How to use the Japan Rail Pass (JRP) It is one of the queries we receive most when you start planning your trip to Japan. Considered as the best way to move in the Japanese country, both for its price and for its ease of use, although initially it may seem quite the opposite, the JR Pass is in almost all cases, the most recommended option to tour Japan.
Based on the two times we have visited the country, the first on a trip to Japan for free and the second living in Kyoto and touring much of the country for almost two months, during which we wrote this guide to travel to Japan, we tell you everything we know about how to use the Japan Rail Pass (JRP). We start!
What is the Japan Rail Pass
The Japan Rail Pass or JRP is a kind of subscription, with which you will have unlimited access to all trains of the National Railways network of Japan, including the famous shinkansen bullet trains, all local trains, the Tokyo subway, Kyoto and Osaka and the JR Buses and JR Ferry line.
Although it was only recently possible to buy from outside Japan, it can currently be purchased even when you are in the country, although it is much more expensive, so it is still highly recommended to book the JRP of 7.14 or 21 days with shipping included from Spain or your country of origin.
Although we will talk later in more detail, in general we can say that any traveler will benefit from buying the JR Pass, especially if you are going to make a trip that includes a route through the places to see in Japan essential and transfers between the main Country airports and cities.
Where to buy the JR Pass
As we mentioned before, the most recommended is buy the Japan Rail Pass from outside Japan. The purchase process is very easy and fast as well as intuitive and you can book it here with shipping included.
Shipping to Spain is free for a minimum order of 528 euros, children from 0 to 5 years travel for free and children from 6 to 11 have a 50% discount.
You also have to keep in mind that you must activate the JRP before 90 days after the day of purchase, so this must be the maximum time in advance of your trip with which you can buy the Japan Rail Pass.
In the purchase process they will ask you for the date of arrival in Japan, so that they can send it to you well in advance and you are within those terms of issuance of the voucher and the delivery address.
You can buy the JRP of 7.14 or 21 days with shipping included here.
How to use the Japan Rail Pass (JRP)
Recommended travel cardsRemember that in order not to pay commissions and always have the current change we recommend you use the N26 card to pay and the Bnext and Revolut cards to get money at the ATMs. They are the ones we use, They are free and will save you a lot.
You can find more information in this article about the best cards to travel without commissions.
Price
The Japan Rail Pass price Initially it may seem expensive, but we assure you that as we will explain later, it more than compensates for the price you should pay if you purchased the train routes separately.
- JRP 7 days 247 euros
- JRP 14 days 393 euros
- JRP 21 days 504 euros
You can buy the JRP of 7.14 or 21 days with shipping included here.
How to start using the Japan Rail Pass (JRP)
The first thing you must do to use the Japan Rail Pass is to activate JRP of 7.14 or 21 days that you have previously purchased.
Remember that what you will have received at the address you provided will be a bonus and you must activate it and redeem it at any JRP office, there are in all major cities of Japan, at stations and at airports, for the pass Japan Rail Pass, which will be the document you can use during your trip to Japan.
Once you're in the JRP Office, you must show your passport and your Japan Rail Pass (the one you will have received at home) and confirm with them what the JRP activation date will be, that is, the day you will start using it and from which they will start counting 7.14 or 21 days.
Keep in mind that the pass is valid for full days, so it is highly recommended to activate it the day you really need it. Similarly, you have to keep in mind that the start date of the JRP must be within 30 days from when you change it for the bonus you received.
Another important thing is to be clear that with the JRP of 7.14 or 21 days you can access any train that is included in the JRP, whether or not you have a reserved seat. The only problem What you can have is that if you do not have a reserved seat and want to make a very tourist route or on very specific dates, you must go in the wagons indicated as "without reservation", which are usually full, and if you can't find a seat, you should go on your feet. Despite that, you can always access the train, even if you don't have a reservation.
How to use the Japan Rail Pass (JRP)
How to book tickets with the JRP
Once you have redeemed your voucher for the JRP of 7.14 or 21 days, you can get the train tickets in different ways:
Book all the routes of your trip to Japan (recommended if you have a defined route):
This is the option that we recommend if you have a closed itinerary and you have clear dates and times in which you want to make each of the routes. In this case, in the same office where you purchased the JRP you can ask to make reservations for all the routes (local trains, such as the one that goes from Kyoto to Nara, should not be booked).
Keep in mind that the Japan Rail Pass includes unlimited journeys, so if necessary, you can make more reservations or ride the trains you want without reservation during the validity of the JRP.
To make all reservations we recommend you use Hyperdia and point on paper or print all routes, with the corresponding schedules you want to book. For the JR Pass staff and for you it will be much easier, since with this data you will go much faster and they will understand you much better. Do not worry that in all tourist stations, such as Kyoto and Tokyo, there are staff that speaks English and will help you with any questions you have.
Once they have made all the reservations, they will give you all the train tickets, in which you will be able to see all the data, including the car and reserved seat.
Train ticket in Japan
Book only some routes (recommended if you are not clear about your route through Japan):
This is the most recommended option if you do not have very clear the route you want to do during your trip or have doubts in some of the sections. In this case you can use your JRP of 7.14 or 21 days to reserve only the routes you have clear or do it as you need them.
An example would be the journey from Tokyo to Fuji. Normally travelers expect a day that is clear to make this excursion, so in this case, you could make the reservation the day before or even the same day, with a reasonable time in advance, before the train leaves and whenever There are seats, or directly go in the wagons without a reserved seat, which you can access directly only by showing your JRP.
Do not book anything and do it on the go or travel in the wagons with no reserved seat available on all trains:
This is the option that we opted for in some of the trips we made on the last trip to Japan, although you should keep in mind that it is not the most recommended, especially in high season or festive dates, since you must go on the Wagons without reservation and you can risk that they are full and you should travel on foot.
That said, we also have to say that we have traveled without reservation on many routes in full hanami and during the Golden Week and we have always found a seat in the cars without reservation, yes, being about 20 minutes before at the departure platform and leaving from stations "key" like Tokyo or Kyoto.
Seat reservation office for shinkansen
How to access the train
Once you have the JRP of 7.14 or 21 days and train tickets, in case you have made the reservations, you must follow the following steps:
- Remember to always have the Japan Rail Pass on hand, since both to access the platforms and on the train itself, you will need it.
- To access the platforms there are some machines in which you must put the tickets so that the barriers are opened. If you have not made a previous reservation and you do not have a ticket (you only have the JRP pass), you must go to the office that is usually on one side and show the JR Pass to the staff and they, after reviewing it, will open the barriers for you to access Here we want to make a subsection and it is necessary to take into account that having a Japan Rail Pass (JRP) does not give you the right to skip the lines or have priority of any kind. Always respect the queues and wait for the staff to give you the authorization to pass.
- Once you have passed the barriers, you should look in the information panels for the platform on which your train leaves, either a shinkansen or a local one. Keep in mind that depending on the type of train, it will leave from one area or another of the station.
To have all this data it is very useful to use the Hyperdia application, with which you can make the query and see directly from where the train leaves. - Once you are clear about the platform on which your train leaves, you just have to follow the directions you will see on the signs. Surely the first time you will think that it is very difficult and even impossible. We assure you that the moment you do it twice, you will see how incredibly intuitive everything is.
Signs indications platforms. How to use the Japan Rail Pass
- After following the indications, in some cases, depending on the type of train, you will have to re-teach your JRP to access the platforms.
- Once you are on the platform, you should look for the information panels, in which you will see the name of the train, the number of cars that the train has and something very important, the cars you can go in case you do not have a seat reservation . Keep in mind that these panels are not the same, much less in all stations and for all types of train, but in general, they all follow the same form, so knowing one, interpreting the rest is very easy.
Platform signaling. How to use the JRP
- In addition to the information panels, you will see that there are other panels (both on the floor and on the ceiling) that indicate exactly where each of the train cars will stop. You must wait right at the place where it says that the wagon indicated on your ticket will stop, in case of carrying a reservation or in the assigned wagons without reservation, in case you don't have it.
Information on the platforms
- Keep in mind that in the same floor panels, you will see some lines that indicate the direction in which the tail should be made, which is normally parallel to the train, leaving a space in the middle, for people to leave.
- Once inside the train, you will see that the information of the seats is very clear, being at the top of them. In addition, there is usually extra train information in several areas.
How to use the JRP
Tips for using the JR Pass
Although we believe that we have already explained the most important aspects of the Japan Rail Pass, we want to leave you some tips on how to use it or certain situations in which you can find yourself so that this whole process is as easy and intuitive as possible.
- Although it is said that if a train in Japan does not arrive on time it is that you have broken the clock, lately we have seen more than one case of delays, so it is important to be attentive to the information panels to not get the train wrong and ride one that is not.
- At least the first time you go to use the Japan Rail Pass (JRP), you see the station with time because although you will see that the process is much easier than it may seem, the first time is not intuitive and it is worth having that extra time to avoid races and nerves.
- Once you know how everything works, you can go with the fairest time even if you do not forget that each station is totally different and in many occasions, they are so great that even, it will not be difficult to get lost.
- If you do not have a reservation, before accessing the platforms, check the wagons marked as without reservation to go directly to the area where they will stop. In addition to this, we advise you to go with some extra time, to be among the first in the queue and have more options to find a seat.
Shops in train stations
How to have internet in Japan?If you want to have internet in Japan a good option is to buy one Holafly SIM card, with which you will have internet from the moment you land, several GB of data, keeping your WhatsApp number and support service in Spanish.
You can buy your Holafly prepaid SIM card here with a 5% discount for being our reader.
Do I buy or not the JRP?
One of the messages we receive most, in addition to how to use the Japan Rail Pass (JRP), is asking us the question of whether It is or not recommended to buy the JPR and for how many days is the best option.
As we always say, it is not easy to give an answer, since this depends only on the route you are going to do and there is no general rule. To find out if the JR Pass is profitable in your case, we recommend you to simulate your route, pointing out all the routes and their prices.
To do this simulation you can follow these steps:
- Download the Hyperdia application or enter its website. Here you have all the information on how to use HyperDia.
- Once you have it, you see looking each way the price of each one of them and you see it pointing.
- When you have them all, you just have to compare the total prices with the prices of the Japan Rail Pass, which you can see at the beginning of the post, to see which is the most appropriate option to your needs and if it is profitable or not to buy it for your trip.
You can buy here the JRP of 7.14 or 21 days with shipping included
In case the price difference is very small, think about the comfort of the JRP and that this also includes the Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka metro, in addition to the JR Buses and JR Ferry line, which you will use if you go to Miyajima, so in case of doubt, it is always advisable to buy it.
Examples of routes in Japan with and without JR Pass
We leave several examples of usual tourist routes so you can see if it compensates or not the purchase of the JRP of 7.14 or 21 days with shipping included
Purchase of all routes separately, without JRP
- Osaka Airport (Kansai) - Kyoto route: 3370 yen // Round trip 6740 yen
- Kyoto Route - Himeji Castle: 5370 yen // Round trip 10640 yen
- Kyoto - Hiroshima - Miyajima route: 11090 yen (Kyoto-Hiroshima section) + 410 yen (Hiroshima-Miyamiguchi section) + 180 yen Miyamiguchi-Miyajima ferry // 23360 yen Round trip
- Kyoto - Osaka route: 2810 yen // 5620 yen Round trip
- Kyoto - Tokyo Route: 13600 yen // We count only one way, since we understand that on this route, you will leave by Tokyo.
- Tokyo - Nikko route: 5580 yen // 11160 yen Round trip
- Tokyo - Fuji route: 1500 yen // 3000 yen Round trip (one part is covered by the JRP and the other is not)
Total 74120 yen = 619 euros
How to use the Japan Rail Pass (JRP)
Buy here your JRP of 7.14 or 21 days with shipping included
With this in mind, buying the JRP of 7.14 or 21 days with shipping included is a big savings, especially if you concentrate all these trips in 7 days and buy the cheapest JR Pass.
Even in this specific case, if your trip to Japan is 14 days or more, you could consider buying the JRP of 14 days with shipping included and thus have more flexibility in the journeys, being able to do them in a wider space of time, saving Even in this way a lot of money.
You can expand the information on transport in the post How to use transport in Japan.
