to sell more tickets.