[NOTE: THIS POST WILL BE CONSTANTLY UPDATED AS I WRITE MORE RA VS JAPAN POSTS, WHICH ARE COMPLEMENTARY POSTS TO MY YOUTUBE VIDEO FOUND HERE]
Japan is home to the fastest, safest trains, the world’s busiest stations, the longest train bridge, and the longest suspended monorail system. So naturally, when you visit Japan, your experience is never really complete without taking at least one train ride.
But what if you’re taking a lot of train rides? Here comes an unlimited train ride option for you and it’s called the JR Pass.
Table of Contents
In this post, let us talk about what the JR Pass is, when and when not to get it, and how to use it. But first, let me please invite you to watch the first episode of RA vs Japan, in which I get my JR Pass and use it.
I will be using the JR Pass throughout the RA vs Japan series and in future episodes, I will show you how to reserve seats in shinkansen with your JR Pass if you ever decide to get one. I will also be showing you a video of a train ride in which we cross the longest train bridge in Japan and the world. (Here’s a link to some of the train rides in my YouTube channel, by the way. Please enjoy all of them.)
But back to JR Passes. Let’s that with what it is.
What is a JR Pass?
A JR Pass is ticket that grants you unlimited train rides in JR-operated trains. JR, or the Japan Rail, is a group of companies that split the formerly government-owned Japanese railways company. These passes are only available for those with foreign passports traveling to Japan with a temporary visitor status. In other words, even if you are a foreigner but if your visa is a student visa, a permanent resident visa, an entertainer visa, or any other long-term stay visa, you will not be eligible. However, if you are a Japanese citizen, but you have lived outside of Japan for more than 10 years, you can also avail of the JR Pass as long as you provide Overseas Residential Registration, Certificate of Overseas Residence, and, for those who lived in the USA, Canada, and Brazil, a Permanent Resident Card.
There are also regional JR Passes, but more on those below.
When is it best to avail one?
The JR Pass is not cheap (anymore, unfortunately). So it is best to really study your itinerary before deciding to get one.
If you are a tourist visiting Japan for seven, 14, or 21 days, then it might be beneficial for you. But hold on, you must also consider these:
- If your travel needs shinkansen rides (you know, the bullet trains), then it probably is best to get one. Bullet trains are not cheap and JR Passes allow you to reserve tickets for shinkansen, although reservations are not really required. More on that later. Note that if you want or need to board the two fastest shinkansens (Nozomi or Mizuho), you can still use the JR Pass, but with discounted fees.
- You will do a lot of inter-prefecture travel.
- You already have an itinerary and, after check fare calculators, you found out that it will be cheaper to get a JR Pass. Here are the two fare calculators that I recommend: JRPass.com and Navitime. It’s always best to check two different sources. *wink*
- Since JR exchange vouchers have a validity of three months after issuance, your travel should not be more than three months in the future.
Having said all those, I think that even if you are not going to stay for seven, 14, or 21 days, as long as you find in those calculators that it will benefit your wallet that you get one, definitely get one.
But,
How much do JR Passes cost?
There are ordinary JR Passes and Premium JR Passes, or the Green Class that grants you access to Green Cars (see episode 1 at the 24:35 mark).
I don’t know where you’re from, but in the Philippines, if we hear the words “ordinary seating,” we imagine non-airconditioned buses. These Ordinary cars are nothing like that. They are all clean and the internet, man, the internet is fast.
These prices are for the national JR Passes:
| Ordinary Cars | Green Cars | |
| 7 Days | ¥50,000 (¥25,000 for children) | ¥70,000 (¥35,000) |
| 14 Days | ¥80,000 (¥40,000) | ¥110,000 (¥55,000) |
| 21 Days | ¥100,000 (¥50,000) | ¥140,000 (¥70,000) |
The Green Cars are just basically a separate premium or first-class carriages with more comfortable seats and, in some trains, extra amenities and snacks.
You will need to provide the following when purchasing:
- Full name
- Email address
- Passport number
Where can you get JR Passes?
Ordering a JR Pass is quick and easy. The best way to get one is from Klook. (If you use my referral code J9JYZQ, you will get a P250 discount in any of your first purchases.)
Beware when buying JR Passes because recently, there have been websites that appear to be selling discounted (or sometimes even more expensive) JR Passes, but are actually fake websites put up by scammers. The official JR Pass website is https://japanrailpass.net/en/. But again, if you want ease of ordering, you can just make a Klook account and use my, *clears throat*, referral code.
I ordered one. What now?
Once you order online, an exchange voucher will be mailed to you. (See 20:35 of episode 1 to see how the exchange voucher looks like.)
JR will use the fastest and most secure mailing service, so receiving your exchange voucher should not take more than two weeks.
At a Japanese airport, you will then exchange this voucher at a JR ticket office. You will show your passport at the ticket office. They will then check if you have the temporary visitor sticker.
All exchange vouchers expire after three months of issuance.
Once you’ve acquired your JR Pass, all there’s really left to do is to use it and not lose it. Remember that you will not get a replacement.
To use it, just insert it into an automatic ticket gate like this:
It will go out of the other end of the automatic ticket gate. You just have to grab it and keep it safe.
This post will be updated once I have released an episode that shows how to reserve a shinkansen seat using your JR Pass.
If you have questions, feel free to send me an email at ra@ravstheworld.com, or comment in the video linked about. I’d be happy to respond to you directly (and then I’ll update this post with an answer to your question).
Thank you and enjoy your trip to Japan!
NOTE: Thanks for dropping by and reading this. I have abandoned all of my social media accounts except Bluesky and Reddit. If you want to be updated on the posts here, please subscribe to email alerts here. Thank you and have a nice day!