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> the government aims to attract more repeat travelers and are putting in efforts to promote less-visited places in the hopes of avoiding overtourism while help

> the government aims to attract more repeat travelers and are putting in efforts to promote less-visited places in the hopes of avoiding overtourism while helping to revitalize dwindling communities at the same time. This is a good idea but unfortunately by dramatically raising the price of the JR Pass, tourists are now severely discouraged from buying it and from leaving Osaka and Tokyo, and overtourism in these cities is likely to get even worse.

deleted 3y ago
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quartesixte 3y ago
Buying individual legs for a two week trip usually came out to be the same for most people anyways. The JR Pass rarely made sense (especially with the restrictions on riding the fastest bullet trains) and now the price reflects that.
- Findecanor 3y ago
  Are you thinking of the faster bullet trains between Tokyo and Kyoto/Osaka? Part of the reason for the price increase has been said to specifically discourage tourists from using the pass for riding that route, as it was already very congested. I don't really see the logic behind that myself. Tourists will still travel between those two cities. They will just travel less to other places that they don't prioritise as much.
- Jach 3y ago
  I recall the 7 day JR Pass used to break even if you were going to do Tokyo -> Kyoto/Osaka and later back to Tokyo over a trip, maybe with an extra trip basically anywhere that could be a day trip. (e.g. Osaka to Hiroshima and back, or Tokyo to Sendai, or...) Now with the increased price you need even more trips to be worth it, which can be challenging in just 7 days. I don't think the restriction on not being able to use the fastest bullet trains is that big of a deal for most tourists.
  - Tiktaalik 3y ago
    Yeah this is basically what I was thinking of. The classic trip was Tokyo to Osaka, Kyoto and back and with the JR Pass that would have strongly incentivized you to go beyond Osaka to like Hiroshima and other places because at that point it was free. Now it will cost more to go to Hiroshima+ and so less people will do that.
samschooler 3y ago
I paid $488 in 2019 for a 14 day JR pass. In 2024, the same pass is $60 more. I wouldn't call that a dramatic increase, and still within the same magnitude of affordability? https://www.jrpass.com/buy-the-japan-rail-pass-online https://www.jrpass.com/buy-the-japan-rail-pass-online
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- gwervc 3y ago
  No he's right. The JRP is not sold in dollars but in yens so your comparison is likely skewed by exchange rates. Price rose by 50 to 70% near the end of 2023. I was lucky enough to get one at the old price on my last trip, and new prices aren't worth it anymore (esp. given you can't ride the best trains); old prices was already ok only if you planned to travel a lot.
  - deleted 3y ago
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  - wodenokoto 3y ago
    But nobody is buying with income made in yen, because there is basically no way to make money in yen and be eligible to buy the railway pass.
    - kibibyte 3y ago
      Most credit cards can do foreign transactions, and a number of travelers have cards that can do those transactions with no fees at fairly competitive exchange rates. In the past, most of those were limited to cards with annual fees, but it's easier now to get such cards with no fees (e.g. Apple Card). Personally, I purchased the pass online from JR in JPY with a US Visa card, which converted it to a USD price that came out ahead of all the authorized resellers that sold the pass in USD.
      - 3y ago
thr33 3y ago
the JR pass is almost never a good deal. you need to do a significant amount of travel over a significant distance in a short amount of time and is a very inconvenient way to travel compared to just using an IC card plus adhoc shinkansen tickets.
- bertil 3y ago
  An easy-to-understand, single-price ticket that doesn’t require detailed planning is a very good argument for tourism.
- Jach 3y ago
  While the IC card is great and a must-have, the reusable ticket for entry/exit of JR stations isn't exactly inconvenient. If you haven't been back in a while the JR pass is even more convenient than it once was, you can now book your shinkansen reserved seat tickets at the kiosks like you would have to do anyway for an adhoc one, no more having to go into the office. (I think you can also do it online as well but I didn't experiment with that, I was satisfied with the kiosks or just yolo'ing it with snagging an unreserved seat.)
  - plantain 3y ago
    At least in 2023, online was still fragmented / unnavigable to foreigners or just broken. The kiosks worked well though but we had to be shown the right ones.
    - dewey 3y ago
      I just bought it online a two weeks ago and it was super easy, they even send you frequent reminders before your trip so you don't miss it: https://smart-ex.jp/en/index.php https://smart-ex.jp/en/index.php
  - kibibyte 3y ago
    You can do it online as long as you purchase your JR pass from the official JR-operated websites (https://japanrailpass.net/en/ https://japanrailpass.net/en/ -> https://www.japanrailpass-reservation.net/ https://www.japanrailpass-reservation.net/), and not through any of the third-party authorized resellers (e.g. jrpass.com, which appears to have won the SEO game). I was able to book tickets on specific trains online quite conveniently through the same website that I purchased the pass. While I still needed to go to a kiosk to print out tickets, I feel like I reaped the benefits of it by being able to snag windows seats early on a few scenic yet nearly full trains.
tjpnz 3y ago
I remember my first trip to Japan in 2012 and it being a bad deal then. Not sure if this has changed but there was no "one" JR Pass either - you had to either choose JR East or JR West. If I were doing it again in 2024 I wouldn't bother, especially if my plans were to explore Tokyo and Osaka with day trips to Kyoto and Nara inbetween.
jeffchien 3y ago
I wonder if they have stats that indicates repeat travelers (who are more likely to stop by those small villages) are less likely to purchase JR Pass, even when it was cheaper. Anecdotally, my friends and I stopped bothering, especially after most of us started flying to HND to save time, or switched to riding airport buses or the Keisei Skyliner, thus don't benefit from using JRP on the Narita Express. These remote villages may also be more accessible on non-JR modes; for the first destination mentioned (Ama Hut in Shima, Mie), Kintetsu seems to be faster than JR. Also, Asian tourists like the Korean and Chinese influencers named in the article can fly directly KIX, NGO, FUK, CTS, etc. or ferry from Busan, so JRP might be an even worse deal for repeats from those countries.
emodendroket 3y ago
If your object is to visit a city other than those wouldn't you make that your destination airport?
- resolutebat 3y ago
  Generally speaking, in Japan flying into a rural airport is strictly inferior to taking the train there. Flight frequencies are low, prices are high, and public transport from the airport to the actual city is typically limited and expensive.
  - emodendroket 3y ago
    In my experience the flight is almost always cheaper and the train is more the choice for people who want the experience.
    - resolutebat 3y ago
      Are we talking about different things here? Of course the plane is cheaper for heavily competed trunk routes like Tokyo to Fukuoka or Sapporo, but I'm referring to all the random small airports that are lucky to get a single daily flight to Tokyo: Noto, Aomori, Yamagata, Kushiro, etc.
      - pezezin 3y ago
        I guess it depends on the city, but I live within walking distance of Misawa airport, and in our case the airplane ticket is a bit cheaper than the Shinkansen. We only get three flights a day though.

deleted 3y ago

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quartesixte 3y ago

Buying individual legs for a two week trip usually came out to be the same for most people anyways. The JR Pass rarely made sense (especially with the restrictions on riding the fastest bullet trains) and now the price reflects that.

Findecanor 3y ago
Are you thinking of the faster bullet trains between Tokyo and Kyoto/Osaka? Part of the reason for the price increase has been said to specifically discourage tourists from using the pass for riding that route, as it was already very congested. I don't really see the logic behind that myself. Tourists will still travel between those two cities. They will just travel less to other places that they don't prioritise as much.
Jach 3y ago
I recall the 7 day JR Pass used to break even if you were going to do Tokyo -> Kyoto/Osaka and later back to Tokyo over a trip, maybe with an extra trip basically anywhere that could be a day trip. (e.g. Osaka to Hiroshima and back, or Tokyo to Sendai, or...) Now with the increased price you need even more trips to be worth it, which can be challenging in just 7 days. I don't think the restriction on not being able to use the fastest bullet trains is that big of a deal for most tourists.
- Tiktaalik 3y ago
  Yeah this is basically what I was thinking of. The classic trip was Tokyo to Osaka, Kyoto and back and with the JR Pass that would have strongly incentivized you to go beyond Osaka to like Hiroshima and other places because at that point it was free. Now it will cost more to go to Hiroshima+ and so less people will do that.

samschooler 3y ago

I paid $488 in 2019 for a 14 day JR pass. In 2024, the same pass is $60 more. I wouldn't call that a dramatic increase, and still within the same magnitude of affordability? https://www.jrpass.com/buy-the-japan-rail-pass-online https://www.jrpass.com/buy-the-japan-rail-pass-online

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
gwervc 3y ago
No he's right. The JRP is not sold in dollars but in yens so your comparison is likely skewed by exchange rates. Price rose by 50 to 70% near the end of 2023. I was lucky enough to get one at the old price on my last trip, and new prices aren't worth it anymore (esp. given you can't ride the best trains); old prices was already ok only if you planned to travel a lot.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- wodenokoto 3y ago
  But nobody is buying with income made in yen, because there is basically no way to make money in yen and be eligible to buy the railway pass.
  - kibibyte 3y ago
    Most credit cards can do foreign transactions, and a number of travelers have cards that can do those transactions with no fees at fairly competitive exchange rates. In the past, most of those were limited to cards with annual fees, but it's easier now to get such cards with no fees (e.g. Apple Card). Personally, I purchased the pass online from JR in JPY with a US Visa card, which converted it to a USD price that came out ahead of all the authorized resellers that sold the pass in USD.
    - 3y ago

thr33 3y ago

the JR pass is almost never a good deal. you need to do a significant amount of travel over a significant distance in a short amount of time and is a very inconvenient way to travel compared to just using an IC card plus adhoc shinkansen tickets.

bertil 3y ago
An easy-to-understand, single-price ticket that doesn’t require detailed planning is a very good argument for tourism.
Jach 3y ago
While the IC card is great and a must-have, the reusable ticket for entry/exit of JR stations isn't exactly inconvenient. If you haven't been back in a while the JR pass is even more convenient than it once was, you can now book your shinkansen reserved seat tickets at the kiosks like you would have to do anyway for an adhoc one, no more having to go into the office. (I think you can also do it online as well but I didn't experiment with that, I was satisfied with the kiosks or just yolo'ing it with snagging an unreserved seat.)
- plantain 3y ago
  At least in 2023, online was still fragmented / unnavigable to foreigners or just broken. The kiosks worked well though but we had to be shown the right ones.
  - dewey 3y ago
    I just bought it online a two weeks ago and it was super easy, they even send you frequent reminders before your trip so you don't miss it: https://smart-ex.jp/en/index.php https://smart-ex.jp/en/index.php
- kibibyte 3y ago
  You can do it online as long as you purchase your JR pass from the official JR-operated websites (https://japanrailpass.net/en/ https://japanrailpass.net/en/ -> https://www.japanrailpass-reservation.net/ https://www.japanrailpass-reservation.net/), and not through any of the third-party authorized resellers (e.g. jrpass.com, which appears to have won the SEO game). I was able to book tickets on specific trains online quite conveniently through the same website that I purchased the pass. While I still needed to go to a kiosk to print out tickets, I feel like I reaped the benefits of it by being able to snag windows seats early on a few scenic yet nearly full trains.

tjpnz 3y ago

I remember my first trip to Japan in 2012 and it being a bad deal then. Not sure if this has changed but there was no "one" JR Pass either - you had to either choose JR East or JR West. If I were doing it again in 2024 I wouldn't bother, especially if my plans were to explore Tokyo and Osaka with day trips to Kyoto and Nara inbetween.

jeffchien 3y ago

I wonder if they have stats that indicates repeat travelers (who are more likely to stop by those small villages) are less likely to purchase JR Pass, even when it was cheaper. Anecdotally, my friends and I stopped bothering, especially after most of us started flying to HND to save time, or switched to riding airport buses or the Keisei Skyliner, thus don't benefit from using JRP on the Narita Express. These remote villages may also be more accessible on non-JR modes; for the first destination mentioned (Ama Hut in Shima, Mie), Kintetsu seems to be faster than JR. Also, Asian tourists like the Korean and Chinese influencers named in the article can fly directly KIX, NGO, FUK, CTS, etc. or ferry from Busan, so JRP might be an even worse deal for repeats from those countries.

emodendroket 3y ago

If your object is to visit a city other than those wouldn't you make that your destination airport?

resolutebat 3y ago
Generally speaking, in Japan flying into a rural airport is strictly inferior to taking the train there. Flight frequencies are low, prices are high, and public transport from the airport to the actual city is typically limited and expensive.
- emodendroket 3y ago
  In my experience the flight is almost always cheaper and the train is more the choice for people who want the experience.
  - resolutebat 3y ago
    Are we talking about different things here? Of course the plane is cheaper for heavily competed trunk routes like Tokyo to Fukuoka or Sapporo, but I'm referring to all the random small airports that are lucky to get a single daily flight to Tokyo: Noto, Aomori, Yamagata, Kushiro, etc.
    - pezezin 3y ago
      I guess it depends on the city, but I live within walking distance of Misawa airport, and in our case the airplane ticket is a bit cheaper than the Shinkansen. We only get three flights a day though.