HUGE JAPAN JR TRAIN PASS CHANGES in 2024 😱 | New Prices, Explanation, Alternatives 🚃

I can’t believe they doubled the cost of the JR pass 🤧🤧

In this video I wanted to talk about the changes that went into effect in October of 2023, some updates, and offer alternative suggestions for people, all while explaining what the JR pass actually is! It used to be an obvious choice for most travelers so it’s unfortunate that it has totally changed….

Let me know in the comments down below what you think or if you have any other advice to give to people!

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🚃 TRAVEL JAPAN WITH JR PASS (affiliate link so buy through here to support me 🥰)
NATIONWIDE PASS (prices unchanged before October 2023): https://click.jrpass.com/SH6k
REGIONAL PASSES: https://click.jrpass.com/SH6l
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Baggage Rules: https://www.westjr.co.jp/global/en/howto/baggage/
Luggage Delivery: https://www.global-yamato.com/en/hands-free-travel/scene02.html

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🔰 timestamps 🔰
0:00-1:00 intro
1:01-4:49 what is the JR pass?
5:00-7:41 the real price of the JR pass
7:42-14:32 what’s changed since 2020
14:31-18:29 alternatives

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HUGE JAPAN JR TRAIN PASS CHANGES in 2024 😱 | New Prices, Explanation, Alternatives 🚃

The Jr pass is dead in October of 2023 they changed the Jr pass and many people are saying it is dead so today let’s go over how the Jr pass has changed is it worth it why did they do this and we’re also going to go over some Alternatives so whether you’re a

First-time traveler to Japan or a seasoned one who has not come over since the pandemic this video is for you so because this change just happened in October of 2023 most of the information on the internet about the Jr pass about how you could travel around Japan is

Outdated and just wrong now when talking about train travel especially I made an announcement video last year but I filmed that before the changes went into effect so I want to go over it one more time and talking about like what actually happened in the end how it

Actually changed and what you can do to travel around Japan now I’m going to try to make this really easy to understand for anyone even if you’ve never come to Japan before cuz there’s a lot of like terminology and stuff that I think gets very confusing so yeah everything that

Has been considered like Common Sense up till now when traveling in Japan using the Jr pass is basically just it’s obsolete now cuz before pre 2023 October you could get the Jr pass without really thinking too much about it and it would probably pay itself off just by going to

And from Kyoto and like a side trip and back to Tokyo not anymore not anymore now you you really need to reconsider it and you really need to do the math for your trip you have to pre-plan so let’s start off simple let’s just go over what

Is the Jr pass I want to begin by explaining what Jr even is cuz a lot of tourists get very confused rightly so it is very easy to make mistakes with because the naming can be very confusing so Jr pass stands for Japan Rail Pass

And Jr is just in very simple terms a group of companies basically all the train lines that different Jr companies Operate Now were once all controlled by the government before becoming privatized this was many decades ago and when it privatized it didn’t just do it into one company it split itself off

Into different regions and this is where people can make mistakes very easily so you have like Jr West which covers like Osaka and kyotto and then you have Jr East for example which covers Tokyo there’s also more than that but basically Jr is a group of Railway

Companies so why I’m telling you this and why it’s important is because the Jr pass is very unique and great in the way that it stretches across all these different companies this is the only pass that does this and it is only available for foreign Taurus I cannot

Get it because I live here and Japanese people also cannot get it it is just for Taurus there are other types of Jr Regional passes which I’m going to cover more later but basically these passes are limited only to the certain region that one Jr group operates in usually

But more on that later so basically the J R PASS gives you access to any Jr branded train in Japan almost and this means of course bullet trains which is what most people use it for you don’t have to worry about the region it’s very

Free and this is easily one of the main draws for the past this and it’s affordability but before we hop into that I want to clarify for Taurus cuz this is a bit confusing trains are run by many different companies and governments in Japan it took me a while

To grasp this cuz I’m from like Suburban America but basically if you get the Jr pass you can only ride Jr branded trains and even within Tokyo itself for example this means you have to go into Jr stations there’s different stations and different lines for different companies

It’s kind of yeah confusing so for example you can ride the yamot line here in Tokyo which is one of the most famous train lines here but it will not give you access to the Tokyo Metro or Kool line trains Etc there there are just too many companies really to go over but

Basically just think of it this way if you’re thinking about getting the Jr pass really just be concerned with your long-distance travel cuz that is what Jr like specializes in for local travel like around Tokyo it’s not as important and honestly even if you ride the Jr

Trains it’s quite cheap like a dollar per ride on the yamanote line so in summary the Jr pass allows you to travel on almost any bullet train route in Japan in addition to other local routes run by Jr too any in the country for a flat fee depending on the number of days

Of pass you get so as I mentioned previously up until a few months ago up until October 2023 this pass was an incredible deal it was like a no-brainer for most people to buy it not anymore not anymore and the Japanese government has known this that is why only foreign

Tourists can use the pass this is important to note especially when we talk about why the price was raised so let’s go over the price change the new prices for the JR Rail Pass are as follows 7 days is 50,000 yen 14 days is 80,000 and 21 days is a 100,000 Yen it

Almost doubled in price before the price hike the regular 7-Day pass was just under 30,000 yen now it’s 50,000 it’s it is wild also there are two classes here the ordinary for most people it’s going to be more than fine I would only do the green if you are looking to splurge so

Yeah um maybe that alone will answer your question if it is worth it but let me go over some sample itineraries so you can decide for yourself so these are going to be the regular prices for standard bullet train tickets so a round trip from Tokyo to Kyoto would normally cost you

2,640 Yen again the new price for the 7-Day pass is 50,000 yen come on Allison surely if we just add some other destinations in this 7-Day period we’ll make it worth it let’s see so let’s say you go from Tokyo to Kyoto to Nara to Osaka to Tokyo again this is like a

Super common trip a lot of people make would only run you 30,50 Yen let’s say you’re going to go a bit farther out Tokyo to takayama to kazawa to Kyoto and back to Tokyo I recommend this route by the way it’s very nice but even this would cost only

38,800 Yen now look personally when talking about 7 days I wouldn’t recommend more stops than that that’s already kind of cutting it a bit tight you’re going to have to like speedrun Kyoto basically but let’s say you really you’re you want to hit all the locations

Okay so let’s say you go from Tokyo to takayama to kazawa to Kyoto to Nara to Hiroshima back to Tokyo this would finally make it worth it at 56,000 816 Yen but honestly it is like an impossible trip at least if you want to have a relaxed fun time and not change

Cities every day but that’s basically what you have to do to make this new P Price worth it you have to change cities like every day every other day which can be very tiring so yeah basically unless you’re going to be traveling a lot like more than I’d recommend you’re not going

To make your money back on this pass especially for the 7-Day ticket 14 and 21 day ones are a bit more complicated you might be able to get a good value on them depending on what you’re doing but basically you really need to do the math

Beforehand so no for most people I would not recommend the Jr pass at all but before we move on let’s go over some other updates that happened in the covid period that apply both to regular train traveler people and Jr pass people so luggage storage as of May 2020 you have

To reserve if you’re bringing large luggage onto the train you are required to reserve for any luggage between 160 and 250 cm and cubic volume this is a very large luggage it’s very large anything over 250 you can’t bring but also there are exceptions to this rule

Like strollers and I think bikes like foldable bikes but up until now you’ve basically been able to use the luggage space that is at the back of each bullet train car very freely maybe two freely cuz it was kind of like a free for-all because there’s really only realistically about enough space for

Like six suitcases maybe in each train car these train cars are big all you have to do now is reserve in advance it is free you just need to make sure you’re reserving the right seats so in most train cars this is going to be the

Rear most seats in the back of the car you’re going to want to reserve this you’re going to want to do it in advance cuz I bet they’re going to sell out quite quickly depending on when you’re coming when you’re taking the train also some trains have like space in between

The cars for luggage but I don’t see this as often and in this case you still still need to reserve specific seats but you’re going to have to look out for it when you’re reserving but let’s say you bored the train you didn’t reserve the luggage seats beware that if you can’t

Put it above you it’s going in front of you so bullet train seats are a lot more spacious than like airplane seats and stuff like that you can actually fit like a normal suitcase in front of your legs and still like not be super uncomfortable the whole time it will not

Be the most comfortable but you can do it I see people do it but if you don’t reserve the luggage space in advance but you still want to use it you can supposedly but you have to pay a small fee I say supposedly because I don’t really know how much they actually

Enforce this and a lot of people have commented saying like they don’t but if you don’t want to bring your luggage on the train what I really recommend is sending your luggage ahead through like Yamato it can get from Tokyo to Kyoto in like 2 days it’s very reliable please

Look it up I’ve talked about it in previous videos not going to go into Super detail now but keep that in mind next if you’re using the Jr pass you cannot ride noomi trains what is a noomi train so basically there’s different types of models of bullet trains and

Noomi are going to be the fastest ones that run between like Tokyo and Kyoto for example most trains are going to be like heui but it is possible to buy a supplementary ticket pay even more money on that Jr pass if you want to ride the

Noomi trains it would save you about 30 minutes from Tokyo to Kyoto but it’s like a 5,000 yen upcharge I think so I don’t really think it’s worth it unless you’re like really in a rush next reserve your seats this is not just for the Jr pass I’d recommend this

Actually to anyone but it also applies to Jr Regional passes so Jr pass and Jr Regional passes going to talk about those in a minute you can reserve seats for free with the pass you don’t need to pay anything extra if you’re not using a pass and you’re riding the bullet train

Reserving a seat only costs like a few dollars more so I would I would do it for Peace of Mind basically bullet trains are going to have cars that are only reserved seats and then some some cars that are unreserved but okay look if you’re not getting on the train at

Like the first stop I wouldn’t risk the unreserved seating unless you’re traveling at like an off time maybe but these seats will fill up fast especially on like weekends or during heavy travel periods and if you’re traveling like as a family especially look it’s not worth it pay the extra money for reserve

Seating cuz look during peak season if all the reserve seats are booked out and you’re trying to ride unreserved but maybe they’re all full you’re going to be standing on that train for 2 and 1 half 3 hours reserve your seat and as of 2020 you can actually reserve your seats

Online with the pass and you can also just use the automatic ticket gate now without like having to show a guy your like paper ticket every time now I think kind of depends on the route but if you do wait till you’re in Japan to reserve

Seats or you’re just not using the Jr pass and you want to reserve seats I would just go up to the go up to the people you can reserve your seats at some machines in some stations but it’s like it’s a bit hard so just look for

Like a Jr service counter or a midor nuchi which is like a ticket counter they usually have like a tourist area and then like a Japanese speaking area and really if you have any questions during your travels you want to change a ticket whatever just go up to these

People they’re usually very helpful and it it’s just so much easier than trying to figure it out yourself so why did why did they do this why why why why they basically just really nerfed like the most popular Rail Pass ever and now look of course I do not know the internal

Discussions that happened but I think basically the reason the price was jacked up 70% it boils down to two main reasons one inflation this one’s probably pretty obvious and I don’t think it’s unreasonable that they increase the price and they should have done so earlier really however to

Increase at 70% in one go like come on but seriously the price beforehand was absurdly low but I think it’s ridiculous that they didn’t slowly increase it over the years and instead just blew it up but yeah the price was super low so let’s think about the context here the

Jr pass was actually introduced in 1981 the price did not change at all since then at all it was long overdue for like a price increase don’t get me wrong but but at the same time the bullet train price for locals has been steadily increasing I think some locals were also

Very kind of upset about this like that Taurus could ride the train for so much cheaper than locals can like so much cheaper okay and two so they introduced the pass again in 1981 and back then Japan was not the popular destination it is today nowadays Japan is on the top of

Those tourist destination website ranking things consistently and really the scene the tourism scene in Japan has changed dramatically over the past decade two decades so the past really was intended to encourage tourists to explore areas they otherwise wouldn’t and yes that even meant going to kotto

Back then but then also you know going to kazawa going to I don’t know Nagoya but do they need to encourage tourist to do this now probably not right people are going to go where they want to go regardless of the price of the train ticket probably and it is much easier

For tourists to even learn about these less popular destinations with the internet like look people are going to go to Kyoto whether they have the Jr pass or not right that’s just my guess that’s just my guess let me know Down Below in the comments if you have any

Alternative ideas but first alternative suggestions what can you use if not the Jr pass there’s a lot so now that the Jr pass has basically been priced into becoming obsolete basically for a lot of people there’s still other ways you can travel so of course the most obvious is

Just do the same trip you’d be doing but just buy the tickets individually but other than that as I’ve mentioned a few times in this video there’s something called Jr Regional passes these are one of my favorite things to use cuz actually foreign Nationals even living

Here can use them too and sometimes they open it up to Japanese people so I have a link Down Below in the description where you can view all of them there’s many but basically you’re buying a pass to travel around a specific region say the tohoku region or Central Japan or

Just Nagano that kind of thing but these Regional passes are often still worth it of course you need to plan out your itinerary but it’s a lot easier to get your money’s worth out of these passes next another thing I have to mention cuz if I don’t people are going to like

Attack me in the comments is the station 18 pass I also have a link for this down below but honestly I don’t really recommend it if you care about the time if you’re trying to do the cheapest trip to Japan possible great look this up but basically it costs

12,050 Yen and it lets you go on any Jr train line in the country except Express and bullet trains so basically it’s only local or rapid lines uh so it’ll take you all day probably to get to where you’re trying to go also this ticket’s only available at certain times of the

Year in the target audience is college kids there is a way however to use this to make it like worthwhile and that is because it is valid for 5 days but you can actually split this up between people so like if you have a party of

Four you could just use it to do a day trip for the four people and come back and then you’d only have one day left over on it but longer Journeys are so miserable it can be really hard like I know people are going to be like no I

Love it good for you if you like it then look it up seriously I did it before it was hard you also really have to coordinate train schedules which is probably the hardest part just know what you’re getting into if you buy that pass but aside from trains there are buses

And planes which many people often forget about so Japan has some very nice Highway buses they are clean they are nice they are speedy and affordable and it’s also a really good way to see the countryside I often use these if the trip is like within like a 4-Hour drive

From Tokyo Max is but they also have like overnight buses I know a lot of people take these from like Tokyo to kotto you can do it really cheap I’m not an overnight bus girl myself and also note that you will be at the mercy of

Traffic like if you’re on a bus trying to come back into Tokyo on a Sunday night expect like 2hour delays but there’s also planes flying it’s not that expensive there’s lots of lccs here and it’s pretty easy I’m from the US so compared to that domestic flights here

So easy it’s really simple you can get from like the security gate to your gate like 20 minutes and actually if you are going somewhere like to Hokkaido or to kushu or something I highly recommend flying over taking the train so do look into this option okay so that was a huge

Information dump of a video so please let me know what do you think about the changes to the Jr pass and if you if you have any other information that I may have left out please leave it down below in a comment and if you have any

Questions just feel free to ask even if I don’t respond hopefully a kind-hearted commenter will do it too but thank you guys so much for watching make sure you like the video If you learned anything new and subscribe to my channel for more videos about my life here in Japan about

Traveling in Japan and I’ll see you guys back here again very soon Bye