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Japan Rail (JR) Pass questions (consolidated)

Old Oct 6, 2016, 11:40 pm
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About Japan Rail Pass
JAPAN RAIL PASS, a joint offering of the six companies comprising the Japan Railways Group (JR Group).
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Eligibility
(1) You are a foreign tourist visiting Japan from abroad for sight-seeing, under the entry status of "temporary visitor" or

(2) You are a Japanese national living outside of Japan who has both their Japanese passport and written proofobtained from the embassy or legation of Japan in the foreign country where they livethat they have been living legally in the country for 10 consecutive years or more.
__________________________________________________ _____________

Validity Period
The validity period of a JAPAN RAIL PASS is the consecutive 7, 14, or 21 days period beginning on the date the PASS is first used.
Within three months from the date the Exchange Order was issued, you must turn in your Exchange Order to obtain your JAPAN RAIL PASS
(for example, an Exchange Order issued on April 15 would have to be turned in by July 14).

more information: http://www.japanrailpass.net/en/index.html
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Japan Rail (JR) Pass questions (consolidated)

Old Jul 4, 2018, 5:56 pm
  #391  
 
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Hey FTers,
Heading to Japan in a few weeks, will get a RailPass.
Looking at the Green Car passes-- for US$88 more I will likely get it-- but had a question that I didn't seen answer to in Google nor here-- at least in a quick search:
-
I know you need a Green Car reservation for seats. If by chance the Green Car is full, can I still get an Ordinary Car seat (downgrade) or travel in non-reserved Ordinary Car?

I did live in Japan for about 7 years in the 90s so am well aware of Japanese rules being strictly enforced at times.
Thanks!
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Old Jul 4, 2018, 6:59 pm
  #392  
 
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Originally Posted by kyushuman
I know you need a Green Car reservation for seats. If by chance the Green Car is full, can I still get an Ordinary Car seat (downgrade) or travel in non-reserved Ordinary Car?
According to this, yes.
About JAPAN RAIL PASS | JAPAN RAIL PASS
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Old Jul 4, 2018, 8:23 pm
  #393  
 
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The chances are much greater that the ordinary car will fill up than the green car.
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Old Jul 5, 2018, 1:54 am
  #394  
 
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Green pass allows you to reserve a seat in green or ordinary class cars, or to ride in the unreserved cars. As abmj-jr says, the ordinary cars usually sell out before the green cars.
In the event that all reserved seats (green and ordinary) are sold out, show up very early on the platform to join the line for an unreserved car. But I guess that with 7 years experience, you already know that.
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Old Jan 28, 2019, 11:20 am
  #395  
 
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Does anyone have any experience reserving wheelchair places on the Hikari? We will be in Tokyo for seven days and want to do an overnight to Kyoto somewhere around the middle. As I understand it, wheelchair places cannot be booked until I'm actually in possession of the pass. Though we can be a little flexible with times, I need to book our Kyoto hotel and otherwise make arrangements. What I'm worried about is showing up at Narita and trying to book the wheelchair spots on Hikari for later in the week when we exchange our voucher, only to be unable to reserve places. That would make the pass close to useless for us.
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Old Jan 28, 2019, 3:41 pm
  #396  
 
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Originally Posted by lkar
Does anyone have any experience reserving wheelchair places on the Hikari? We will be in Tokyo for seven days and want to do an overnight to Kyoto somewhere around the middle. As I understand it, wheelchair places cannot be booked until I'm actually in possession of the pass. Though we can be a little flexible with times, I need to book our Kyoto hotel and otherwise make arrangements. What I'm worried about is showing up at Narita and trying to book the wheelchair spots on Hikari for later in the week when we exchange our voucher, only to be unable to reserve places. That would make the pass close to useless for us.
Are you planning any long distance rail travel apart from the Tokyo-Kyoto roundtrip and the journey between Narita and Tokyo? If those are the only inter-city trips, you might be better off without the pass. You might consider that the savings of perhaps 5,000 yen per person (assuming you use it for 2 X Narita Express and 2 X Shinkansen) are outweighed by the constraints. If you do without the pass, you have far more trains to choose from - Nozomi departures are far more frequent than Hikari.
Alternatively, you could consider purchasing a package, which includes rail fares and hotel booking. In that case, advance purchase from abroad is possible, and you can tell agent about your requirements.
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Old Jan 28, 2019, 3:50 pm
  #397  
 
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Originally Posted by jib71
Are you planning any long distance rail travel apart from the Tokyo-Kyoto roundtrip and the journey between Narita and Tokyo? If those are the only inter-city trips, you might be better off without the pass. You might consider that the savings of perhaps 5,000 yen per person (assuming you use it for 2 X Narita Express and 2 X Shinkansen) are outweighed by the constraints. If you do without the pass, you have far more trains to choose from - Nozomi departures are far more frequent than Hikari.
Alternatively, you could consider purchasing a package, which includes rail fares and hotel booking. In that case, advance purchase from abroad is possible, and you can tell agent about your requirements.
That's probably good advice -- I think in addition to 2 x N'Ex the only other use we'd make of the pass other than the Kyoto trip would be the Yamanote line.

I have a message into Japanican whether they will be able to book wheelchair spots on their overnight Kyoto packages, and so that may be the easiest if they can. Otherwise, do you have any idea what the process would be if I wanted just to try to reserve a Nozomi wheelchair spot? I can't seem to find any information on that on line. Can I just go to a machine somewhere a few days before?
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Old Jan 28, 2019, 4:18 pm
  #398  
 
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Originally Posted by lkar
.. Otherwise, do you have any idea what the process would be if I wanted just to try to reserve a Nozomi wheelchair spot? I can't seem to find any information on that on line. Can I just go to a machine somewhere a few days before?
Your best bet for special services will always be to go into the JR service center and have a knowledgeable, helpful agent make those reservations. They can search out options and find what you need much better that you can using any machine.
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Old Jan 28, 2019, 11:55 pm
  #399  
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Ikar, I never booked intercity travel in Japan whilst I was in a wheelchair, and Ive not needed a chair for over ten years.
All I can say from that time is that the services I received were excellent, but very hands on and a little faffy and laborious on the part of the employees who had to deliver it. Everything took longer to do and get done than when not using a wheelchair.
I just saw this recent blog post which illustrates what I mean (little seems to have changed)
Shinkansen & Japan Rail Pass as a wheelchair user | Little Miss Turtle
The part Im referring to is where the blogger goes to a JR service center to reserve a place and the procedure takes 40 mins as phone calls need to be made.
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Old Jan 29, 2019, 6:18 am
  #400  
 
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Originally Posted by LapLap
Ikar, I never booked intercity travel in Japan whilst I was in a wheelchair, and I’ve not needed a chair for over ten years.
All I can say from that time is that the services I received were excellent, but very hands on and a little “faffy” and laborious on the part of the employees who had to deliver it. Everything took longer to do and get done than when not using a wheelchair.
I just saw this recent blog post which illustrates what I mean (little seems to have changed)
Shinkansen & Japan Rail Pass as a wheelchair user Little Miss Turtle
The part I’m referring to is where the blogger goes to a JR service center to reserve a place and the procedure takes 40 mins as phone calls need to be made.
That’s a great blog. Thank you. I know exactly what you’re talking about and we have run into it all over the world. We just try to keep a good attitude. Rare you meet someone who isn’t trying to do what they think is most helpful.

I found a Shinkansen ticket vendor online who will buy the tickets 30 days in advance and deliver them to your hotel and say they usually can get wheelchair tickets if flexible about time. They charge a small mark up. Looks like it is easier on Nozomi than the pass eligible trains just like jib71 mentioned above.

Thanks all.
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Last edited by lkar; Jan 29, 2019 at 6:30 am
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Old Jan 30, 2019, 9:29 am
  #401  
 
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JRPass for clueless tourist

I am hoping to go to Japan and fly in and out of Tokyo. Would my JRPass work from airport to downtown? Can I take a fast train to Osaka where I would make my next hub stay for travel daytrips to Kyoto? Can I get a train from Osaka to Tokyo airport or do I have to plan for a night before? Please help experts?
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Old Jan 30, 2019, 10:14 am
  #402  
 
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Yes, yes and yes.

If your stay in Japan is 7 days or less, you can use the 7-day JR Rail Pass to ride the Narita Express from NRT into Tokyo, the shinkansen (bullet train) from Tokyo to Kyoto, local trains around Kyoto (Nara, Osaka, Himeji, etc), the shinkansen from Kyoto to Tokyo and the Narita Express from Tokyo to NRT on the N'Ex. If you will be there longer than 7 days total, just make sure the 7-day Pass covers both directions on the shinkansen and one or the other Narita Expess legs and the Rail Pass will pencil out to save you money.

If your departure from NRT is in the afternoon, it is quite possible to leave Kyoto in the morning, take the shinkansen to Tokyo (or better yet, Shinagawa Station), transfer to the Narita Express and continue on to NRT in plenty pf time for your flight. If your departure is in the morning, then you would want to move to an airport area hotel for that last night.
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Old Jan 30, 2019, 10:29 am
  #403  
 
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The JR Rail Pass will allow you to take the Narita Express train to and from the airport, the Shinkansen between Tokyo and Osaka and any form of transportation on the JR network (including trains between Osaka and Kyoto). The break even point for the cost of the 7 day rail pass is usually satisfied with the round trip ticket between Tokyo and Japan so it makes sense if youre going to use the pass within those 7 days.

Couple of caveats however... the pass doesnt cover the Nozomi trains on the Shinkansen, which is the fastest train between Tokyo and Osaka. You can take the Hikari trains which are slightly slower due to extra stops. And most importantly, the validity of the pass is based on calendar days so it will expire on midnight on the 7th day. This is important because it could impact how you can use your pass depending on the length of your stay. For example, if you arrive in Tokyo in the evening and immediately activate your pass at the airport to take the NEX train to the city, you will have effectively lost a day because the pass will be on its 2nd day once the clock strikes midnight. Depending on your itinerary, it might be best for you to pay out of pocket for the transportation from Narita to Tokyo and activate your pass on the day that you travel to Osaka to maximize its value.

You can go to hyperdia.com to look at the train schedules and costs to help you figure out whether the JR Pass is worth your while. Just make sure to limit your search to JR trains and exclude the Nozomi Shinkansen.
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Old Feb 2, 2019, 1:21 pm
  #404  
 
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Question

Hello,

Ill be in Japan for 18 days end of March (arriving 28th) with my wife and daughter (4 year). We want to buy the 14-day JR Pass as we plan to travel from Tokyo to Kyoto, Kobe, Himeji and Hiroshima and then back to Tokyo (with stop in Nagoya).I have a few questions regarding the exchange and experiences of other users:

1. Well be arriving at 22:45 in HND and need to get to Shimbashi station. Id like to use the Haneda Express which is included in the JR Pass but I am not sure if we can get our pass that late. After a 9 hour flight I would like to get as quickly and hassle free to our hotel as possible so I am also thinking of simply taking a Taxi and exchange the pass the next day. Any opinions/ideas?

2. As its a leisure trip we do not plan to use any trains during rush hour but only after 11am. My daughter is under 6 so technically I dont need to buy a pass for her but Im wondering if it maybe still makes sense to have a guaranteed seat for her. Basically, we want to sit together and I have no experience with long distance travel in Japan (was in Tokyo 2 years ago but only used the metro).

Thanks for any help!
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Old Feb 2, 2019, 2:42 pm
  #405  
 
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The trick to getting the most out of the Rail Pass is to plan it so it covers the longest travel days. Since your 14-day Rail Pass will not cover your entire stay, you need to maximize the days it will cover. If you will be in Tokyo for the first 4 or more days, then I'd activate the Pass to cover the last 14 days. If you will be leaving Tokyo immediately and then staying back at Tokyo the last few days of your stay, you should reverse that and have it cover the first 14 days. Either way, you should probably get pre-paid Suica cards for use in and around Tokyo - it is valid on subways and trains - and use the Pass for the longer distance travel.

In any case, you are unlikely to be able to activate your Rail Passes after arriving so late. It will be a rather expensive taxi ride with the late-night surcharge but with a 4-1/2 year-old I'd pay it. You can activate the Rail Pass at any major JR station after you are in Japan.

I'd think your child could ride in the lap for shorter trips but really should have a seat for the longer ones. Shinkansen travel is very comfortable and convenient but only when you are in a seat.
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