Should You Buy a Japan Rail Pass? How To Decide

The prices for the Japan Rail Pass (JRP) increased by about 70% on October 1, 2023. While formerly a good deal for most travelers, now only certain travelers will benefit from buying a JRP. How do you decide whether or not to buy a JRP? Read on for all the details.

Old school Japan Rail Pass with ticket holder: antb / Shutterstock.com

The Takeaway:

• The pass is expensive and won’t save most people money. It requires an in-person pick-up in Japan and doesn’t allow you to ride the Nozomi or Mizuho shinkansen without buying an additional ticket. Thus, it’s really not a good idea for anyone except budget travelers who plan to do a lot of JR train travel.
• Pros: saves you money if you do a lot of JR rail travel; ability to use of JR online booking system when you buy direct from Japan Rail (JR) online.
• Cons: expensive; need to pick up pass at JR office/ticket machine (long lines); must buy an additional ticket to ride Nozomi and Mizuho shinkansen.
• If you will do more than four 2hr-plus shinkansen trips in a week, the 7-day pass will save you money.
• If you will do more than eight 2hr-plus shinkansen trips in a two-week trip, the 14-day pass will save you money.
• You don’t need a rail pass to ride the shinkansen or other JR trains.
• Buying individual shinkansen and regular train tickets is easy in Japan.
• Ferries, long-distance buses and flying are all good options.

The Basic Math

For most people, whether or not to buy a JRP comes down to a simple mathematical calculation: Will a JRP save you money? A regular one-week pass will cost ¥50,000. A one-way trip on the shinkansen between Tokyo and Kyoto will cost ¥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 of those trips (four ROUND trips). So if you really intend to do a LOT of travel on JR trains during your trip, a JRP might make sense, but for most people, it won’t. For more on JRP prices and other details, see Japan Rail Pass, Is it Worth It?

There are many JRP calculators out there to calculate the cost of buying individual trips vs buying a JRP. We like this Japan Rail Pass Calculator.

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

Before You Decide, You Must Know These Things

• Whether you buy the JRP direct from JR or from a third-party vendor, you must pick up the pass in person in Japan. This usually means waiting in line.
• If you buy a JRP direct from JR, but you can use the JR online reservation system to reserve your tickets. But you still have to pick up your reserved seat tickets from ticket counters or machines, which usually means waiting in line.
• If you buy the JRP from a third-party vendor, you will have to reserve seats at ticket counters or special machines at JR stations. This usually means waiting in line.
• With a JRP, if you want to ride the fastest shinkansen (Nozomi and Mizuho), you must buy a special ticket, which is costly and involves waiting on line. As an example, the special ticket for a Nozomi shinkansen between Tokyo and Kyoto costs ¥4960.
• All shinkansen and regular trains have unreserved seats. If you are okay with unreserved seats, with a JRP you can just board any train you want (except Nozomi and Mizuho shinkansen) without a reservation (so no waiting in line at ticket counters and machines).
• Shinkansen are getting very crowded these days, so most people should reserve seats (especially families, groups and older travelers).
• It’s rare for the unreserved seats on shinkansen to be completely occupied. Solo travelers will usually find an open seat. Couples may not be able to sit together.
• If you board a shinkansen at the station where it originates, you’ll almost always find open seats in the unreserved cars. If they’re full, just wait until the next train (and you’ll be near the front of the line so you’ll have no problem getting seats).
• If you hate waiting in line, don’t mind the uncertainty of unreserved seats, and love the convenience of just boarding the next train going your direction (except Nozomi or Mizuho shinkansen), a JRP can be a good choice even if it doesn’t save you money.

My Own Experience

In the past, I used to buy JRPs and simply board the next shinkansen going my way (usually, a Hikari shinkansen between Kyoto and Tokyo). I NEVER reserved seats unless I was traveling with my family. I always managed to get a seat. I loved the convenience of the pass because I never had to go into ticket offices or wait in line for ticket machines. Now, I’m less likely to buy a JRP unless I’m doing a LOT of long shinkansen trips on a particular trip. These days, I usually just ride the shinkansen between Kyoto and Tokyo or Kyoto and Osaka. For this, I use SmartEX paired with a digital Suica or Icoca on my iPhone to buy individual shinkansen tickets, a system I describe here.

Final Thoughts

Many visitors to Japan are under the impression that you need a Japan Rail Pass to ride the shinkansen or other express trains. That is false. You can always buy individual tickets. Despite what I’ve said about long lines, it’s not hard to buy individual tickets. Outside of busy times, you can often walk right up to a shinkansen ticket machine and buy a ticket. Likewise, outside of busy times, the lines at ticket counters are pretty short and tend to move fast. And since an individual ticket gives you the freedom of riding any shinkansen you want, including the Nozomi and Mizuho (the fastest ones), you should probably forget about a Japan Rail Pass.

For More Information:

• Japan Rail Pass – Is It Worth It?
• Japan Rail Pass – How to Make the Most of It

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