Honestly speaking if you want my opinion, the JR Pass is essentially a discount ticket that allows virtually unlimited rides on the entire network of JR trains (with obvious exceptions) for a pretty good period of time 7, 14 etc days, I think like the airlines if you were to purchase a restricted ticket your are bound by those constraints. The nozomi is a premium service, especially the tokyo-osaka run (you're allowed to use Nozomi with the JR West pass west of Osaka (which is sold by JR west and shinkansen services west of osaka), but the line is not as busy as its Osaka-Tokyo). From a business standpoint I can understand why they don't allow the use of the nationwide JR pass on Nozomi services.

More so during peak travel seasons, when you look at the board in the reservation office, almost all Nozomi trains are sold out with customers paying almost full fare. Again I can understand from a business point of view, their main point is to Make money.


Certainly I'm no expert and my view does not represent those of JR, its just my opinon on the matter.

Now I can also understand from a tourist point of view too, as it does limit the opportunities between Tokyo-Osaka.