rail pass

Submitted by byron on Wed, 2008/08/06 - 22:11.

correct me if i'm wrong, but it seems to me that the cool rail passes i was thinking of buying at some point are for people with "temporary visitor" status (i.e. not us) [reference]

so are there any other kinds of rail passes or good deals for people like us? or are we stuck paying the normal rates?

nagoya anyone? ›
»

check out the jr east website

Submitted by prarielynn on Thu, 2008/08/07 - 11:30.

Yeah, it really does suck that we JETs can't get in on that deal. It would save so much time in terms of travelling.

Well, as the subject line says, check out the website of the JR East Railway --www.jreast.co.jp. Find the link for "special tickets." It'll show a bunch of different discounted tickets. If you want to travel across japan and have time to spare, consider the seishun 18(seishun ju-hachi kippu) for the very low price of 11800 yen, you will get 5 tickets which you can use on 5 consecutive days, or split up the days within a certain time period. It great because it's good on all "JR Lines" meaning you can work your way around Japan on this pass. And if you work it out, each day of travel only cost 2300 yen, not too shabby if you are going long distances. Bad thing is you can only take local trains ie. no shinkansen and no limited express access. And that can take up alot of time. Also keep in mind there are only certain times of the year that they are available to buy and use. They actually coincide with JET/ students holidays, which is actually perfect for those of us on JET. Winter holiday (Dec. 10-Jan 20), Spring Holiday(03/01-04/10) and Summer holiday(07/20-09-10).

So, that's all I got, but definitely check out the JR East website and some the other railways (japanrail.com) to see if they have any other discount ticket offers.

Happy travels!!

lyle's picture

DoNichi Kippu - unlimited

Submitted by lyle on Fri, 2008/08/08 - 22:21.

DoNichi Kippu - unlimited shinkansen travel (in a certain area) on a saturday and sunday
http://gunmajet.net/node/1006

Rikai-Free Kippu - roundtrip to Tokyo with unlimited travel within Tokyo on JR Lines
http://gunmajet.net/node/444

The Seishun-18 is an awesome ticket. Every season they're available I've bought one. They're magical, magical tickets.

Brent's picture

Seishun-18

Submitted by Brent on Mon, 2008/08/11 - 08:44.

Ahh, yes. The seishun-18. Truly a thing of wonder. Why, I remember using that ticket and going from Kiryu to Himeji in only 13 hours of non-stop local train riding. By the end of it station names started blurring together and seperating the name of the station I had just changed at from the from the station I was going to became a serious challenge. But I just kept reminding myself that nearly 20,000yen of traveling was being accomplished by 2,000yen and all was well.

In short, if you've got the time to spend a whole day or two getting to your ultimate goal, give the seishun-18 a shot. The journey itself is something. But if quickly getting to where you're going is a priority it might not be your thing.