N700 Series Shinkansen

Its defining feature is an air-spring body-tilting system — the first fitted to a Shinkansen vehicle — that tilts the car body up to one degree, allowing sustained running at 270 km/h on the 2,500 m radius curves of the Tokaido Shinkansen that had previously been limited to 255 km/h; the maximum operating speed on the San'yo Shinkansen is 300 km/h. The aerodynamic nose, refined from the 700 series' "aero-stream" form using a genetic algorithm and lengthened to 9,620 mm, is called the "aero double-wing" shape, likened to an eagle spreading its wings. A high starting acceleration of 2.6 km/h/s let the fastest Nozomi cover Tokyo to Shin-Osaka in 2 hours 25 minutes at the 2007 debut timetable.

An 8-car version jointly developed by JR West (7000 subseries, S sets) and JR Kyushu (8000 subseries, R sets) entered through service on Mizuho and Sakura runs between the San'yo and Kyushu Shinkansen from 12 March 2011. From 2012 the original 16-car sets were progressively rebuilt toward the later N700A specification, JR Central's Z sets becoming X sets and JR West's N sets becoming K sets, and from 2020 the N700 began to be replaced by its successor, the N700S. The N700 series remains in revenue service and won the Blue Ribbon Award in 2008.

• 2005Pre-series 16-car prototype set Z0 completed on 4 March and unveiled at JR Central's Hamamatsu Works; on 7 September it recorded 320 km/h in a speed-up test.
• 2007Revenue service begins on 1 July; the first production Z set (Z1) had been delivered to JR Central in April, and trains entered service on eight daily Nozomi runs, replacing the 300, 500, and 700 series.
• 2008By the end of February 2009 the N700 was working 74 Nozomi services per day; the type received the Blue Ribbon Award (51st) in 2008.
• 2009On 16 November, JR Central ran a high-speed demonstration with set Z0, recording 332 km/h on the Tokaido Shinkansen between Maibara and Kyoto for international guests.
• 2011Eight-car N700-7000 (S, JR West) and N700-8000 (R, JR Kyushu) sets enter service on through Mizuho and Sakura runs from 12 March, with the full opening of the Kyushu Shinkansen.
• 2012From the 17 March timetable revision all regularly scheduled Nozomi services run with N700 series sets; JR Central announces (April) the retrofit of its 80 Z sets toward N700A specification, and the final Z set (Z80) is delivered in February.
• 2013Retrofitting of the original 16-car sets begins (fiscal 2013): JR Central's Z sets are renumbered X (2000 subseries) and JR West's N sets renumbered K (5000 subseries).
• 2020The successor N700S enters service on 1 July (first four sets), beginning the gradual replacement of the N700; withdrawals of N700 X sets commence in July (set X12).