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Welcome to the latest TS Japan Rail Newsletter. It has been sometime since we have sent one out, but we have been busy as you will see below. There has also been some recent good news on tourists being allowed into Japan, which we outline in the section below.

We also have a special offer for TS Japan followers (see below) and some of our recents posts on our new main website.

In future newsletters we plan to publish some in-depth articles to supplement those that we are putting on our websites.

We look forward to helping clients plan their trips to Japan, and may be seeing you here in the not too distant future!

Stephen Turner. President

At the time we were preparing this update, the Japanese Government announced some easing of restrictions on inbound tourists. these include:

• Ending the requirement for pre-arrival PCR tests, for persons who have received (and have vaccination certificates) three Covid 19 vaccinations (vaccinations approved by Japanese government)
• Increasing the cap on daily arrivals from 20,000 to 50,000.
• Doing away with the requirement for inbound tourists to be on fully guided tours, instead tourists can come on "free guided" tours sponsored and arranged by an approved travel agent.
• Travel insurance will be mandatory.
• Visas are still required.

Although not visa free completely free travel, this is a big step towards that.

The full details have still not been published so how this will actually work is still not known.

We would strongly urge our readers not to rely on information solely from social media. There is a lot of misleading (and incorrect) information out there. The Japanese government website with the official information is here. Japan National Tourist Organisation (JNTO) website also has up to date information.

Japanese news sites (NHK, Japan Times etc) are another good source for useful and usually reliable information as updates occur.

We also think it is prudent at this stage that where you can you book trips on a fully refundable / fully changeable basis or you have insurance to cover.

TS Japan Rail is excited to announce its collaboration with “The Real Japan“. To celebrate this The Real Japan is offering a 20% discount on all their Japan Travel Guidebooks and Travel Planning Services to any TS Japan Rail follower who signs up as a subscriber to The Real Japan.

To learn more about how The Real Japan and TS Japan Rail are collaborating see our post

Did you know there are around 70 tourist trains operating throughout Japan?

These trains range from the themed "Hello Kitty Shinkansen" to dedicated sightseeing trains like the "Resort Shirakami", Restaurant / Cafe / Luxury trains like the "Kyushu Sweet Train" or the new Kintetsu "Aoniyoshi" train and steam trains.

They are a great way to see Japan, experience Japanese culture and taste regional food and more...

TS Japan Rail can provide you with ideas and travel planning so that you can experience  a different side of Japan!

As mentioned above we have been busy during the pandemic, with a number of initiatives:

• We renewed our website to make it easier to navigate, clearer and friendly for all media types.
• We have updated our Client software so that we can better serve our clients, prospective clients and others. 
• We set up a separate website for Rail fans to give more specific ideas for rail enthusiasts wanting to travel to Japan. (see below)
• As well as partnering with Real Japan we have also been building our network of other organizations we are collaborating with. This will mean we can bring you more ideas for your Japan trip! We can also introduce you to guides and specialist travel agents. So although we specialize in rail travel we are also able to help you with other aspects of your trip to Japan.
• Working with another partner, we have produced two videos on why to travel to Japan and how TS Japan can help you

Introducing TS Japan Rail

Japan A Rail Fan's Paradise

• We have also done many study trips so that we can develop new travel ideas.

As a result of our travels we have published a number of posts on our website (please see below for some of our more recent ones). Follow our website and social media posts for new ideas on how to Explore Japan by Train and Explore Japan's Railways...

See our websites

Main Website click here

Rail Fan site click here

This is a question that is often asked, and the answer depends  on what you want to do.

Did you know for example that there are 28 regional JR Rail Passes? There are also numerous domestically available rail passes. Many of these also include travel on private railway lines and even some buses.

Our approach is to first decide where you want to travel and what you want to see and then find the most economical and convenient tickets / passes for the level of comfort you want to travel at. This is part of our standard Travel Planning Service.

We will be writing more on this in the coming weeks, so keep watching our website and social media. In the mean time if you have any questions, you can raise them with us via our enquiry page by clicking on the below button:

As mentioned above we have set up a new website specifically for rail enthusiasts. the purpose is to give specific travel ideas for rail fans. To access this site click on the below button:

We have stopped publishing things like rail events and some rail news, but that does not mean that we do not continue to follow closely, and for clients we can provide relevant information when planning their tours.

As you can see from our new video directed at rail enthusiasts, Japan is a Rail Fan's Paradise with a lot more to see that the high speed bullet trains.

Whatever your railway interests are, TS Japan rail can help you with ideas and itinerary planning specifically for rail enthusiasts. We have access to information which is difficult for rail fans outside of Japan to see (and most is in Japanese) on such things as special train runs, types of trains operating which services; interesting rail lines; even where to sit to get best views of railway facilities or where to go for good photographs.

From our main website