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Hi there, I'm Amy from Cakes with Faces
Welcome back to my Japlanning series
Of tips & advice to help you plan your trip to Japan
Today's all about other types of train passes that aren't the Japan Rail Pass
The Japan Rail Pass (JR Pass) is excellent if you're travelling around Japan
I've used it (not all in the same trip)
But I have used it to go all the way from Kagoshima
In the south
All the way up to snowy Hokkaido
It can save you a lot of money
Compared to individual tickets
But it does also add quite a lot to your budget
At the moment, a 7 day pass is £230
The price varies with the exchange rate
And at the moment, the exchange rates are pretty bad
Today I'm going to show you some alternatives
That are a bit less well known
Some of them are for if you're staying in other areas of Japan
And some of them are for if you're staying in Tokyo
So you don't need a Japan Rail Pass
But you want to go on a few day trips
The standard JR Pass covers the whole of Japan
You can go on all the bullet trains (shinkansen)
And all the train lines run by Japan Railways
That's where the "JR" comes from
You can go on all of them as much as you want
Now what you might not have realised
Is there's also regional versions of the JR Pass
Which are exactly the same thing
But for a smaller area
You can get them for areas like Hokkaido
Kysuhu, Shikoku
Kansai - that's the area around Osaka
And lots more, there's quite a lot of options
So if you're just going to 1 of those areas
Like if you're staying in the Kansai area
Around Osaka & Kyoto
Or if you're just going to Hokkaido
You can get a regional pass & save money
They might not be for everyone
Because most of them don't include Tokyo
And of course, if you're doing the most popular route
The Golden Route
Between Tokyo and Osaka or Kyoto
They've made it so you have to get the full pass for the whole of Japan
The exception to that is the Tokyo / Osaka Arch Pass
Which does the Golden Route but a slightly different version
You travel in the shape of an arch
Going via Kanazawa and the Japanese Alps
So you can see Nagano and places round there
Which is really good because you get to see some more interesting places
That are a bit less visited by most tourists
However there's a slight drawback to that one as well
It's only really good for a one-way trip
Because it doesn't cover the most direct, quickest route
Between Tokyo & Osaka on the bullet train
So you'd either need a lot of time to go back via the arch
Or you'd want an open jaw flight
Where you fly into Tokyo
Then out of Osaka
Or the other way round
As I mentioned, a couple of the other regional passes also include Tokyo
There's the Tohoku pass
Which is the area north (or east) of Tokyo
There's one that includes all of that and south Hokkaido as well
And there's also the Nangon/Niigata pass
Which is a really mountainous region
The Japanese alps
Most of the JR Passes are for consecutive days
But some of them are flexible
So you can use them for a specified number days
Within a certain period
And that includes the 3 I just mentioned
That include Tokyo
So for example, for the Tohoku pass
You can use it for any 5 days
Within a 2 week period
What that means is you could go somewhere,
Stay there for a few days
Move on to somewhere else
Then go back to Tokyo for the rest of your trip
So it's really good for exploring the area
And seeing a lot of different places
So if you don't need the whole of Japan
You might be able to save a bit of money
For example, at the moment the Tohoku pass
Is £150 per person
Compared to £230 for the full JR Pass
So for 2 people
You can save £160 all together
I think being a bit more focussed with a regional pass
Encourages you to explore the area a bit more
And see all the places you could go to
You might end up going to some places you might not have found otherwise
Most of the JR Passes are only for foreigners
So you need to buy them online before you go
There are some changes coming up to the process quite soon
But I'll tell you about them when they happen
Next: the Tokyo Wide Pass
Is good for day trips & overnight trips from Tokyo
It costs 10,000 yen
It's valid for 3 consecutive days
In the Tokyo area
Broadly speaking, the prefectures around Tokyo
There's a list on the JR East website
Of all the lines it's valid for
Which includes some bullet train lines
There's quite a lot of places you can go to
Including Mount Fuji
Nikko, where you can see some really elaborate shrines
And a national park
The Izu peninsula and the Boso peninsula
To see places on the coast
Kusatsu, which is a really unusual onsen town
Where they cool the water in the centre of town
And ski resorts in Niigata
This one might not always save you money
Really it depends where you go
Sometimes the trains for day trips from Tokyo are surprisingly cheap
When I went to Mount Takao
Which is an hour outside Tokyo on the train
It was only a couple of hundred yen each way
And if you're going somewhere like Yokohama
You can get there for less than 500 yen
So for this one, it's best to have a think about the places you might go to
And compare the prices for individual tickets
To see if it's going to be worth it
You can look up the prices for train tickets on Hyperdia
You can search on there, and it's all in English
If you do decide to go for it
You can buy it online before you go
Or you can buy it at major JR train stations in Japan
All the details are on the JR East website
You'll find it if you search for "Tokyo Wide Pass"
Next is the Flex Ticket
Now I don't think this one's quite so well known
It's from a company called JR Tokai Tours
It's a discount ticket for the bullet train
That's only for foreigners
What you get is a round trip on the bullet train
And a ticket for an attraction or experience
It's called the Flex Ticket because it's flexible
You can go on any bullet train you want
At any time of day
You can stay at your destination for up to 7 days
Before coming back
There's packages for Kyoto, Osaka, Hakone (for Mount Fuji)
Mishima, where there's a tall suspension bridge with views of Mount Fuji
Nagoya and Koyasan
Which is a mountain not too far from Osaka
It doesn't have to be from Tokyo
You can get it from Osaka, Nagoya, or a few other places too
As well as the return trip on the shinkansen
The Flex Ticket package also includes an experience coupon
Which includes things like a tourist attraction or a meal
In Osaka, you can get the Osaka Amazing Pass for 1 day
Which is a really good option
Because it covers all your sightseeing for the day
And your local trains
A good thing about the Flex Ticket
Is you can go on any bullet train you want
That includes the Nozomi
Which is the fastest one
Which isn't covered by the Japan Rail Pass
The catch is: you can't reserve a seat
So you need to make sure you get to the station early
So you can get a seat in the unreserved carriage
The Flex Ticket costs less than the train ticket would if you bought it separately
And it includes the experience coupon as well
It also costs less than a JR Pass
But of course, it doesn't cover any other trains
Which is the JR Pass would
So whether it's worth it
Really depends on your plans
So if you want to take a look at the figures
If you bought a regular ticket for the Nozomi
That's the fastest bullet train between Tokyo & Osaka
It'd cost you 27,740 yen
For the round trip
The Flex Ticket would be 22,500 yen
And you could also get the Osaka Amazing Pass included
Which would normally be 2700 yen
Compared to this, a 7 day JR Pass is 27,650 yen
But that would cover a lot of other train trips as well
Which the Flex Ticket doesn't
If you want to go for the Flex Ticket
You can get it from the JR Tokai Tours desk
At major stations in Japan
It tells you which ones on their website
jrtours.co.jp/en
Next is the Platt Kodama
Which is also from JR Tokai Tours
It's a discount ticket for a 1 way trip on the bullet train
Between Tokyo & Osaka or Kyoto
Or one of the other stations on that line in between
Like Nagoya, Hamamatsu or Shizuoka
The catch for this one is you have to go on the Kodama
Which is the slowest bullet train service
It stops at every single station along the way
So it's going to take you a bit longer
But you do get a free drink along the way
You can have a soft drink or a beer
I don't know if you know, but all these names for the different types of shinkansen have meanings
Kodama means "tree spirit"
With the Platt Kodama, you can get from Tokyo to Kyoto
For 11,900 yen for the one way trip
But as it's the slowest service
It'll take about 4 hours, instead of abut 2.5 hours
On the faster trains
The Flex Ticket that I was talking about just now
Would actually be cheaper if you're doing a return trip
And you get to go on a faster train
So really the Platt Kodama's only worth it
As a budget option
If you're doing a one-way trip
And you've got a lot of time
You have to buy the Platt Kodama at least 1 day in advance
From the JR Tokai tours desk
At major stations
The directions are on jrtours.co.jp/en
Finally: discount ticket packages for tourists
There's lots of these discount packages
From the different train companies in Japan
Which are really good for day trips or overnight trips
Now often for day trips, you can just use your Suica or Pasmo card
Just like you would for all the other trains in Tokyo
But if you get these discount packages
They can save you a bit of money on the train
Sometimes they also have discounts on something when you get there
Like for a boat trip, or a meal or a cable car
The best place to find out about them
Is on japan-guide.com
Look up the place you want to go
Go right to the bottom of the page
Where it tells you how to get there
That's where it'll tell you if there are any discount packages available
You can also browse the packages on the train companies' websites
Which can be a way of getting ideas for places to go
That you might not have thought about otherwise
So for example, on Tobu Railways' website
You can see their packages for Nikko & Kawagoe
On Odakyu Railways there's Hakone, Enoshima & Kamakura
Which is one of the places that's known as little Kyoto
Like I was talking about last week
They're not just for Tokyo
You can get them for other areas of Japan as well
So for example, when I was staying in Fukuoka
I got a discount package for the train to Dazaifu & Yanagawa
Which also included the boat trip I went on
You can usually get passes for the main, popular day trips in the area
You usually buy them when you're there
From teh train company's desk at the station
If you follow signs towards the line with the same name
You can usually find the customer service desk somewhere near the ticket gates
They often have an English speaker
Because they have lots of tourists coming through
And they'll have leaflets on display
So if you get stuck
You can just point at the ticket you want
So I hope you found that useful
A few alternatives to the Japan Rail Pass
Some ideas to help you explore outside the city
And maybe save you a bit of money
If you're watching this as it comes out
Take a look at my Kickstarter, it's finishing on the 2nd April
And all my other Japlanning videos
Are all together in a playlist on my channel
I'll see you next week
Bye bye!