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Rail/JR passes vs. Individual tickets

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Outkast
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Postby Outkast » April 3rd, 2007 1:25 am

Thanks for the advice, both of you.

Regular tickets probably will make more sense. I'm going to be in Oita, just south-east of Beppu, but will be traveling on weekends elsewhere.

Too bad there aren't any discount passes for people who ride daily...

Clienad
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Postby Clienad » April 9th, 2007 9:13 am

should you only wan't to ride JR and go here and there on non shinkansen lines get a nice going card. http://www.jrkyushu.co.jp/ngc/ this works in making it 40% cheaper to take local lines out to sightseeing destinations. just can't take shinkansen. you have to be under 30 to use it though.

Get 40% OFF
dmr214
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Postby dmr214 » April 11th, 2007 2:16 am

Outkast wrote:OH!! OH!! Question!

If I was going to be in Kyushu for a year, traveling both within a local city and around the island (and occasionally off the island,) what would be the best options? Is there a rail pass for this? Would a year be too long to make a rail pass worthwhile?


If you are going to be in Japan for a year then you will need to have a proper visa (non tourist) which would not allow you to use any type of railpass. Your best bet would be to buy Teikiken which is a type of ticket that is discounted for a few months use on a specific route. They are quite common and fairly cheap. Maybe about 100$ for 1 month. 250$ for 3 months or so.

Also I don't think Narita Express is covered by JR Pass. but it's only a 2500Yen ride from Narita to Shinjuku and maybe cheaper to Tokyo Station.

JonB
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It is

Postby JonB » April 11th, 2007 3:00 am

dmr214 wrote:Also I don't think Narita Express is covered by JR Pass. but it's only a 2500Yen ride from Narita to Shinjuku and maybe cheaper to Tokyo Station.


but you may need to pay for a seat as most seats are reserved these days. Most of my visitors stay in Tokyo for a few days first so don't bother using their pass on NEX but the best place to validate your pass is at Narita - just let them know what date you want it to start. A lot more convenient than going to Tokyo Station to do it.

Fare Shinjuku is 3,110 and Tokyo 2,940

Outkast
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Postby Outkast » April 15th, 2007 1:35 am

dmr214 wrote:
Outkast wrote:OH!! OH!! Question!

If I was going to be in Kyushu for a year, traveling both within a local city and around the island (and occasionally off the island,) what would be the best options? Is there a rail pass for this? Would a year be too long to make a rail pass worthwhile?


If you are going to be in Japan for a year then you will need to have a proper visa (non tourist) which would not allow you to use any type of railpass. Your best bet would be to buy Teikiken which is a type of ticket that is discounted for a few months use on a specific route. They are quite common and fairly cheap. Maybe about 100$ for 1 month. 250$ for 3 months or so.

Also I don't think Narita Express is covered by JR Pass. but it's only a 2500Yen ride from Narita to Shinjuku and maybe cheaper to Tokyo Station.


I'll be on a student visa. What's best for that?

dmr214
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Postby dmr214 » April 16th, 2007 1:39 am

The cheapest I have found is called Teikiken 定期券 type of ticket. Basically you can buy a 1 month / 3 month ticket for one discounted price. This ticket allows you to travel a certain path but the nice thing is you can get off at any station along that path. Kyushu is very very train oriented since you probably won't have a car down there you'll need a bike to get to the station. You can buy a cheap used bike which are very good condition and use that to get to the station and get around in your local area.

The Teikiken ticket will generally cost you about 10,000 - 30,000 Yen depending on your destination and you should pick it up in the form of a PASMO. Pasmo allows you to use a credit card to move through the station ticket booths. it's very cool and helps save the environment by not using tickets!

hth
Dave

Outkast
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Joined: May 30th, 2006 3:31 pm

Postby Outkast » April 18th, 2007 1:06 am

dmr214 wrote:The cheapest I have found is called Teikiken 定期券 type of ticket. Basically you can buy a 1 month / 3 month ticket for one discounted price. This ticket allows you to travel a certain path but the nice thing is you can get off at any station along that path. Kyushu is very very train oriented since you probably won't have a car down there you'll need a bike to get to the station. You can buy a cheap used bike which are very good condition and use that to get to the station and get around in your local area.

The Teikiken ticket will generally cost you about 10,000 - 30,000 Yen depending on your destination and you should pick it up in the form of a PASMO. Pasmo allows you to use a credit card to move through the station ticket booths. it's very cool and helps save the environment by not using tickets!

hth
Dave


Sounds very cool. Thanks!

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