If you're traveling to Japan, you will most certainly want to take advantage of the country’s amazing train system. You can rent a car, but the quality of the trains in Japan makes this somewhat unnecessary. Trains go everywhere, come and go regularly, and seem to always be on time. It’s really quite impressive, even compared with western Europe’s excellent train system. The Japanese Shinkansen (“bullet trains”) form the best high speed rail network in the world, make flying within the country an unnecessary option. The bullet trains will take you where you need to go at speeds of up to 300 km/h. Pretty snappy.
However, the system suffers from one major flaw: it’s extremely expensive. A round trip ticket on a Shinkansen train from one major city to another can cost you as much as a plane ticket on a low cost airline in the US. Last I checked, a round trip ticket from Tokyo to Kyoto ran about $250, a very steep price.
However, there is hope, and that comes in the form of the Japan Rail, or JR pass. JR passes are rail passes that give you unlimited travel on all Japan Rail trains. This includes the Shinkansen trains (except for the very fast Nozomi trains, but the next step down is quick enough) , as well as many others. The pass applies for a certain period of time, and is pretty much always a better deal than buying single tickets unless you are staying in one place for a while. These passes are only sold to visitors from outside Japan, and must be purchased outside the country.
The process of buying one of these passes is somewhat confusing, but that’s what this article is here to help with! Let me break it down step by step:
- First, you will need to find a sales office. These can be find online quite easily. There doesn’t have to be one in your area, you can work with them over the phone
- Once you have found your sales office, you will most likely be sent an order form that you will fill out and fax back with your payment information.
- In a few days, you will receive your pass voucher in the mail. This is only a voucher for a pass, not an actual pass.
- Fly to Japan (or take a boat, whatever works for you).
- Find a JR sales office. There will be a list of these that you received with your voucher. Go into the office and swap out your voucher for a pass. You can do this whenever you want, so wait until the day before you actually need a train. The offices open later than you would expect, and the pass you get starts the following day (from what I could tell), so plan ahead on this. Get your pass the day before you need to take your first JR train.
And that’s it. The sales process is quite low tech and drawn out, but once you have your pass you pretty much just show it to the rail officers at the gates (there is a special gate on the side next to a window where you can do this). You will be able to get right on pretty much any train. Best of luck in your travels on the wonderful trains of Japan!
