Anyone else notice the non-reserved seats on the Nozomi trains jam packed with Japan RailPass tourists? I’m shocked JR lets so many people get away with it. I was just on a train where the JR agent apologized to a group, saying they must get off at the next stop afterward giving them handwritten instructions with their transfer instructions.
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It’s probably not as clear as it should be.
I guess that’s why they’re tripling the prices of the pass though.
I mean, I know tourists who abuse this all the time too. If you board Nozomi at Shin-Yokohama and forced to get out at the next stop, it’s already Nagoya. You have already reaped the benefit of Nozomi.
And since mistake genuinely happen they don’t want force everyone to pay the correct fare (since it would be like 14,000 yen). I guess with the new pass that let you buy supplement ticket for Nozomi (price hasn’t been announced but I would assume in 1000-2000 yen range) they could just force people to pay.
Romancecar (needs pre-reservation) on Odakyu line is full of confused tourists sitting in other people’s seats. Must be a mare for the conductor recently. They need a sign near the boarding doors, or a station announcement.
The upcoming changes to the JR pass will allow Nozomi use, but will also make the pass far more expensive. ~~3x the price or something.~~ [Edit: Not 3x the price. Not even 2x the price. It’s going up by around 70%, depending on the pass type and length. [See here](https://www.jrpass.com/blog/pricing-and-perk-changes-to-the-japan-rail-pass).] It is likely to cut down on users.
I miss the early pandemic days when I was often the only person in the entire car on a Friday evening departing Tokyo. Crazy.