Using the Japan Rail Pass to get the most out of your visit to Japan
If you’re looking to explore Japan on your next visit, the Japan Rail Pass is a must-have. Consider it the equivalent of the Eurail Pass. It is a joint offering of the six companies comprising the Japan Railways Group (JR Group).
The Japan Rail Pass comes with conditions, but basically, if you are a foreign tourist visiting Japan, you will be OK. It is sold as a 7, 14, or 21-day pass. And it allows you to travel on any of the JR Group trains for free. That basically means that you can travel through most of Japan and also use high-speed bullet trains. Again, there are exceptions, such as not using it on the Nozomi or Mizuho trains. However, we found that the Hikari train, which is available, was just a few minutes slower than the faster Nozomi.
How to Buy a Japan Rail Pass
First of all, you cannot buy the Japan Rail Pass directly from the JR Group. You must use one of their authorized agents, a plus since you will see that most offer the pass at a discount with free shipping if you search online. For example, the price listed is 38,880 yen for a first-class adult seat for seven days; however, we found several authorized agencies selling it for roughly 2,000 yen less by doing a quick Google search for Japan Rail Pass.
Before leaving for Japan, you must have your voucher for a Japan Rail Pass in hand, thus requiring you to order it a week or so before leaving. Again, check the agency you buy from. Most will offer free FedEx shipping and a turnaround of fewer than seven days.
The voucher is activated at any JR Group location, usually found at train stations or airports. Allow 5-10 minutes as you will need your passport and to fill out some paperwork. The pass is good starting on the day you use it and not when you redeem your voucher.
Once activated, you can then make reservations. You can do so right at the JR Group location when you redeem your voucher.
That’s one of the downsides of the JR Pass. You must actually have it in hand to reserve a seat, which leaves you in a predicament during busy times of the year. You can’t book a seat until you arrive in Japan, so you must hope there are seats available for your desired journey. Buying a first-class or Green ticket increases your chances of successfully getting a seat.
Websites to Bookmark if Visiting Japan
If you’re looking for train schedules, then use the Hyperdia website. It will pull up all of the train schedules and information for you. If you’re interested in the high-speed bullet trains, for example, click on More Options, select Bullet Trains, and then de-select Nozomi, etc.… trains. This will show you the trains eligible for use with the JR Pass.
Lastly, bookmark the JPRail.com website. It has many excellent articles on traveling by the Japan Rail Pass. Most importantly, when you ask a question at the end of their articles (Comments section), Takeshi-san is excellent at answering back in a very timely manner. He has impeccable knowledge of getting from one location to the next. His experience will make your travel much less stressful.
I wanted to provide a “Readers Digest” version of using the Japan Rail Pass. There is much more to it, but if you follow the links I provided, you should have enough information to decide what will be best for your needs, i.e., first-class, regional pass, etc.…
Is the Japan Rail Pass Worth it?
Just like the Eurail Pass, everyone measures worth in a different manner. For us, yes, absolutely it was worth every penny and more.
First, we used it to travel from Shin-Yokohama station to Kyoto on the Hikari train. You can use Hyperdia to confirm, but the roundtrip cost to Kyoto nearly paid for the pass. We then used the pass to travel from Kyoto to Hiroshima, again on a bullet train. Then used one of the benefits of the pass, which is a free ferry to travel from Hiroshima to Miyajima Island.
The free ferry from just outside Hiroshima (Miyajimaguchi ) to Miyajima Island takes ten minutes and includes beautiful views.
We then used the Japan Rail Pass for the bullet train from Hiroshima to Tokyo, which had the side benefit of seeing Mt. Fuji in all of its glory.
Mt. Fuji as seen from the high-speed Hikari bullet train. You have a good five minutes of viewing time.
Once in Japan, we used the JR Trains to travel within the city from the Shinjuku Station. And we managed to do a bullet train ride from Tokyo to Nagano to see the snow monkeys for a day trip!
One of the world-famous snow monkeys. So cute and adorable!
All of this was done on a seven-day pass during the New Years’ period. Stay flexible as this is a time that many Japanese travel on trains. For example, to make it to Tokyo on January 4th, we had to catch a 6 am bullet train out of Hiroshima to Tokyo.
