Hi Everyone,
Excited for a 10-day trip to Japan in just under a month! First time visitor, and really looking forward to getting to see the country and cramming as much into a short time as possible haha. I have all hotels and flights ready to go, as well as a few activities, and am planning out some of my travel options. It will primarily be my girlfriend and I — so just two people travelling.
As a note, I’ve seen a lot of pages state that purchasing Shinkansen tickets – you can get a discount using SmartEX, specifically in the 21-30 day window. What I’m seeing though, is that it would be almost double the cost to purchase Shinkansen tickets via the SmartEX app as opposed to just buying them in-person at the station.
We are traveling Hiroshima – Osaka on 3/11 and I’m hoping to ride the Hello Kitty Shinkansen that leaves Hiroshima at 08:38 — I’m going to include the prices here, and would love to know if I’m doing something wrong, or if I should truly just wait to purchase from the JR booth at the station.
JR Website — lists Hiroshima to Shin-Osaka 7,900 Yen [https://www.westjr.co.jp/global/en/ticket/pass/one\_way/sanyo-shinkansen/](https://www.westjr.co.jp/global/en/ticket/pass/one_way/sanyo-shinkansen/)
SmartEX — lists the same Hiroshima to Shin-Osaka 10,220 Yen [https://imgur.com/a/zxQGoPt](https://imgur.com/a/zxQGoPt)
(I’m assuming that this is the total price for two people, so half of that would be the individual price)
So — SmartEX is more expensive? Does anyone think that there is a strong reason to book a weekday Shinkansen far in advance? Or I should just hold out for purchasing the tickets at the station.
Thanks for any advice, and I will absolutely be back to share my itinerary / look for any ideas!
by BrotherLary247