Hey, good looking out! I'm really glad to see a version of World Eki-net come back. Even though I registered for JR East's Eki-Net when I leaned enough Japanese to use it, this system is great to have as a back up. I like the fact that you can specify the station you want to pick up your tickets from, too.

Looks like it's JR East trains only this time, though. I am delighted that it's possible to make NEX reservations ahead of time in English, as it's a pain in the butt arriving at NRT at an especially busy time and finding yourself faced with sold-out NEX trains for the next two hours (let's assume for the sake of argument that the Skyliner is, too).

The best this about this by far is being able to guarantee yourself a seat on the uber-crowded Tohoku Shinkansen and its branches. I've attempted to book Hayate / Komachi trains a week in advance and still ended up sitting in the aisle.

They do throw in a few options for limited express reservations besides the NEX, but the ones they offer are a little weird.

I like the Chuo Line limited express option, as the Azusa and Super Azusa can sell out fast on Saturday mornings, Sunday nights, and other busy travel times. The ride out to Kofu and Matsumoto is great and I'm glad to see the route available on the new site.

And yes, it looks like you can actually make a reservation to sit in the Super Hitachi all the way from Ueno to Sendai. I don't imagine too many non-Japanese will ride the Joban Line past Mito, though.

You can make a reservation for the Odoriko/SV Odoriko to head down to Izu, but apparently only as far as Ito. I guess the new site can't sell tickets with non-JR East supplements, which is kinda screwy because all of their regular ticket offices can. If I wanted to go to Shimoda with this I'd just make reservations to Ito, then ask the conductor to sell me the seat Ito-Shimoda, since I doubt many people board in Ito going south.

I wonder why you can't reserve limited express trains going north from Hachinohe? Most passengers getting off the Hayate there just head right over to the limited express - at the very least they should give you the option to reserve as far as Aomori. Hachinohe-Hakodate is pretty busy and it again would be nice to stake out a seat.

But this is mostly nitpicking. I'm really happy to see JR East reaching out to English speakers who want to plan ahead. Now if only JR Tokai would follow suit - it's not like their Shinkansen route is popular or anything.