The Japan Rail Pass offers great value! It’s an economical way to travel throughout Japan’s extensive rail network, considered to be one of the most efficient in the world. This includes travel aboard the world famous Shinkansen ‘bullet trains’, limited expresses and local services.
A Japan Rail Pass can be used on all Japan Railways (JR) lines and the Shinkansen ‘bullet trains’ (except the pass is not valid on “NOZOMI” and “MIZUHO” trains on the Tokaido, Sanyo and Kyushu Shinkansen lines). The Japan Rail Pass is offered by the six companies that make up the Japan Railways Group (JR Group), including JR Kyushu, JR Shikoku, JR West, JR Central, JR East and JR Hokkaido. The Japan Rail Pass can also be used for the Tokyo monorail.
These Shinkansen “bullet trains” can be used:
A Japan Rail Pass can be purchased and used by:
3 months
Caution: Please note that during crowded periods you cannot be guaranteed a seat on a specific train.
The periods when seat reservations are particularly difficult to secure are as follows:
An unused Exchange Order Voucher can be returned for refund less a 20% administration fee within one year from date of issue. Once the Exchange Order Voucher has been exchanged for an actual Japan Rail Pass, it becomes 100% non-refundable.
Once a Japan Rail Pass is purchased, we will ship you an Exchange Order Voucher, which you exchange in Japan for the actual Japan Rail Pass. These Stations have Japan Rail Pass exchange offices. (This must be done WITHIN 3 MONTHS from the date the Exchange Order Voucher was issued. At the time of exchange, you can specify the date that you want to start using the pass. It can be any date within one month from the date the actual Japan Rail Pass is received. Once the Pass has a starting date written on it, the date cannot be changed.)
You cannot buy a Japan Rail Pass in Japan. An Exchange Order Voucher must be purchased outside Japan, prior to your trip.
The Japan Rail Pass is also valid for the following buses: local lines of JR bus companies (JR Hokkaido Bus, JR Bus Tohoku, JR Bus Kanto, JR Tokai Bus, West Japan JR Bus, Chugoku JR Bus, JR Shikoku Bus, JR Kyushu Bus) and some of JR highway bus services (Sapporo-Otaru; Morioka-Hirosaki; Tokyo-Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka,Tsukuba Center; Nagoya-Kyoto, Osaka; Osaka-Tsuyama, Kasai Flower Center), and ferry: the JR Miyajima ferry.
The Japan Rail Pass is not valid for travel on non-JR lines. If you wish to travel on non-JR lines, you will need to pay the corresponding fare to the private railway company concerned.
4.82out of5Value 5.00 User Friendliness 5.00 Experience 5.00 Comfort 5.00 Service 5.00 | Joël ArcandNovember 22, 2019 Must have if you want to visit another city than Tokyo. You can move freely between city without thinking about how much it will cost you.
I will buy it again when I go back to Japan.
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Value  3.00 User Friendliness 5.00 Experience 5.00 Comfort 5.00 Service 5.00 | OdetteNovember 11, 2019 L'utilisation du JR Pass est facile et pratique. On recoit le voucher à la maison et on l'échange à l'aéroport de Tokyo. L'endroit est facile à repérer et bien expliqué dans les directives. Nous avons calculez chacun de nos trajets durant les 14 jours. Nous avons visité 9 différentes villes + utilisés le JR pass à Tokyo et différents endroits. Pour nous, le coût avec ou sans JR pass fut approximativement le même. Par contre c'est très pratique d'avoir la JR pass. Share this review: |
Value 5.00 User Friendliness 5.00 Experience 5.00 Comfort 5.00 Service 5.00 | MayelaJuly 24, 2019 Getting the Japan Rail pass was easy. The vouchers arrived within a couple of days and we exchange them at the airport as soon as we arrived at the airport. It was so easy to travel through out the country with the passes. We use them when we took the Shinkansen (bullet train) but also some subway lines in Tokyo, Kyoto. Trains in Hiroshima, Iwakuni and the ferry to Miyajima. This is the most effective and inexpensive way to travel through Japan. We visited 12 cities in 10 days and using the pass made it super easy.
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Value 5.00 User Friendliness 5.00 Experience 5.00 Comfort 5.00 Service 5.00 | LaurieSeptember 04, 2018 great value,extremely convenient and best way to travel in Japan.We had a great time hanging aroung in tokyo,osaka,kyoto,hakone,nara and nikko with this pass :)
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Value 5.00 User Friendliness  4.00 Experience 5.00 Comfort 5.00 Service 4.00 | Philippe CanningAugust 20, 2018 The Japan Rail Pass is the best way to travel in Japan, period. The vast and extensive train network and its reliability makes it the fastest and most convenient means of travel in the country. The Japan rail pass is very versatile. It can be used straight from the Narita airport and on several local train in and around Tokyo. The service counters are easy to find and the staff is very kind and understanding. Reserving seats was very easy. Even without reserved seating, the pass is very easy to use. I would recommend seat reservation for longer hauls but short distances are handled easily without any reservations. Most convenient is the central location of most stations. The only drawback is being forced to go to a train station to reserve the seats. An online booking service would be useful
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Value 5.00 User Friendliness 5.00 Experience 5.00 Comfort 5.00 Service 5.00 | Guillaume St-JeanJune 13, 2018 Very usefull, the best way to travel in Japan. We easily made it profitable. Share this review: |
Value 5.00 User Friendliness 5.00 Experience 5.00 Comfort 5.00 Service 5.00 | Loved JapanMike ,USAJune 21, 2017 Always wanted to visit Japan and so glad I did. My daughter and I visited Japan in 2013 for about 12 Days. I wish I had more time. We still talk about it often and remember it very fond memories too. Taking the Bullet Train was simply awesome. I have been to Europe and taken the Eurostar and the TGV as well, while they are great trains, nothing compares to Japan's Trains. As said before by others, the people were some of friendliest I have ever met. Loved the food as well....Okonomiyaki in Hirsohima was the best!
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Value 5.00 User Friendliness 5.00 Experience 5.00 Comfort 5.00 Service 5.00 | If you're travelling the country by train this makes it easyBen ,AustraliaJuly 15, 2014 The JR railpass made life easy on my trip to Japan. I bought a 21-day pass for all of the country, and used it to travel from Tokyo to Nagasaki and everywhere in between. There was to stress about costs, you just got your ticket for reserved seats or are waved through the gate for regular services. Saved time, saved money. If you're using the shinkansen or other reserved seating services then absolutely do your research into costs - the JR Railpass could save you a pretty penny as it did me!
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Value 4.00 User Friendliness 5.00 Experience 5.00 Comfort 5.00 Service 4.00 | a must have for a trip to JapanM-C Ardouin ,CanadaJune 27, 2014 It was well invested money for sure! I bought it for a month long trip to Japan and found it really convinient that I could choose the exact date I wanted my pass to be activated.There was many places where I could exchange my coupon to get the rail pass including directly at Narita Airport. It was good on every JR trains (except for green car) and I had no trouble getting tickets with it! I will buy an other one when I'll go back next year for sure.
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Value 5.00 User Friendliness 4.00 Experience 5.00 Comfort 5.00 Service 4.00 | Great pass. Do book it in advance!Sam Harris ,UKJune 27, 2014 The pass is really good value. Being able to bullet train anywhere makes travel so convenient.
It only work on JR trains so you will have to buy tickets with other companies when sight-seeing around some cities e.g. Tokyo but it will still save you so much money if you wish to travel around when your in Japan.
You can't get the pass sent to you on arrival in Japan so be sure to book it early so you have you tickets in hand well before you travel.
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