@movernie
When tourists visit Japan, one of the major questions they have to ask themselves is….”Do they need a Japan Rail (JR Pass) when they are visiting Japan?” That is an important question that the tourists should ask themselves before they visit Japan!
JR Pass is a special high-speed train pass that is only available for purchase for visiting tourists and foreigners who are “temporary visitors”. It’s the best way for tourists to travel around the country in the “Shinkansen” high-speed train. Whether you are visiting Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Hakone, Kobe, Nara and other Japanese cities, you could be there in a relatively short time coz these high-speed trains can go as quickly as 300+ km/h.
For example, you can travel from Tokyo Station to Osaka in less than 3 hours. You can travel from Osaka to Kobe in just 12 minutes! Crazy right?
Although JR Pass is the best option to visit Japan as it provides you with unlimited access to the JR Line trains (during the time frame you had purchased & have access to), it may not be worthwhile for everyone if you don’t plan to travel to many places.
JR Pass isn’t cheap, in fact, it recently increased its pricing (after October 2023) dramatically from about $290 CDN to $474 CDN for the basic 7-day JR Pass. Rumour has it that due to over tourism in Japan, the country wants to reduce or slow down the number of tourists visiting Japan. They think by jacking up the JR Pass pricing, it may curb people from visiting.
JR Pass offers 7-day, 14-day and 21-day pricing. There is “Ordinary Class” and “Green Class” with Green Class being in a more premium train cabin and other perks.
As you can imagine, you have to decide which JR Pass suits you based on the number of days you plan to be in Japan and how many Japanese cities do you plan to visit and how often you plan to use the JR Pass.
For example, if you plan to stay in Tokyo only and nowhere else, then you really don’t need a JR Pass, coz it’s costly and you can’t effectively maximize your unlimited use during your visit. But if you plan to visit Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe, Nara, Hakone and other cities in between 7 days, then JR Pass is worth it for you coz you will get to maximize your usage during that 7 days. Of course, if you plan to stay in Japan for 14 days or 21 days, it’s really depends on how long you plan to stay in Japan and how often you need to use the JR trains.
In Toronto, our group purchased the JR Pass voucher from Okushu Tours. Okushu Tours is a very well-established tour operating company that is based in Toronto. It’s a Canadian travel agency specializes in helping its customers to purchase flight tickets, booking hotels, customize private tours based on the customers preferences and needs. They even have private tours with tour guides bringing its customers to various unique adventures and experiences such as culinary cooking classes, special city tours and all the other fun stuff. The staff at Okushu Tours were knowledgeable and expertise in the travel & tourism industry.
At Okushu Tours, they asked us some great questions about our Japan trip and in terms they listened and provided their expertise based on our itinerary. Based on our Asia Trip, they were able to provide us with the best suggestions on exactly how many days of JR Pass we need, whether we need the Ordinary Class or Green Class. It was super helpful. They pretty much were able to provide their expertise on how we can plan out our trip to best maximize the usage of the JR Pass.
Additionally, Okushu Tours can print out the JR Pass voucher with the correct spelling of our first name, last name and other INFO. Japan, apparently requires every document to have the correct INFO, any mis-spelled or discrepancy with the name or other INFO, there is a potential chance you may not able to redeem your voucher with the JR Pass.
The experience purchasing the JR Pass with Okushu Tours was smooth and seamless.
If you would like to purchase JR Pass from Okushu Tours or want their travel expertise to help you plan your Japan trip, they are the right choice! Visit them at Okushu.com or follow them @okushu.tours
Click here to check out the latest pricing for a JR Pass on the official Japan Rail Pass website.
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