Hey thanks to the Jetstar 8th Birthday sale im going to Japan in November for 2 weeks. JR Rail passes are the best way to get around (apparently) and they are quite expensive. Anyone know how to get them cheaper? Also any tips for Japan would be good if you have them, ive never been.
Japan - JR Rail Pass. Any way to get cheaper?
m0nkeycheese on 10/05/2012 - 14:15
Comments
Thanks for the info.. Im thinking for the 1st week just hanging around tokyo area to reduce the cost (Flying into there) 2x2 week passes cost more than the flights!! Then just buying 2x1 week passes. I want to see EVERYTHING!!!!111!!1!1!!!!
Take it from me, one week in Tokyo is probably not enough lol. It's not like here were most of the attractions are mainly in the city area, you'll find stuff to do all over Tokyo.
I spent 2 weeks in Tokyo in Feb with my missus and we still missed out on a few things, however we were taking it easy and not rushing around trying to cram everything into everyday.
Another tip to save some money would be to purchase a Suica + NEX deal when you arrive at Narita. It'll cost around 5500 yen, but you'll get a return ticket on an express train from the Airport to Tokyo (stops at Tokyo, Shibuya & Shinjuku stations) and a Suica card with 1500 yen loaded onto it.
You can get a 500 yen refund if you return the Suica card when you're done with it, but it makes a nice souvenir.
See http://seat61.com/Japan.htm for details about Japan's railway. Best site for all rail travel across the world.
Depending on where you stay in Tokyo, the JR rail pass may not be so useful. If you plan on using the subway lines, you wont be able to use the JR rail pass since they are not part of JR.
I would just get a JR rail pass to cover travelling from Tokyo to other cities. Within Tokyo you can go to a large station and use the ticket kiosks to purchase a Suica card. You just load how much credit you want on to the card. From memory i think the card costs 2500 yen, with 2000 initial credit on the card. Using a JR card during your travels in Tokyo wouldnt be worth it, it would be cheaper just to pay for the individual fares.
Also the Suica card can be used at some vending machines and shops for buying things, which is useful.
The most useful train line you will find in Tokyo is the Yamanote Line, pretty much all the good stuff are around the stations on that line :)
If you have any questions let me know, just spent a month there last Dec.
hey monkeycheese,
last time I went to Japan (2009) I bought my JR pass from this place: http://www.ondatravel.com/ (ask to speak to Kevin)
seems kinda random but they were legit and beat every other place by almost 10% which is a decent amount given the price of the JR pass. I had to bargain with him a bit, but I bought 7 passes at the same time, so that buying power might have helped :P
anyways, good luck, lemme know how you go…. Japan is awesome!
definitely get a JR pass. I lived there for 4 years. if you want to go to Hiroshima, Osaka, Tokyo, Kyoto, etc then the pass is the way to go.
November is getting cool in the north. but still a trip to hokkaido is great.
Kamakura south of Tokyo is very cool (old town) whilst north of tokyo is Nikko (very historic old town - former capital of Japan ).
In tokyo take a stroll around Ginza and then walk over to the imperial palace. -most expensive real estate in the world. check out the tokyo exhibition centre on the way (interesting building).
Get a ferry from Palette Town -big shopping mall- to Kasai Rinkai Park
Tokyo has the Hato (pigeon) bus which is a hop-on hop-off tourist bus. pretty groovy.
Check out Tokyo disney land. go there durring the week as it packed like crazy on the weekends.
In Tokyo take a suburban train out to the suburbs and get off at a random stop and walk around. That appealled to me alot when I was there. I lived at Baraki Nakayama on the Tozai line and loved checking out how people lived.
Kyoto - always good.
Go to an Onsen.
Quite a bit of price difference between sites:
e.g 14-day adult national pass
$566 - http://www.japan-rail-pass.com/?ap=j0095g
$546 - http://www.jrpass.com/buy_the_japan_rail_pass_online
$541 - https://ssl.jtboi.com.au/forms/jr-pass-individual-1.php
$540 - http://www.traveljapan.com.au/rail-passIf you select AUD instead of the default USD on the first site it comes to $545. $6 variation between 4 vendors is just noise then.
$539 - https://www.sachitours.com.au/Japan_Rail_Pass.html
*Additional credit card fee apply (VISA or Master 2%, AMEX3%).Obviously trying catch unwary shoppers with that extra charge.
What you are seeing is that the pass is priced at X yen and each vendor then applies their currency conversion rate which should be similar but differ slightly depending on where they are, which bank they use, the day they took the rate, etc. Then they may throw in extra charges to make more money.
If I were you, all other things being the same within a few dollars, I'd pick a local agent. You'd get the pass faster and you would have a local address to query.
Hi all,
Full disclosure: I work for JTB Australia in the Sydney office.
I just thought I'd respond to the thread in case others come across it and have similar questions.
Datty:
"If you're not travelling around too much within Japan, it might not be cost effective to purchase one as a 1 way ticket from Tokyo - Kyoto/Osaka on the bullet train is around $130 if I remember correctly … I'd suggest looking at your itinerary and seeing whether you would make good use out of it."
Datty is right. The general rule of thumb is that a return trip to from Tokyo to Kyoto is about the same cost as a JR Pass (I think JR might price it that way intentionally but that's just my own personal guess). So in those cases may as well buy the pass and do some extra trips (or at least have the option to). If you're certain it's only that return trip then it's six or half a dozen. One will be a few dollars cheaper so it becomes more about which is easiest and more convenient.
Infinity89:
"Depending on where you stay in Tokyo, the JR rail pass may not be so useful. If you plan on using the subway lines, you wont be able to use the JR rail pass since they are not part of JR … The most useful train line you will find in Tokyo is the Yamanote Line, pretty much all the good stuff are around the stations on that line :)"
The Yamanote line is the only line you can use with the JR Pass as it's the only line JR owns and operates. Otherwise Infinity89 is right - the JR Pass isn't very useful for Tokyo subway. It might come in handy if your first or last day with the pass is in Tokyo but other than that I'd go with the different subway options out there.
Wisdomteeth:
"https://ssl.jtboi.com.au/forms/jr-pass-individual-1.php"
We've built a new website that's easier to use: [JTB Japan Rail Passes] (http://www.jtbtravel.com.au/jr-passes/)
Greenpossum:
"What you are seeing is that the pass is priced at X yen and each vendor then applies their currency conversion rate which should be similar but differ slightly depending on where they are, which bank they use, the day they took the rate, etc. …
If I were you, all other things being the same within a few dollars, I'd pick a local agent. You'd get the pass faster and you would have a local address to query."
JR doesn't sell their passes directly, they license the ability to do so to different companies. They then charge us in Yen. So Greenpossum is right about how it's calculated and generally why the prices are different. I also agree with Greenpossum with the advice to go with the security of a local agent. A lot of online only sites are overseas so that can take longer but the bigger concern is little recourse if it gets lost in the post. As it's a physical pass you need to get it before you go to Japan (against JR rules to post it to a Japanese address).
Also, the bigger companies like ours offer a pickup service in Sydney, Melbourne, Cairns and Perth which makes a big difference if booking just a few days before you hop on the plane. And, of course, we have a lot of offices in Japan in case you need us. One last piece of advice: from what I understand JR has been known to deny customers their pass for misspellings of names on the exchange voucher so having a place with an office near where you live can mean that that gets corrected a lot faster. If you find this out once you're in Japan then it's too late to change it.
Kind regards,
Christian Thurston
JTB Australia Web TeamMight as well add my 2 cents too, having a bit of experience in this area.
Rail pass is awesome value if you clock up the miles, the trains are excellent so travelling from one end of the country to the other isnt a problem, however you have to clock the miles.
My last trip I was based in Osaka and visiting a friends in Nagoya then Tokyo for a few days.. returning to Osaka. Not enough, however if I was able to get just 1 extra trip practicaly anywhere then the pass would have started working out better.
So you really need to make the decisions about which cities you want to get to.. a full week in Tokyo would waste a full week of the pass, as everyday you are there it would be impossible to clock up enough miles on the train to be worthwhile (assuming you want to see Tokyo from more then just the train). To get the most you need to moving quite quickly from point to point as the more days you spend enjoying the sights of one city you pass is deflating in value.Having said that, 2 weeks in and around Tokyo is easily spent… or 2 weeks travelling up and down the country on the Shinkansen is also just as much fun. Its just the choice you need to make before you go, cause you cant change your mind once you arrive.
have fun!! Im going for 2 weeks in October…. yay. No rail passs for me though, Ill be staying around the Kansai area only… Kobe, Kyoto, Osaka etc..
If you are looking to get maximum value from your pass I would recommend adding Hiroshima to your itinerary. It's about 3hr each way from Osaka/Kyoto. I also personally enjoyed the Anpanman museum on Shikoku but it's not for everyone. You would get to use the Great Seto Bridge (longest two-tiered bridge system in the world) if going to Shikoku by train which is quite a sight in itself. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Seto_Bridge
If you end up using the Shinkansen at least twice/three times, a two week pass covers this really nicely as well as the rest of JR trains. We were hesitant about getting the JR pass as to whether or not we'd make good use out of it; in Osaka we used the subway a lot so not at all there, but in Kyoto, Hiroshima, Tokyo and Nagoya we certainly used it.
Enjoy Japan! It's my favourite country so far… I love Australia, but boy do I ever miss Japan.
Not sure if you can really get it for much cheaper as I believe there's only a few agencies that sell them in Australia.
If you're not travelling around too much within Japan, it might not be cost effective to purchase one as a 1 way ticket from Tokyo - Kyoto/Osaka on the bullet train is around $130 if I remember correctly.
I bought a 2 week pass when I went a few years back for around $500 since we were using the Shinkansen often.
When I went earlier this year I didn't bother getting one. I'd suggest looking at your itinerary and seeing whether you would make good use out of it.