Japan Rail Pass – Is It Worth It?

Prices of the Japan Rail Pass increased by about 70% on October 1, 2023. With this price rise, the Japan Rail Pass will not save most travelers money and you’ll do better with individual tickets. Here are all the details.

Japan Rail Pass: antb / Shutterstock.com

The Takeaway:

• Starting October 1, 2023, ordinary Japan Rail Passes will cost Y50,000, Y80,000 and Y100,000 for 7, 14 and 21-day passes, respectively. Green Car passes will cost Y70,000, Y110,000, Y140,000.
• From October 1, you will only be able to buy Japan Rail Passes online, either direct from JR or from a third-party vendor. You will not be able to buy them inside Japan.
• Unless you plan to ride a LOT of JR trains during your trip, you’ll almost certainly save money by buying individual train tickets instead a Japan Rail Pass.
• You can buy shinkansen tickets online (before or after arrival) on the Tokaido, Sanyo and Kyushu lines (between Tokyo,Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima and Hakata). See our pages How To Buy Shinkansen Bullet Train Tickets and How To Make Japan Train Reservations for details.
• You can also easily buy shinkansen and regular JR tickets after arriving in Japan at any JR train station. You can buy them same day or the day before most of the year. Golden Week (early May) and the New Year’s periods are the only times when you should buy tickets further in advance.

The Price Increase

Japan Rail (JR) will raise the prices for Japan Rail Passes on October 1, 2023, by about 70%. Once the prices are raised, most people will do better buying individual tickets for their trip. Here are the new rates (note that child pass rates are not yet available – we will add them here as soon as we have them).

500 series shinkansen – image © ERIC SALARD / CC BY-SA 2.0

Is the Japan Rail Pass Still Worth It?

An ordinary one-week pass will cost ¥50,000. A one-way trip on the shinkansen between Tokyo and Kyoto costs ¥13,320, so you’d have to make almost four trips between Tokyo and Kyoto (ie, two ROUND trips) in one week for the pass to pay off. If you’re staying two weeks, you’d have to do eight trips (four ROUND trips) between Tokyo and Kyoto for the pass to pay off. Sure, if you really intend to do a lot of travel on JR trains during your trip, a Japan Rail Pass might make sense, but for most people, it won’t.

Riding the Nozomi and Mizuho Shinkansen

With the old Japan Rail Pass, it was not possible to ride the fastest shinkansen (the Nozomi and Mizuho) on the Tokaido/Sanyo/Kyushu shinkansen (the line running between Tokyo and Kyushu, via cities like Kyoto, Osaka and Hiroshima). Now, if you’ve got a Japan Rail Pass, you can buy a special extra ticket to ride the Nozomi and the Mizuho. Here are the details from JR (scroll down).

Nozomi shinkanen – image © Doug Letterman / CC BY 2.0

Is The Price Increase a Bad Thing?

Yes and no. It’s definitely a bad thing for people on a really tight budget. It’s also bad for those people who enjoyed the convenience of the pass, which allowed you to just waltz up and board the next train going in your direct. However, I know from my consulting work that a lot of people spent a lot of time agonizing about which pass to buy, where to buy it and how to use it. Now, all this worry is gone. For most people, a Japan Rail Pass will not save them money. That’s one less thing on the Japan Trip To Do list. And, with IC Cards (like Welcome Suica, Pasmo Passport and Icoca) for local JR travel and SmartEX for online shinkansen ticket reservation and purchase, it’s increasingly easy to ride JR lines for tourists.

Should You Buy a Green Pass or Ordinary Pass?

See Japan Rail: Green Cars vs Ordinary Cars for a complete breakdown of the pros and cons of a Green Pass versus Ordinary Pass.

Should You Buy a Regional JR Pass Instead?

The prices for the regional JR passes will also increase significantly on October 1. For most people, these passes will not save them money, but it’s worth taking a look at these passes if you intend to do a lot of travel in a short time in a limited area.

How and When Should You Buy Individual JR Tickets?

You can buy shinkansen tickets online (before or after arrival) on the Tokaido, Sanyo and Kyushu lines (between Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima and Hakata). See How To Buy Shinkansen Bullet Train Tickets and How To Make Japan Train Reservations for details. You can also easily buy shinkansen and regular JR tickets after arriving in Japan at any JR station in Japan. You can buy them same day or the day before most of the year. Golden Week (early May) and the New Year’s periods are the only times when you should buy tickets further in advance.

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Mon 18 Dec 2023

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Thu 21 Dec 2023

Alternatives to the Shinkansen

ANA plane in Japan – image © lkarasawa / CC BY 2.0

For moderate distances like Tokyo to Kyoto, we still strongly recommend the shinkansen. But, if you’re doing a longer trip, like Tokyo to Fukuoka/Hakata or Tokyo to Sapporo, then flying is a great option for those short on time. Search here for great deals on domestic flights in Japan. If you’ve got plenty of time, an overnight ferry is an interesting and often overlooked option. Check our Japan Ferries page for all the details.

Sunflower Ferry – image © Ferry Sunflower Limited

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