JR Japan Rail Pass – TS Japan Rail’s Guide and all you need to know

For most “Golden Route tourists the newly priced All Japan passes will probably not be worthwhile.

The reality also is that for many they will spend a similar amount on transportation that they would have done buying a JR Rail Pass at the old prices, but will have more flexibility.

On the other hand, for those who used the pass to travel all around Japan and got “maximum value” out of their passes, their costs will significantly increase with the new prices. Unfortunately one group that will be affected are foreign rail fans visiting Japan as they tended to spend a lot of time travelling.

We do believe though that for those who want to Explore Japan by Train or Explore Japan’s Railways both the all Japan passes and the regional passes can still provide good value, but less than before.

It does however depend on what you plan to do, so planning your trip has become more important!

The answer is No. Although quite a lot of foreign tourists are under the impression that they need a JR Rail Pass to travel on the shinkansen, may be due to miss information on social media, this is not the case.

In fact most people who are travelling by shinkansen are not even entitled to have a JR Rail Pass as they are residents of Japan and are travelling on ordinary tickets.

The JR Rail Network operate services on all the main islands of Japan except Okinawa. (and incidentally JR is made of 6 passenger rail companies and 1 freight company that were formed when the Japan National Railways was privatized)

The Shinkansen network only makes up 11% of the total rail network in Japan (but it is growing). As well as the shinkansen the JR Rail companies operate Limited Express, rapid and local trains providing connections to many cities not served by the shinkansen, urban networks and many rural and other local lines. The JR passenger network, (including shinkansen) is about 24,800km long and makes up the majority of the 27,400km of passenger railways in Japan

Click here for a map showing the Japan Rail Network

We also see a lot of comments on social media that in the big urban areas JR only operate a few lines. This is not true, you can still make good use of JR Rail Passes in places like Tokyo and Osaka. You may need to changed and pay fares on trains operated by different companies, but you can still save money if you have a JR Rail Pass.

Probably the biggest change is that the those holding either the Ordinary or Green all Japan Passes will be able to use Nozomi  (Tokyo~Hakata) and Mizuho (Shin Osaka~Kagoshima Chuo) services if they purchase a special ticket (Nozomi-Mizuho ticket). The supplementary ticket must be purchased before each trip if you are planning to use these services. Apart from providing a faster journey it will also substantially increase the choice of trains between major cities.

Another change is that JR Hokkaido has introduced a 10 day option for its All Hokkaido Pass.

The two ALL Japan passes also now have discounts for various tourist attractions around Japan (although these are fairly minor compared to the cost of the ticket).

With the new prices, cost is obviously a very important consideration. These are some other things you should consider:

• All the rail passes come in a set number of consecutive days (the All Japan Passes, 7, 14 and 21 days; regional passes all differ, some with a choice some with no choice), so you also need to consider your travel itinerary and how that will fit into your proposed pass usage.
• Connected with the above, how many days do you plan to stay in particular places and the impact this has on your JR Rail Pass.
• Convenience factor: Although the new All Japan Passes can be used on the faster Nozomi and Mizuho shinkansen (Tokyo~Osaka~Fukuoka / Osaka~Fukuoka~Kagoshima) you need to pay a supplement or take slower, less frequent trains on these routes.

In Japan First Class is called “Green Car” and is more expensive. There is one pass – the (All Japan) Green JR Rail Pass  that allows travel in Green Cars on shinkansen, Limited Express and some inter urban local / rapid trains in the Tokyo area.

Green car accommodation is generally more comfortable than ordinary car seating. You should note the following however:

• Except for the inter-urban local / raid trains in the Tokyo area, all green seats need to be reserved before travel.
• The Green JR Rail Pass does not guarantee that you can travel by green car. If there are no seats available you will have to travel in ordinary cars. In such cases there is no refund.
• Sanyo Shinkansen Kodama services and Kyushu Shinkansen Tsubame services do not have green cars. Some Limited Express trains do not have green cars or only a small number of such seats.
• Local trains do not have Green Cars.

Note: some of the other passes allow you to travel in Green Car if you buy a Green Car Express Ticket. However if you do this with a JR Rail Pass you are actually paying more than the difference between ordinary reserved and green car fares, so it  may not be a very cost efficient way to travel.

These are not so well known as the two All Japan passes [the ordinary pass and the Green (first class) pass] but for those that want to explore particular regions these passes may be good for you.

We strongly advise that you check the details of each pass that you are interested in to make sure they are suitable for your planned trip as the conditions of each differ (e.g. whether shinkansen or Limited Express trains are included; whether reserved seats are allowed). Another feature of some of the JR Rail Passes is that they allow travel on some specified Non JR Rail Lines and some also include particular bus routes, which can make these tickets very convenient.

There are a few (English) apps available that will help you calculate the cost:

• Google Maps,
• Japan Transit (Jorudan),
• Japan Travel (Navitime)

These will also help you plan out your travel routes, particularly if you want to get off the Shinkansen and really explore Japan by Train or Explore Japan’s Railways!

When comparing costs, remember that the JR Rail Pass includes seat reservation charges as well (For regional passes  check the details of each pass, some do and some do not)

There is a lot of English information available on JR Rail Passes online directly from the JR Rail Companies themselves. There is also a lot of misleading to incorrect information on social media.

The TS Japan Rail – JR Rail Pass Guide, consolidates the main information and also provides links to the information pages provided by the JR Rail companies.

It is actually not as complicated as it sounds, but yes TS Japan Rail can help.

Our Itinerary Planning Service includes calculating the costs and determining what tickets / passes offer the best value (both in cost and convenience). Our Full Travel Planning service also includes advice on best passes and tickets. We are completely transparent showing you our cost calculation. And for the majority of our clients who buying a Japan Rail Pass is not worthwhile with our local expertise we can tell you about other passes and also how to buy ordinary tickets cost effectively.

No, not directly.

We are independent advisors and as such will only recommend a JR Rail Pass if we think it is in your best interests.

If we do think it is worthwhile for you to buy use a JR Rail Pass we will give you advise on where to buy it from. In some cases we may get a small commission, which we will declare on our advice, (but often we will advise to buy directly from JR for which we do not get a commission).

To answer your question properly we really need to know what your travel plans are.

There are a few other passes that are available only to foreign tourists; for example:

• The Tokyo Subway Pass, which allows travel on the two Tokyo subway (underground) systems.
• The Kansai Railway Pass, which allows travel on most non JR railway company lines  in the Kansai region. This ticket is available in 2 and 3 "non-consecutive" Day versions.

There are also lots of other passes that are available to everyone. These include tickets that allow unlimited travel on a particular railway company (s) lines or in a particular region. Quite often they will allow travel on more than railways (e.g. Hakone Free Pass, Kyoto Subway and Bus Pass).