JR Pass or regional passes: how to get around Japan

For a trip that goes beyond the big cities, a JR Pass is rarely any use: in Japan, cities are covered by metro and bus with an IC card, and the countryside by rental car. Over the 174 days of our two complete itineraries, the high-speed train is used only twice, from Hakodate to Aomori and from Tokyo to Osaka. The rest goes by road, a few domestic flights, ferries and local trains, and none of our travel books relies on the national Japan Rail Pass or on a regional pass.

So the right question is not “how much does the JR Pass cost?” but “how many train journeys does your trip really include?”. Here is how to think it through, region by region.

When does a JR Pass pay off? Only if it replaces several tickets

A rail pass is a flat rate. It becomes worthwhile when the journeys it covers, added up at the normal fare, exceed its own price. So you need a lot of train travel, on covered lines, within the validity period.

Our two itineraries are built the other way round. Japan from north to south in 88 days covers about 8,650 km (5,350 mi) of driving and a single shinkansen ride. The west and the islands in 86 days covers about 8,300 km of driving and also a single shinkansen ride. One long-distance rail journey per trip, with the other big hops done by plane: there is nothing to make pay off.

The same reasoning applies to local passes. In Hakone, the classic circuit strings together a rack railway, a funicular, a ropeway and a boat. A pass from the railway company covers the lot over two or three days and works out much cheaper than individual tickets, but only if you do the full loop. If you are traveling by car, compare before you buy.

Our travel books do not price any pass. So we give no fares here, neither for the national JR Pass nor for the regional passes. Their prices and coverage change: check them on the official JR company websites when you book.

Train or car in Japan: the right choice, region by region

Region	Train or car	Why
Hokkaidō	Car	The island cannot be done by train: about 2,150 km on a two-week circuit. For the island of Rishiri, ferry without the car, which rental contracts often forbid taking on board
Tōhoku	Car, train for Matsushima	The circuit strings together mountain sites and hot spring villages, from Lake Towada to the Okama crater. Matsushima Bay is reached by train from Sendai
Japanese Alps and Hokuriku	Car, except on the Alpine Route	The Tateyama-Kurobe Alpine Route is closed to private vehicles: you cross it using six successive means of transport
Nagoya, Fuji and Hakone	Car around them, public transport in the cities	In Nagoya, Kamakura and Yokohama, parking is expensive and scarce, and public transport is excellent
Tokyo	Metro, JR trains and buses	A car is expensive there and serves no purpose. A Suica or Pasmo card is enough
Osaka and Kyoto	Metro and bus, IC card	In Kyoto, narrow streets, scarce and expensive parking. The car is only useful for Uji, Kurama, Ōhara and Takao
Nara and Yoshino	On foot in Nara, car around it	Asuka, Murō-ji and the Yamanobe no Michi are poorly served
Yakushima and Okinawa	Plane, then a car on each island	The islands are linked by domestic flights
San’in coast	Car	The least populated region of Honshū, with very infrequent local trains
Hiroshima and the Inland Sea	Tram, train and ferry	In Hiroshima, the tram does everything. Miyajima, Teshima and Naoshima are done as a foot passenger
Shikoku	Car	Rare and slow local trains, Iya Valley not served
Kyūshū	Car	About 2,600 km (1,600 mi) between Nagasaki, Aso, Beppu, Takachiho and Kagoshima

The split is clear: rail serves the big cities, the car serves everything in between.

Why the car wins outside the big cities

The reason comes up in every countryside travel book: the places that make the trip are poorly served, or served by local trains too infrequent to keep up a sightseeing pace.

• Hokkaidō: one hundred and fifty kilometers a day on average over two weeks, and several days with nearly four hours at the wheel.
• The San’in coast: gas stations are rare and close early, and there is no mobile signal in the mountains between Izumo and Hagi. Our short 14-day circuit, from Osaka back to Osaka via Kinosaki and the Iya Valley, covers about 1,750 km (1,100 mi) in total. We told the story in The San’in coast and Shikoku: Japan without the crowds.
• Shikoku: the roads of the Iya Valley and the Tsurugi ridge are the narrowest of the trip, single-lane, with no crash barrier and no signal. Allow twice the stated time and drive in daylight.
• Kyūshū: two ferry crossings take the car on board, between Shimabara and Kumamoto and to Sakurajima. Check that your rental contract allows it, as several Japanese rental companies exclude it or require prior notice.

These are precisely the regions where the question of a regional pass arises, and the ones where our travel books have no use for one.

The car has its own costs, which have to be weighed against it: gas and tolls, particularly heavy on the Tōhoku expressways, paid parking in the cities, and sometimes high one-way fees if you return the car to a different branch from the one you started at. Settle this last point with the rental company before booking.

Watch out: Japan only accepts International Driving Permits in the 1949 Geneva format, the one that goes with a US, UK, Canadian or Australian license, among others. With a French, German, Swiss or Belgian license, the permit is not recognized: you need the license together with its official Japanese translation, issued by the JAF or another approved body. Without the right document, no agency will hand over the car. We covered this in detail in How many days do you need for Hokkaidō?.

Getting around the cities: metro, bus and IC card

In Tokyo, a car is expensive and serves no purpose. In the hotels in our travel books, no parking lot is free, and some can only be booked by phone. The simplest option is to return it on arrival and get around with a Suica or Pasmo card: a single rechargeable card for the metro, JR trains and buses, also available in a phone wallet. The city has two separate metro networks, Tokyo Metro and Toei, with separate tickets but the same card.

Watch out: In Tokyo, the last train runs around midnight and there is nothing after that: plan on a taxi or head back before.

In Kyoto, the same logic applies. The city is covered by bus and two metro lines, with an IC card. Buses are crowded and often stuck at rush hour. A car is pointless in the city.

Tip: Kurama, Ōhara and Takao are poorly served. For these outings, a sensible option is to rent a car for the day only.

In Hiroshima, the tram does everything, and the station is the base for excursions by train and ferry. For the islands of the Inland Sea, Miyajima, Teshima and Naoshima, the car stays on the mainland.

In other words, where a national pass could be useful, in the cities, it is the IC cards that do the job, journey by journey.

Two journeys where the shinkansen is the obvious choice

The shinkansen is not there on principle: on our itineraries, it solves two problems that the road solves badly.

• From Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto to Shin-Aomori: one hour under the Tsugaru Strait, through the Seikan Tunnel, 54 km (34 mi) of which 23 are under the sea. It links Hokkaidō to Tōhoku without a ferry.
• From Tokyo to Osaka: two and a half hours on the Tōkaidō line. Osaka is then explored by metro, without a car.

Two journeys, each on a different trip. No pass is justified by a one-way ticket.

So, JR Pass or regional passes?

For a trip that takes in the countryside, neither. Our two complete itineraries cover about 16,950 km (10,550 mi) between them and take only two shinkansen rides. The cities are done with an IC card, the countryside by car. That is the conclusion of our travel books, not a principle: the car was chosen because the places visited are beyond the reach of the train at this pace.

If your trip follows a different logic, for example a crossing of the country from big city to big city by train, the calculation changes. Work it out ticket by ticket, with the current official fares, before buying a pass: it is the only way to know whether it pays off.

The full breakdown of our two trips, with every journey and the tickets to book, is in Japan from north to south in 88 days and Japan’s west and islands in 86 days. The city stages also exist separately, such as Tokyo and the Kantō or Kyoto in fourteen days. The rest of the country is on the Japan page, and what to book before you leave is in What to book in advance for a trip to Japan, and when.

To price these journeys within a full budget, see the budget for a trip to Japan; to chain them over two weeks, our Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka itinerary.