Japan is a very popular destination, especially for a first trip that will take you a little out of your comfort zone. The arrival of direct flights between Montreal and Tokyo has only facilitated access(see milesopedia’s report on this flight).
A trip to Japan will be expensive, especially in terms of transportation. On the other hand, there are ways to save money by taking everything apart.
Is it worth buying a Japan Rail Pass (JRP)?
This question arises very often. The answer is very simple: yes and no, depending on your ability to make it profitable, because it’s quite expensive!
Since October 2023, Japan Rail Pass prices have increased significantly:
If you are planning to visit Japan in the near future, you can still take advantage of the current rates by purchasing your JR Passes before the price increase:
If you plan to activate the pass in Japan on December 20 (so it will be valid for the next 30 days), you should buy it on or after September 21.
The Japan Rail Pass has many advantages:
If you’re thinking of using it to cover the cost of your transportation in Tokyo only for your 7 days, you’ll be losing out big time!
I advise you to draw up a rough itinerary and then calculate the cost of your trip. For example, the cost-effectiveness of the JRP is maximized with this fairly popular route:
If you buy the JRP at a cost of ¥50,000, you get a value of at least ¥49,390. So you’re even.
These prices are for unreserved seats which can be purchased as cheaper à la carte tickets. If you take reserved seats and use the JRP to travel to Osaka and Kyoto as well, you save more money.
On the other hand, in the case of a multi-city itinerary with a flight arriving in Tokyo and departing from Osaka, it’s best to take an à la carte long-distance ticket and combine it with local passes to save money.
It is advisable to buy tickets with reserved seats, especially during the peak tourist season (March-April), as the unreserved carriages fill up fast! The Golden Week (early May) and holiday periods are also very busy.
I recommend you do the same exercise regardless of the length of your trip, and determine whether long-distance journeys can be condensed into 7, 14 or 21 days.
A two-week trip to Japan may require only a 7-day pass instead of 14 days, depending on the routes you have planned.
An online calculator is available here.
JRP should not be purchased more than 3 months before the intended date of use!
Although it makes organizing a trip to Japan much easier, it is not without its drawbacks:
Some destinations are not served by a JR line, or rather, you can get there much more quickly and cheaply by metro.
Finally, night buses are also available for long-distance travel between major cities. This method is less expensive than all the others, and saves you the cost of a night in a hotel.
Then, to visit certain regions, one must also consider the JR Regional Pass. I usually go to this site to see exactly what region is covered by each pass.
Here are a few of them:
You should not purchase a JRP blindly. You should take care to break down the costs specific to your trip. However, the JR Regional Pass is worth it in the vast majority of cases!
Here are the three websites I use to calculate the price of my trips to Japan:
Google Maps will display all available routes, along with the cost, the platform number, the car to take to get out faster and the exit to take to get to your destination! Convenient to get around when the station is huge.
The unreserved cars are clearly marked on the platform floor.
There are several websites on which a JRP can be purchased. The one we recommend is JRPass.com.
Don’t forget to pay with a credit card with no foreign currency conversion charges! This saves 2.5% on the transaction.
Since the expense was categorized as travel, I was even able to use travel points to cover the costs!
A trip to Osaka or Tokyo? I hope you won’t go to Japan just to spend a few days in Tokyo! However, it’s an excellent strategy to combine these daily passes with JRP.
For example, for a 10-day trip:
In this situation, the total cost of transport is ¥52.550, instead of buying the 14-day JRP of ¥80.00 to cover the whole trip. A saving of ¥27,450 or $255 CAD!
There’s a whole range of them, but I’m going to talk about the most useful passes.
All the following passes can be purchased on site. Points of sale are varied and mostly cash-only: hotel reception, tourist information office, automated machine at the resort, counter at the resort, etc.
Most of Tokyo ‘s tourist attractions are served by the subway, so I recommend the Tokyo Metro Pass, which includes the Tokyo Metro and Toei lines.
It is valid for a number of hours, not days. The expiry date and time will be printed on the back of the ticket after the first use:
In my opinion, this is the best option to visit Tokyo.
If you don’t need to use Toei lines, you can buy a 24-hour pass for ¥600.
Example of use for sightseeing to monetize a 48-hour Tokyo Metro pass (value ¥1,200):
The Tokyo Free Kippu One-day Pass is valid on all Tokyo Metro lines and JR lines within Tokyo‘s 23 districts.
Cost: ¥1,600
The Tokyo Metropolitan District Pass (Tokunai Pass) is valid on all JR lines within Tokyo‘s 23 districts.
Cost: ¥760
The Yurikamome One-day Pass is valid only on the Yurikamome line.
Odaiba is only accessible by this line, and since it’s a private company, one-way tickets can be expensive (¥400) when booked à la carte.
Cost: ¥820
The Tokyu Line Minatomirai Ticket is valid on Minatomirai trains as well as several stations between Tokyo and Yokohama.
Cost: ¥630 – ¥1100 (price depends on departure and arrival stations)
The Odakyu Railway Hakone Freepass lets you visit the Hakone area from Tokyo.
Cost: ¥5,700 (2 days), ¥6,100 (3 days)
The Mt Fuji Pass lets you visit the area of Mt Fuji and Fuji Five Lakes from Tokyo.
Cost: ¥5,500 (1 day), ¥8,000 (2 days), ¥10,000 (3 days)
The Nikko Pass allows you to visit the Nikko region from Tokyo; there are two variants, depending on the extent of the region you wish to visit.
There is a supplement to pay separately from the pass to use the limited express trains, which make fewer stops between Tokyo and Nikko.
Cost:
The Kansai Thru Pass is valid for the entire region and allows you to visit Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Kobe, Wakayama, Koyasan, Himeji for 2 or 3 days which can be non-consecutive.
Also valid on the KIX and ITM airport connections.
The Hankyu Tourist Pass is valid on all Hankyu Railways lines, allowing you to visit Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto for 1 or 2 days, which may be non-consecutive.
The Kyoto Subway & Bus Pass: you need to take a bus to get to the majority of the tourist sites.
How do you select the best pass for your needs? First, draw up a list of the places to visit, the days required and determine the stations that serve these places.
Then check if these stations are covered on the pass you want to buy. You can find a map of the stations specific to each pass with a quick Google search.
In Japan, there are a number of cards that make it easy to pay for your short trips (one-off journeys).
Having lived in Tokyo, you’ll understand that I didn’t visit 3-4 tourist sites in the same day! I used an IC Card daily as a local, but I was always calculating whether I should buy a day pass or just go à la carte.
For example, if the only activity was to go picnicking under the sakura trees and spend the day with friends at Shinjuku Gyoen Park, I’d get out my IC Card to go there.
The name of the card is specific to each city and company, but they are used in the same way throughout Japan as IC Cards. So you don’t have to buy a new card for each region:
What you need to know about the IC Card :
The Narita Express is the fastest and most comfortable way to get to Tokyo from Narita Airport (NRT). However, there are ways to save on this trip if you’re prepared to make transfers.
Time to Tokyo
(main stations)
¥3,070 or ¥4,070 return
(if the return is within 14 days)
45 min.
then a transfer to Nippori
75 min.
Limousine Bus
goes to several hotels as well
It is therefore not advisable to visit Tokyo on a short stopover at NRT (less than 8 hours). Here again, I think it’s a lot of trouble for so little time in Tokyo. I recommend a visit to Narita if you really want to get out of the airport during your stopover.
Although there are direct flights between Montreal and Tokyo Narita, Haneda International Airport (served from Toronto) is much closer to the city.
Positive experience with All Nippon Airways: following a delay to an OKA-HND flight, the company offered ¥25,000 in cash per person to cover the cost of a cab from Haneda to Tokyo.
The delay meant landing too late to take public transport into town.
Do you have an unavoidable airport transfer to make?
JR Haruka
goes to Kyoto
¥2,380 – ¥3,000
(covered by JRP)
¥1,210
Limousine bus
to several hotels in Osaka or Kyoto
How do you choose THE best way (efficiency, cost, comfort, etc.) to get from the airport to the city?
This will depend on your final destination and the number of transfers you are prepared to make. The final cost of the journey also depends on the location of your hotel.
In short, if you’re willing to take out the calculator, the savings can be considerable. Japan has put a multitude of deals at our disposal, so it’s up to us to take advantage of them!
ありがとう！ Arigatou!
Please know that all prices for this article are approximate. I’ve tried to find the most accurate prices possible, but they are subject to change. However, the order of magnitude of the prices is correct.
Other tips and tricks about transportation in Japan :
If you want to follow my adventures on Instagram, my account is @wanderingaline!
Savings are here:
