Hey all,
I’m heading back for my second trip to Japan for a little over two weeks towards the end of September. Previously, my daughter and I did the usual Tokyo/Kyoto/Osaka/Tokyo itenerary, and had a blast. We had a one week JR pass for that trip.
This time, I’m going solo, and I want to concentrate on Japan’s extensive rail network, mostly in rural areas. I love trains, and have ridden them all over the world, but I didn’t care much for the famed bullet trains. When I’m on a train, I’m not in a hurry, and in particular, the styling of the shinkansen seemed to want to emulate a jet aircraft with the small oval windows, and general vibe. We made a side day trip to Nara (awesome), and as our pass had expired at that point, we made our way back to tokyo through a series of non-shinkansen trains, and it was such a better experience for viewing the area you are traveling through. Big windows, somewhat slower speed, made for a richer experience, for my tastes at least.
So my plan for this uppcoming trip is, trains, and more trains, and after that, I’ll ride some trains. It would seem as though I’m a slam dunk candidate for a two week rail pass, but my question is this: All the rail pass calculators are based on shinkansen fares, which are quite steep. So, it’s easy to suggest that if one is doing more than a round trip from Tokyo to Kyoto and back, the pass is worth it. But I’m having a hard time finding the price of the slower, less glamorous trains, the ones where you just use your Suica card and go. On one hand, if the main activity of the trip is riding trains, it would that perhaps I’m overthinking this, and wouldn’t save at all by paying the fares a la carte. As I said, all the information is geared towards the trains I have no interest in. The kind of trains I’d like to ride are the ones I see on this guy’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@AUNZRAILFAN
Thanks for any ideas or suggestions. I’m fine with buying a two week pass if it makes sense financially, but a lot of lines in Japan aren’t owned by JR, and aren’t covered, like this little gem, which is a whopping 310 yen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-Dt3sAdK2s&t=803s
TL;DR: Is a rail pass worth it if you don’t want to ride shinkansen?
9 comments
You can use the Navitime app to find out how much local trains cost. There’s a filter that can exclude Shinkansen (and other modes of transport). From a quick search, Tokyo to Kyoto one way on slower trains will cost 10-15k yen and 8 hours. For reference a Shinkansen for the same trip is 13k yen and 2.5 hours.
Without knowing your actual route, it’s hard to say whether or not the pass is worth it. If you’re only planning Tokyo to Kyoto and back, a 14 day pass isn’t worth it whether or not you use the Shinkansen.
Ah, a fellow railfan. Welcome. I currently live here, so DM if you got further questions.
What you’re looking for is the Seishun 18 Ticket. Three times a year, JR sells these tickets to allow for 5 days of continuous or non continuous use for any local or rapid train in the country. The exception is you’ll need a supplement ticket to cross over into Hokkaido. The next period of sale, I believe, is in July-August and in winter.
This is perfect if you’re looking for that slow change of pace. It’s also economical. You can do Tokyo to Osaka for the equivalent of around ¥2500
I did the Romance train in arashiyama and it was a fun experience in an older style, simple train. I believe beside the entrance is a railway museum which I was sad to not have time for
I’m going in November with a similar theme, so I would love to hear about your experience. JR runs some “joyful trains” which look interesting, but I’m still trying to figure out how best to book them.
You want to take cruise trains. They are geared towards tourists both foreign and domestic. A lot of regions have them and would feature local themes. Can’t speak on the math because that will take a while to do but take shinkansen to where the cruise train is then take that. I am planning an entire Kyushu cruise train itinerary. Feel free to DM.
I don’t really train, but given your enthusiasm, I want to help you find more fun local rail lines. I did love the local from Kyoto to Matsumoto, and then Matsumoto to Nagano. There was just something about being on a rail spur that had to backtrack from one stop to get everybody to Nagano on time that was so cute, I loved it. Also the cute local train from Ueda to Bessho Onsen, all Sanada-themed. The view wasn’t the most pretty but it was so very viscerally real backwater Japan. If your trip takes you between Tohoku and Kanto, you can find reasons to go through the Nagano valley and enjoy all of the local lines.
Our next trip, also at the end of September this year, is going to have a focus too on trains. My partner and I are going to explore using the [Joyful trains](https://www.jreast.co.jp/multi/en/joyful/) (which I believe is covered by the JR Pass). This seems like a fun, and much slower, way of seeing the Japanese countryside.
Would be great to hear from others here who have experienced them!
Not on purpose, but I took the slow local train from Akita down to Sakata, and if trains are your thing, I highly recommend trying to fit that into your plans. There are occasional express trains (not shinkansen) but I was on a local. It has lots of stops and the train runs along the beach with Mt. Chokai near it. I want to say it was one of those tiny 1 car local trains.
The Aoimori line replaced the limited express that use to run from Aomori to Hachinohoe before the shinkansen went to Shin-Aomori. You can take it to the Ominato line out to Shimokita Peninsula. It’s really far out there.
You’ll have to do some research on whether non-shinkansen still go between Aomori and Hakodate. Honestly, since you are just in a tunnel under the water, you’re not seeing much out the window, it’s more cool what you are doing.
Over in Kansai, I enjoyed taking the Kuroshio down to Tanabe. I’ve done the express as well as locals.
I don’t know how you got between Nara and Tokyo, but I really enjoyed the Kintetsu line between Yamato-Yagi up to Nagoya. My favorite part was between Sakurai and Tsu.
You can also go down to Ise and Tobu.
If you like trains, then the pass becomes worth it for stopping off at multiple stations to get the Eki stamp.
I also went to wakayama and kada village just to see the medetai pirate, sakura and fish themed train.