I've never had a ticket checked on a local train in the Tokyo region. Sometimes a conductor walks through with a ticketing machine as a convenience to passengers who need to add fare, but those passengers flag him down, he doesn't check tickets.

I suppose theoretically it can happen, but I've not seen it. Has anyone else?

Not Toyko, but between Osaka and Nagoya. I had a JR pass, MrLapLap didn't and as I was unsure whether the arriving train was the correct one for his ticket, showed it to a gruff and disinterested JR employee at the station and asked if the arriving train was the correct one. When the inspectors on the train came through we found it wasn't. My passport was requested along with my ticket (which was fine) and we got landed with a huge supplement for MrLapLap :mad:

This is one of the reasons I would suggest getting a JRpass if it's a reasonable deal for your travelling plans. As lng as you avoid nozomi shinkansen it should be straightforward avoiding paying any extra charges. It's not always obvious to me which trains are express trains and which are the Ltd Express ones that require the supplement.

It is done mostly on rural local lines where there is are no manned stations, conductors would go around checking tickets (or selling). The average traveler with a JR pass probably won't be traveling on these lines to have to worry about it.

As mentioned sure it is possible to purchase 2 JR pass exchange orders. The question would be, look at your itinerary and determine if you need a 2nd JR Pass, or a regional pass, or no pass at all.

edit: I was thinking, there are cases where your ticket would be checked on a local train in the Tokyo region: eg. You have a JR Green Pass and riding on the Tokaido Line/Shonan Shinjuku/Yokosuka etc green cars, then the conductor on board will check to see if you have the appropriate pass or ticket. Only applies to the green car sections and not the rest of the train.

reservations
 

Mr Zhu and Company will be arriving in NRT with their handy dandy JR rail passes. He understands that he can get them "turned on" there. He is wondering if he can make reservations at the same place he gets them turned on at NRT?

Yes, its at the JR travel service center there.

Thanks, ponder. It seems that the JR pass is cheapest (for a UK resident) from Inside Japan Tours. + £5 courier fee for next day delivery. We would be using them again next year. ^

In some disagreement, I've been checked on the Joetsu Shinkansen. Maybe it's just that fewer foreigners are on those lines, though. I can attest to the fact that they do check on rural lines - when I visited friends who had houses on "gaijin mura," they checked my pass.

And what's very sad is that there is discrimination - I was traveling with two Japanese-Americans and another non-Japanese, and they didn't check my pass or the other non-Japanese's pass. They did check the full monty on the Japanese-Americans: passport, ticket, and rail pass.

:confused:
You think Joetsu Shinkansen is a local train?

If memory serves me correctly,

I have been asked to show my ticket on the Tokaido shinkansen going from Tokyo to Hamamatsu (taking the Hikari train).

Also been asked for my ticket travelling to either Kyoto/Osaka on the Tokaido shinkansen from Tokyo. Same goes for when I went to/from Yonezawa from Tokyo on the line that goes through Fukushima and switches over to go on to Yamagata (the name escapes me right now but I'll update my post when I remember it, darn it! :P )

Sanosuke!

Show your reserved seat ticket / fare ticket / or JR Pass?

When sitting in the Reserved Section of a train the conductor will sometimes check to see if everyone has a reserved seat ticket. I usually just show my reserved seat ticket and nothing else.

We showed our JR passes only at the gates (to get to the platforms). We were always asked to show our reserved seat tickets on the shinkansens.

We were not asked to show our passports until the last day at NRT. I wonder if the passport requirements were because we were at NRT (all travellers to show ID etc), or because we had a JR pass.

Yesterday, I was on NEX. There was an empty row so I moved to this row. When the conductor came by, he only asked for my ticket and said: "2B ga?" So it seems, they have the seat assignment upon departure. They are only checking for violators from the local train.

Interesting.

Are you sure he didn't say: 「生か、死か、それが問題だ」 ?

I rode it about 15 times last year. I guess I got used to it. :cool:

That would not be surprising if you remained on the train at the end station past midnight.:D:D