JR Pass Price Increase Discussion Thread – Part 1: JR Pass

26 comments

1. If I buy the jr pass right now from a third party vendor, at the old price, I can still take the shinkansen in November?

2. So with the new prices, Tokyo-Kyoto Kyoto-Nagano and Nagano-Tokyo is not cost effective right?

3. I’m going in November for 21 days can I buy it now and activate when I arrive? Also what website is the most trustworthy to purchase from?

4. Will this also affect one-way Shinkansen Tickets (i.e. Tokyo to Osaka), or just exclusively for JR Passes?

5. What is the difference of purchasing the JR pass from third party and JR itself? Shouldn’t purchasing it directly from JR be cheaper comparitively?

6. Are the price hikes only on the 7, 14 & 21 JR Passes? Are regional passes affected by the increases?

7. i dont believe the jr pass was ever worth it unless you were constantly on the move.

8. Thank you for this. It gave me the final nudge to check all the trains I know I’ll be taking in November. If google’s pricing can be trusted, it looks like my total will be less than the current JR Pass price. Lucky me.

9. Just checked and currently I can save about ¥7000, so when I actually go in February I’ll be something like ¥30k worse off buying one? Surely they can see this is an own goal for them? What’s the advantage?

   Unless they’re planning on hiking their rail prices

10. Anyone else just getting one as it’s less of a hassle

11. still works for me since i travel like a crazy person. I tallied my 14 day pass from earlier this year and without it i saved like 700 dollars.

12. Seeing as how time is running out to buy the old pass, would it be worth it for a weeklong trek around central Japan? Thinking of doing something along the lines of Tokyo->Kiso Valley->Nagoya->Kanazawa->Nagano->Tokyo.

13. I’m trying to book two passes on the official website but there’s been a disclaimer saying “Currently unavailable for maintenance purposes” for more then 24hrs now. Has anyone else had the same issue?

14. Discounts for Shinkansen tickets are available widely across the board from JR itself and through travel agencies like JTB nowadays as long as you reserve in advance (doesn’t even need to be super far ahead as I reserved Shinkansen tickets for 8.5k yen for Hakata to Osaka through JTB vs the normal 15k price only a couple days prior) so the pass is now only reasonable if you’re seriously traveling long distance or don’t want to think about the logistics of booking or planning as I know it’s kind of stressful.

15. Welp i planned to purchase a voucher on the 29th and land on dec 28th to redeem…

    Hopefully JTB or others will still have vouchers at the old price

16. Novice here… and forgive me if these are dumb clarifications. I’m planning to arrive in Tokyo in early October and would have gotten the 7 day pass to do Tokyo-Kyoto, Kyoto-Osaka, Osaka-Tokyo (plus whatever local transit was permitted as part of pass). At old price, it seemed to be barely worth it to purchase the JR pass. Is it even worth bothering with getting a JR pass now, with minimal cost savings?

    I’m okay spending a little extra if it’s feasible to book tickets at the train station with little difficulty. I already know which days I’ll be doing the train journeys. Is this easy enough to do once I get to Japan?

17. I’ve found that prices to fly between major cities in Japan are quite inexpensive if you can book ahead. And the local JAL and ANA web sites are often better value than their out of country sites.

18. The last time I used the railpass was 2020. Do I still have to show my pass to a JR staff member everytime I enter a train platform?

19. Hello, my understanding is weak and I apologize.

    But my trip is from November 1 to 15, I was planning to buy a 7 day pass to go from Tokyo to Osaka then to Kyoto then to Tokyo.
    Do you recommend taking the pass after the increase or do you recommend purchasing it from a third party now befor 1 oct?
    What are the best options for me?

20. So my itinerary looks to be around 27-30k yen for rail (Tokyo->Kyoto, Kyoto->Nara, Nara->Kyoto, Kyoto->Hakone, Hakone->Tokyo), so roughly the same as a JR Pass.

    Is it simpler to just have a JR Pass or should I just buy my tickets per trip?

21. I wanted to buy from JR directly for the online reservations, but they only allow you to purchase passes a month in advance… 🙃 My trip is in December. RIP.

22. That’s quite steep.

    Are these used a lot by locals as well?

23. Did JR ever specify the date for the change?
    In the original notice, it just said “around October.” Which I know we should assume October 1st, but I find it interesting that I haven’t seen a document since then that actually has a real date.
    Also wasn’t JR supposed to release more information in “early September”?

24. >Miyajima
    >
    >In a somewhat unrelated news: visitors to Miyajima will be required to pay 100 yen visitor starting the ferry (cash only) starting on 1 October – this includes visitors using JR Pass.

    ​

    Was this covered with the regular JR pass before? I was looking into the Hiroshima pass and it’s covered. I mean, 100 yen isn’t a big deal to me but it would be good to know when I am there in early October

25. I land in Dec 3, would it be possible to buy in sept 24 and activate it on Dec 3. Official site is only 30 days after purchase but some 3rd party say if you purchase now they will ship closer to your arrival. Any clue?

26. Is there any reason for the price increases? Those numbers are staggering for the ordinary person.