Name: Japan Rail Pass ALTERNATIVES | Saving Money on Transportation
Uploaded: 2025-07-24T18:53:06.000Z
Duration: 9 min 23 s
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With the Japan Rail Pass' drastic price increase by around 70% in October 2023, many travelers are turning to alternatives for their trip to Japan, as the pass does not pay off as easily as it used to.

In order to help make your trip to Japan an easy and affordable one, here is a list of the best alternatives to the Japan Rail Pass.

Isn't this a video about the alternatives to the Japan Rail Pass?

Well, you're right, but before we go into detail about these alternatives, we thought we would give you some information on situations for which the Japan Rail Pass is still worth buying.

For people who feel intimidated by the complexity of Japanese train tickets and network, and do not mind paying more for the simplicity and convenience of the all-you-can-ride privilege which allows you to board any train without buying individual tickets and make spontaneous side trips at any time, then the Japan Rail Pass can remain a good deal.

It will also pay off for certain fast-paced inter-regional itineraries, for example, while a 7-day pass before the price increase would pay off for a round trip from Tokyo to the

Kansai region, with the new pass, you need to add Hiroshima and Kanazawa to your itinerary for the pass to pay off.

The 14-day pass used to pay off for a trip from Tokyo to the Kansai region, Hiroshima,

After the price increase, the pass would pay off if the itinerary additionally included cities like Nagasaki and Takayama.

The pass can also still pay off for people making multiple long-distance day trips from a base.

For example, a 7-day pass would pay off for selecting Kyoto as a base and visiting Kanazawa,

If itineraries like these fit your travel pace and style, then the Japan Rail Pass should still be your choice.

Regular Train Tickets Due to the drastic price increase of the pass, regular point-to-point train tickets will likely be cheaper than the pass.

For example, a round trip from Tokyo to Osaka costs around ¥30,000 with regular reserved seat tickets which is around the same price as the 7-day Japan Rail Pass before the price increase but cheaper than the new 7-day Japan Rail Pass which costs ¥50,000.

A downside with regular tickets is that they can be a little complicated and time-consuming to purchase and that they do not offer as much flexibility as the Rail Pass's all-you-can-ride privilege would.

Without a basic understanding of the ticket rules, you are likely to end up paying more on them than necessary.

But in order to help you save money on regular train tickets, we compiled some advanced ticket tips that you can find later on in this video.

So stay tuned or feel free to skip forward to this time code.

Regional Rail Passes If you are planning to visit one or a couple of regions, then regional rail passes can be a good option for you.

There are over two dozen regional rail passes available exclusively to foreign tourists in Japan which provide unlimited use of trains in selected regions of Japan.

Some of the most popular rail passes include the Hokkaido Rail Pass, the JR East Tohoku

Area Pass, the Tokyo Wide Pass, the JR East Nagano-Niigata Area Pass, the Kansai Hokuriku

Area Pass, the Kansai Wide Area Pass, the Kintetsu Rail Pass, the Sanyo Sannin Area Pass, the

Ōshikoku Rail Pass, and the Kyushu Rail Pass.

The regional passes offer the convenience of not having to buy individual tickets and can save you money.

The downside is that with so many passes available, it can be a little bit confusing to find the perfect match for your itinerary and they require some research regarding their rules.

Like the Japan Rail Pass, most regional passes also saw their prices increase in 2023, therefore some have become more difficult to pay off.

For more information on regional rail passes, make sure to check the link in the description of this video.

Domestic Flights Even before the price increase, domestic flights have been the fastest way to access more distant destinations, especially Kyushu, Shikoku, and Hokkaido.

Due to the Japan Rail Pass' price increase, flying is now likely also going to be cheaper.

Japan has over 100 airports and over a dozen domestically operating airlines.

The lowest fares are generally offered by Japan's two leading low-cost carriers, Peach

Aviation and Jetstar Japan, which each serve over two dozen domestic routes.

Other airlines have their own discount fares, which are generally cheaper the earlier you book.

Although flying domestically can be fast and cheap, security checks and check-ins, airport locations outside of city centers, noise and air pressure on board can also make it more tiring than taking the train and is less environmentally friendly.

Highway Buses Highway buses used to be the cheaper alternative for traveling Japan even before the price increase of the Japan Rail Pass.

Major city bus routes are plenty and inexpensive across Japan, and overnight buses are available on many long-distance routes.

A particularly good offer is the Japan Bus Pass, available only to non-Japanese passport holders, which allows for bus rides on the network of leading bus operator Whirler Express for three, five, or seven non-consecutive days.

For example, the pass allows budget travelers to travel from Tokyo to Hiroshima, Kyoto, and back to Tokyo for just over 10,000 yen while also saving money on accommodation.

More details about where to purchase and how to use the Japan Bus Pass can be found in the links in the description of this video.

The downside of highway buses is they can be a little uncomfortable, are rather slow on long distances, and less environmentally friendly.

Like mentioned earlier, here are some tips on how to save money on regular tickets, but be warned, it is slightly complicated.

The cost of regular tickets is based on distance traveled.

The further you travel, the more expensive the fare becomes.

In addition to the base fare, travelers will need to pay a supplement fee when riding a

Shinkansen or Limited Express train, which is also dependent on the distance traveled.

Point number one, base fare tickets allow you to get on and off along the way if the ticket covers more than 100 kilometers.

It means that when leaving the station, the ticket will come out on the other side of the ticket gate instead of being swallowed by it.

However, you cannot backtrack, and you cannot use a route other than the one covered by the ticket.

One more detail, if you start or end your trip in a large city, you cannot make a stopover within these cities.

In our example, this means that if you start your trip in Tokyo, you cannot make a stopover at for example Shinagawa.

And on the Hiroshima side, you would not be able to make a stopover for example at Mukainada.

Note that unlike base fare tickets, supplement fee tickets for Shinkansen and Limited Express trains do not allow for stopovers.

If you make a stopover, you need to buy separate supplement fee tickets for each leg.

Point number two, the validity period of base fare tickets increases with the distance covered.

Tickets covering 100 km or less do not allow getting off along the way as mentioned before and are valid only on a single day.

Tickets covering 101 to 200 km are valid on two consecutive days and the validity period increases by an additional day for each additional 200 km.

For example, a ticket from Tokyo to Hiroshima covers 895 km and is valid for 6 consecutive days meaning you can do the trip from Tokyo to Hiroshima over a period of up to 6 days while making one or multiple stops along the way.

Point number three, the base fare ticket gets proportionally cheaper the further you travel.

A look at the base fare table shows that the cost per kilometer gradually decreases with the distance traveled.

It means that if you travel from A to B and then from B to C, it will be cheaper to buy just one longer base fare ticket from A all the way to C instead of two shorter tickets.

In our example, a base fare ticket from Tokyo to Kyoto costs 8,360 yen and a base fare ticket from Kyoto to Hiroshima costs 6,600 yen for a total of 14,960 yen.

However, a single base fare ticket from Tokyo to Hiroshima costs only 11,880 yen saving you roughly 21%.

So keep in mind, buying one base fare ticket instead of two separate ones can potentially provide you with some considerable savings for trips covering medium to long distances but the same is not always true for tickets covering shorter distances of around 200 km or less.

And finally, point number four, round trip tickets provide a 10% discount on trips over 600 km one way.

So if we were to travel back from Hiroshima all the way to Tokyo which is a distance of almost 900 km, the round trip discount would apply and the price would be further reduced to 10,690 yen one way.

The validity period of round trip tickets is twice that of a one way ticket, so a round trip ticket between Tokyo and Hiroshima would be valid for up to 12 days.

One last note on base fare tickets, a single base fare ticket cannot be purchased for a route that passes any given station twice.

In such cases, multiple tickets need to be purchased.

Here are a few examples for which this situation applies.

So there you have it, the best alternatives to using the Japan Rail Pass.

Make sure to check the links in the description to help prepare your future trip to Japan.

For more information or to watch another video, click the links on the screen now or head over to Japan-Guide.com, your comprehensive, up-to-date travel guide, first-hand from Japan.

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