Due to the plunged tourist figures for the past few months, JR East will be cutting Shinkansen fares by half for all of its trains until March 31,2021 EXCEPT the Hokuriku Shinkansen Kagayaki and Hakutaka services to Nagano, Kanazawa and Toyama, which the discount is only until September 30, 2020 (too early for foreign travel). Take note that this only covers JR East trains, which means that the famous Tokaido Shinkansen route from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka is not covered. Same goes that northbound trains only go as far as Shin-Aomori, the Hokkaido portion to Shin-Hakodate is also not covered. While the COVID-19 situation is still far-flung, this is a good start for travelers once Japan reopens for international tourism.
Assessment: To sum it up, given the coverage of JR East Shinkansen trains, this discount in theory makes better sense for domestic travelers (Japanese citizens and permanent foreign residents) due to their ineligibility in purchasing JR East passes but if you are doing just one side-trip from Tokyo on certain areas requiring just a roundtrip Shinkansen ticket and little anything else, this is a PHENOMENAL option. If you are traveling a long distance side-trip, Tokyo to Sendai, Tokyo to Niigata, or even Tokyo to Gala-Yuzawa (during winter), you will be at a much better position to avail these discounted tickets instead of wasting a JR East Pass like the Tohoku Pass or the Nagano-Niigata Area pass.
Case in point of savings: A roundtrip ticket from Tokyo to Niigata costs a little over JPY 10,000 with the discount while the JR Nagano Niigata Area pass costs around JPY 18,000. Unless you will make use of more routes within the Nagano-Niigata area as well as taking the Narita Express back home, the discounted roundtrip ticket makes more sense.
In contrast, far-flung regions Tokyo to Shin-Aomori or Akita are ridiculously expensive in purchasing Shinkansen tickets alone. Figure around JPY 18,000 on DISCOUNTED roundtrip tickets. Even with a discount, you may better be off purchasing the JR East Tohoku Area Pass, which costs a few thousand yen more.
https://www.timeout.com/tokyo/news/jr-east-will-cut-shinkansen-ticket-prices-in-half-until-march-2021
5 comments
The title and the content is misleading.
This fare is only available via Ekinet. Ekinet account is free, but you need to pay by credit card. You cannot buy the promotion ticket at the station. This is important. Not sure if Ekinet also support foreign credit card, since there is a separate system for tourist (JR East Train Reservation), and JRE doesn’t say whether this fare will be available on the English version of the system (a lot of special fare like this doesn’t end up on the English system).
Moreover, there is a limited number of this fare per train, and it’s in first come fist serve system. And it’s only available for purchase 30 to 20 days before departure date.
i cant buy the tohoku pass because i live in japan
Will these fares show up on the smartEX app?
If you buy a ticket for another station, farther than what is stated on the site, do you still receive the discount until that destination and then pay the normal price from the discounted station? Or will it just be the normal fare price because you aren’t taking the exact route stated?
It’d be wishful thinking for anyone outside of Japan thinking they’re going to be able to take advantage of this. But if Japan is open for international tourism by then I’d still rather buy a railpass over these kind of tickets anyway. Obviously this is aimed at the domestic market and to that end I hope it gets people out of Tokyo spending money in smaller cities and communities.