The 3 months advantage is only with agencies. Klook: https://www.klook.com/activity/1420-7-day-whole-japan-rail-pass-jr-pass/?aid=35056 *
jrpass com (agency) : https://click.jrpass.com/aff_c?offer_id=19&aff_id=1301 *
The price of Japan Rail Pass (JR PASS) and other regional rail passes hike from October 1, 2023. If you are arrving Japan before Dec.28, you can still get the pass for the price befor increase IF you purcahse in September from above agencies. I recommend you to purchase before September 28 if using agency just in case. Please note it doesn’t work the official site and I only know about the two agencies above.
[ Other videos on JR Pass ]
First Time Japan Rail Pass: https://youtu.be/pLVyvS3129Q
Regional Passes and Sample Itinerary : https://youtu.be/HIfOfUNm6J0
Tokaido Shinkansen Online Reservation : https://youtu.be/zjiIWXZNr5Q
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Press Release by JR West: https://www.westjr.co.jp/global/en/pdf/press_20230726.pdf
Press Release by JR Kyushu: https://www.jrkyushu.co.jp/english/pdf/20231001_pricerevision.pdf
* Affiliate Links that I get small commission when you book through the link. No extra charge for booking from these links. Thanks for your support for this video.
21 Comments
Thanks for the update. One definitely needs to plan if using the east passes. It is definitely still worth it if you plan for various day trips or longer journeys. The increase in west is quite reasonable so definitely can expect more tourist to focus there.
Thanks! Nice to be updated on a timely basis! Great for independent travelers who making plans for the next six months.
Great breakdown as always! I think it's a net win for the regional passes actually. Quite a few price rises are minimal for the regional passes and they've even removed some of the ridiculous reservation limits.
The hike price of JR pass will effect a lots of tourist who want to visit japan . Everyone has a budget on travel , to move across Japan the best way is using Shinkansen but price is up 70% will made it unaffordable and many travellers will rethink to visit Japan or will change to others country that will hurt japan tourist industry.
PLease guide me. I will start a 2 month travel on Aug 29 and Japan is my last stop, arriving Oct 16 thru 30. We want to buy at the JRPass website directly, when would be my latest chance to buy it? as I will need to buy it while abroad, I will be in Australia
Thanks so much for the price updates in regards to the JR Pass, it is extremely helpful and am very grateful of you to help us in this. I came across the Japan Rail Pass website, and I am slightly confuse. Is it true that the current JR Pass will only be able to use until 21st oct 2023? In the Japanrailpass website, in the press release, titled: "日本国内の一部箇所での発売について、発売期間とご利用期間を延長いたします。詳細は、こちらをご覧ください。" , May i kindly ask for help to clear the confusion. Thanks so much in advance.
Thanks for the update, i made sure to make the most of the pass on my recent trip and went all the way to Kagoshima and back (with some stop offs) i will fly in the future for sure
So we have three months from buying the pass before we have to use it? Is this only for exchange orders? When looking at the JR website if you want to buy the pass on the website, then pick it up in Japan, it says you only have 30 days. Am I missing something?
Thank you for the informative update! I'm not seeing many other videos that give this much information. Since your a native of Japan, I think your videos are so much more informative and give details that a lot of others seem to be missing.
From your understanding – if the pass is redeemed after October 1st, even if purchased in August, do you still get the benefits that come with the price hikes? Such as the Nozomi line being included with the Green Car JR pass? Discounts at businesses? Etc.
Thanks again for the great content!
Hello, thanks for the info. What is the official JR pass website?
🚃 "APOLOGY" If you are interested in purchasing the pass before October, please note that this is only available at some agencies and NOT at JR Official Site. For agency, I only checked the date with KLOOK and JRPASSCOM. The last date you can purchase is different depens on the pass and agency. For example you can purcahse JR East pass 5 month ahead on Klook, but 1 month ahead on JR East site. Please check with the site you are going to purchase your pass. Klook : https://bit.ly/3ofy9AA JR Pass .com : https://click.jrpass.com/aff_c?offer_id=19&aff_id=1301
Unfortunately we already purchased tickets and got hotels for the Patagonia trip in late December. If this news came out earlier, I will definitely come to Japan in Dec before they make this significant rate hike! Now people will be exploring the bus and plane for sure. Good work, Kenchan.
Everyone wants things to be cheap. The JR Pass is a tourism tool. Unfortunately, the discounted fare has to come to an end.
Thank you for the information.
And thank goodness I travel in November and will buy for the old price at an agency.
I will travel from Kyoto to Beppu and than to Tokyo and want to use the pass also for daytrips out of Kyoto and Tokyo, so it should pay of…
But, with this price raises, I think many smaller towns will suffer, because people might stay in the bigger citys to avoid the costs..
And, I really don't want to fly such short distances..
Im thinking maybe this is good?? Cheap JR pass is causing just TOO MUCH travel on golden route (kyoto) etc. Maybe this will help people to travel to other places & reduce tourism in Kyoto. I dont like the price rise but if it helps people going to other places, maybe good!
Good job Ken
Thank you for the update.
I've been helping plan a family trip to Japan next year in March, and it's a bit disappointing. I have a big spreadsheet with itemised travel for calcuating the costs with and without all the various passes.
With the old prices, JR Pass saved us ~$1,000 overall for 3 people. With the new prices, it's $300 more expensive. I can get a discount with a JR West ALL Area pass by about $200, but that's by only covering about half our trip. No other configuration of passes I've found is cheaper, it's all more expensive to use passes now.
At this point, the passes seem to mostly just be for convenience, rather then an ecouragement to see and do more. As it stands, we might end up cutting out the smaller and more distant places to save costs.
Although the price hike sucks, but really the rise is pretty much in-line with how much JPY has devalued compared to EUR/USD, so the price just returns to pre-covid levels for travellers.
In a planning group for Japan travel someone posted it wouldn't go up till March '24 now so I'm very glad you posted this as you're the first video I've seen about the price hike since they first announced it. I'm glad I'm able to buy mine before the 30th of September
Last week, I purchased a ticket from Klook. For 1 way Shinkansen from Osaka to Tokyp, price of the ticket is likely around JPY15,000. Is it still cheap kenchan?
Thank you for this very helpful information! I'll be arriving in the middle of October so I'll plan to order at least a month in advance to make sure I'm not affected by the price hike. Much appreciated!
Good advice thank you as I’m planning a trip in early December so able to get JR Pass in advance of the price increase 👍