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Has anyone been to Japan???

U

ucGrad

Member
Hi All,
I'm traveling to Japan for a couple weeks in August and I've come across the Japanese Rail Pass. I've never been to Japan so I'm clueless on how this pass would benefit me. For those of you that have been to Japan, do you know if this pass is good only for travelling from city to city (i.e. Osaka to Tokyo) or if this pass will also cover my travel needs within the city (subway, city buses, *Airport to Downtown* train)?

Thanks in advance!

EDIT:: ** Added Questions **
A couple more questions.... I've heard that ATMs that accept American ATM Cards are hard to come by in Japan, so I'm now thinking of bringing Travellers Checks. Has anyone had any good/bad experiences with ATMs and/or Travellers Checks in Japan? Also, my co-worker warned me that if I use a Visa CC in Japan, when I get back to the states and look at my bill, I might get charged some ridiculous 'international fee' or something of that nature, which would be difficult to dispute since I'd probably have to call Japan to dispute it. Any experiences with that problem?

Thanks again!
 
The main attraction is for the use between cities, ride the Shinkansen roundtrip from Tokyo to Kyushu and back or just ride it three times and it pays for itself. Once you get into the cities, you can ride JR local trains, JR buses, or JR ferries (I think) with it for free (I think there were some minor expections and some additional private railways/busways were included but they are minor so you probably wouldn't be using them anyways). How useful it is inside the cities is going to depend on where you want to go.

For example:
Both Narita Airport in Tokyo and Kansai Airport in Osaka are serviced by JR so that would be free.
The subways in both cities are run by the city so you can't use it.
The JR trains run a loop in both cities, it's a little more convinient in Tokyo since many of the attractions (Ueno, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Akihabara, etc) have stations. In Osaka it's a little less convinient, the subway will usually get you closer to the destination.
There are JR, city, and private company buses so depending on which one you need to take to get to your destination you may be able to use it.


I don't know what you're plans are but I would try to focus most of my travelling in the first half or second half of your trip, that way you can use the pass to either get from or get back to the airport, the airport express can run you a few thousand yen. Travelling within cities isn't that expensive so it would be wasteful so you may not want to use it just for that.


It's a fun pass, I travelled all over Japan with my parents when I was in 4th and 5th grade, we had week long passes. The first year we went from Osaka up to Hokkaido, then back to Osaka, touched Shikoku, then went to Kyushu and came back to Osaka. Then the next year we travelled around Hokkaido.
 
If you buy the full JR pass (i.e. not regional ones -- they have those too), then the pass covers ALL JR lines. This means you can freely ride a majority of the rail lines but NOT all, as many lines are privately owned and operated. Private lines tend to have their own station , so you'll know it -- JR lines are at JR stations, Keisei lines at Keisei stations, and so forth. ALL the subway lines are privately owned, including the ones in Tokyo and Osaka. There are, however, surface local lines throughout tokyo and osaka, so you can use the JR pass on those local trains. But you may find it more convenient to pony up the spare change and pay for subway access, as the system is so extensive in Tokyo it's hard not to want to use it. Subways are relatively cheap.

The biggest savings with the JR lines are the shinkansen lines -- these are fully covered in the pass and are generally very expensive to purchase piecemeal tickets+seat reservation on. The JR pass includes a free reserved seat ticket as well (more on this later). If you don't plan on using the shinkansen or some other express train (the overnight ones from Hokkaido to Tokyo for example) then it's not a financially good idea to buy the JR pass. One restriction to be aware of: you cannot use the JR pass on the Nozomi-type shinkansen line. The Nozomi is the fastest shinkansen out there, saving something like 20 minutes on the Tokyo-Osaka trip over the Hikari shinkansen (Hikari and Kodama are OK for the JR pass).

With the JR pass on local lines, you don't buy any tickets. Instead you just flash your JR pass to the attendant who's always adjacent to the automated wicket gates. Upon exit, you must flash your pass again. Reserved seats are not required for shinkansen but very highly recommended, as the unreserved cars tend to be very crowded. Plus if there's no room, you must stand. For a seat assignment, you need to see a manned reservation booth. These guys don't normally speak english very well but if you speak slowly to where you want to go and write down the time, there shouldn't be any problem.

So as I said, only buy the pass if you plan on maximizing your shinkansen or long distance express routes. You might want to pay extra for the green (first class) car pass upgrade -- green cars are significantly quieter and have a lot more leg room than the regular cars.
 
Originally posted by: RadioHead84
you obvioulsy know your stuff lol. How long did you live there?
Click to expand...

23years, on and off. I'm Japanese;p

Currently stuck in buttfumble Pennsylvania, waiting for my passport to come back so I can go work in Denmark.

Which reminds me, I need to see about getting a EuroRail pass...
 
Can you get me some godzilla toys or maybe even a blow up gammera? 😀 😉

Have fun on your trip 😀

Cheers,
Aquaman
 
Could you get me some chinatsu photobooks..
kthnx 😀

Enjoy your trip, and don't forget to take pics of hotties on the street 🙂
 
Thank you kami and vegetation for the detailed replies. It looks like you two know Japan very well. I just spoke with the friend that I'm going with and he suggests we pass on the JR pass and stick with local subway/bus passes since we'll only be using the bullet train once (one way) from Osaka to Tokyo and mainly relying on the subways within the city. After reading both of your suggestions, I agreed.

As for why I'm going... just to go. Two years ago my friend and I talked/joked about going to Japan after we graduated and last week he called me up and asked if I still wanted to go:shocked:😛
 
chinatsu wakatsuki. heh. i saw two ~700mb videos of her up on a jpop tracker.
Chii Natsuiro Omoi and Present
 
Originally posted by: dc
chinatsu wakatsuki. heh. i saw two ~700mb videos of her up on a jpop tracker.
Chii Natsuiro Omoi and Present
Click to expand...

yep got those videos... thanks to andy hui that PM'ed me the links 🙂
 
On the ATM question, ATMs that take American bank cards are VERY few and far between. I have used my bankcard (which has quite a few different systems attached to it) twice that I can recall, and when I went back recently to one of the ATMs that I used successfully in the past, it didn't work. So, in short, do NOT count on using an ATM to withdraw cash.

You could always use your credit card to get a cash advance through a bank. You'll be charged the high interest rate for a cash advance, but if you're only gone a short while or have an electronic bill payment, you can mitigate the problems with that. Travelers checks are probably the better way to go.

As for Visa, your friend is...how shall I say it?...full of it. I have used my credit cards many times here in Okinawa, and I have not had any problems with them whatsoever. One thing to remember though: Japan is a cash society so credit cards are not accepted everywhere! It's easy to forget as an American. Fortunately, the majority of restaurants do accept them, but there are plenty of stores, particularly more traditional ones (kimonos, crafts, etc.) where you may see items you'd like to take back home, that are cash only. The good thing is that petty crime is almost unheard of here so people walking around with five thousand dollars in yen are not worried about being robbed (people will pay their house payments in cash on a monthly basis!).
 
Originally posted by: AndrewR
On the ATM question, ATMs that take American bank cards are VERY few and far between. I have used my bankcard (which has quite a few different systems attached to it) twice that I can recall, and when I went back recently to one of the ATMs that I used successfully in the past, it didn't work. So, in short, do NOT count on using an ATM to withdraw cash.

You could always use your credit card to get a cash advance through a bank. You'll be charged the high interest rate for a cash advance, but if you're only gone a short while or have an electronic bill payment, you can mitigate the problems with that. Travelers checks are probably the better way to go.

As for Visa, your friend is...how shall I say it?...full of it. I have used my credit cards many times here in Okinawa, and I have not had any problems with them whatsoever. One thing to remember though: Japan is a cash society so credit cards are not accepted everywhere! It's easy to forget as an American. Fortunately, the majority of restaurants do accept them, but there are plenty of stores, particularly more traditional ones (kimonos, crafts, etc.) where you may see items you'd like to take back home, that are cash only. The good thing is that petty crime is almost unheard of here so people walking around with five thousand dollars in yen are not worried about being robbed (people will pay their house payments in cash on a monthly basis!).
Click to expand...


Thanks, I thought what he said was bs, but it's good to know for sure. As long as I use my Visa in respectable places I don't think I'll have any problems. That being said... can I use Visa to buy my Rail Passes/Subway passes ?

Thanks again :beer:
 
Nope, cash only to buy tickets for trains. You may be able to get a pre-paid card with a credit card then use the card to buy tickets or just slide it through the ticket reader. However, although most of the railway companies now use the same pre-paid card, it may be a hassle to figure out which one you need.


I'm living in Lancaster, PA right now. Just graduated college and am basically waiting for my passport to come back with my visa and work permit so I can go work in Denmark.
 
About the money question. When I was there in January I found it was just much easier to have cash. Like they said, it is safe so you dont have to worry about carrying it on you. I just converted all my money at the airport, and reconverted it when I left. You can also get cash with your cc in all the post offices there if you need to which is somethign that is nice to be aware of. i never tried to use a card on anything and I didnt see anyone else doing so either.
 
Question for OP or anyone else. How expensive are these JR passes? I am looking into making another trip with more travelling. last time was just tokyo...
 
28500yen for a one week adult, about $260us.

Considering one-way Shinkansen from Osaka to Tokyo is 11800yen, you can see why it's such a deal.
 
Originally posted by: kami333
Nope, cash only to buy tickets for trains. You may be able to get a pre-paid card with a credit card then use the card to buy tickets or just slide it through the ticket reader. However, although most of the railway companies now use the same pre-paid card, it may be a hassle to figure out which one you need.


I'm living in Lancaster, PA right now. Just graduated college and am basically waiting for my passport to come back with my visa and work permit so I can go work in Denmark.
Click to expand...

Thanks again kami, it looks like cash and travellers checks for me then 🙂
 
FYI, I live in Japan right now and the Post Office ATMs take my American ATM card without any problems. Works for all my friends too who live here. Its a Visa Checkcard through my bank, Washington Mutual. Now getting my Japanese ATM to work is a pain in the arse, outside of my home bank that is.

And ATMs close here, 6pm usually, sometimes 3:30pm. No clue why really.
 
Originally posted by: jarfykk
FYI, I live in Japan right now and the Post Office ATMs take my American ATM card without any problems. Works for all my friends too who live here. Its a Visa Checkcard through my bank, Washington Mutual. Now getting my Japanese ATM to work is a pain in the arse, outside of my home bank that is.

And ATMs close here, 6pm usually, sometimes 3:30pm. No clue why really.
Click to expand...

Ahhh.. the Visa Check Card! I forgot my atm card was also a Visa! Good thinking jarfykk! I was worried that I'd have to go find my CC PIN somewhere in all my junk...

Thanks!
 
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