I’ve been to Japan 6 times now and while I consider myself good at finding deals in my home country, I’ve been able to do well in Japan too! I’ve decided to expose my money saving secrets to the world and I hope that you will find these tips useful when you enjoy the wonderful land of the rising sun!
Taking a taxi or driving a car in Japan can be confusing and more importantly expensive. So what do you do? Take the train my friend! Trains in Japan are the best way to travel the country for many reasons. Let me list a few here!
The Benefits of Travel By Train
1. Speed - There are many different types of trains in Japan. From bullet trains reaching speeds in excess of 300 km/hr to local trains that travel at around 50 km/hr. Major train stations are right in the heart of cities which can make travel faster than airports located in the countryside(i.e. Tokyo-Narita.)
2. Convenience – The train network is so extensive and trains are frequent taking you almost anywhere you want go when you want to go. If they don’t, you can always grab a taxi at the station and chances are you won’t have to go very far to reach your destination.
3. Cost - Renting a car can not only be confusing(i.e. navigating Japanese roads) but also costly(i.e. the price of gas) Oh yeah and let’s not forget the expensive highway tolls in Japan either.
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The Negatives of Travel By Train
1. Cost - Yes, I know that cost was supposed to have been a positive but no matter how you slice it transportation in Japan is not cheap. Although for most people in most situations trains are still the best value!
Now how do we maximize that value?
Well if you are traveling to Japan as a tourist (No Work Visa) than buy the Japan Rail Pass! The Rail Pass is a great deal especially if you want to visit a few tourist spots like Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima and Nagasaki!
The pass can be purchased for periods of one, two, or three weeks and is for unlimited travel during that time period. It is good for travel on all Japan Rail trains and buses(BONUS!) except for the Nozomi Bullet Train(the fastest type of bullet train.) Don’t worry, you can take the Hikari Bullet Train(the second fastest bullet train) with the rail pass.
How much you will save depends on how much you travel. To give you an idea, I visited a new city everyday, and I estimated that if I had not used the pass I would have spent about $700 USD. The Japan Rail pass cost me about $300 USD.
If you are interested in the Rail Pass you will need to buy it BEFORE you leave your home country. You can do this at your travel agent and they will give you a voucher which looks like this.
When you arrive in Japan you will exchange this voucher for the actual rail pass. You can do this at most major train stations and this is what it looks like.
It of course it wouldn’t be Japan if there wasn’t a few spelling mistakes made by the friendly Japan Rail Staff. 
They incorrectly spelled my name and nationality which is kind of amazing as they copied both pieces of info from my passport. 
If you want more info on the rail pass, just google it!
My name is Michael McKinlay and I live in Calgary, Alberta Canada. Although I was born here, I have lived in a few other places in Western Canada such as, Saskatoon, Regina, Medicine Hat, and Edmonton. I also spent time in Hong Kong and Japan. [
Excellent blog michael, it is so true about the cost of transport and how confusing it can. I got lost of numerous occasions when I was there. So well done on explaining and hopefully helping people to understand japan alittle more Good Page of information.
Yeah, I took Mark on the local train from Hiroshima back to Nagoya. It was so slow we gave up at Okayama and took the Shinkansen! Shame we didn’t have a rail pass…
That is too bad, oh well now you know! That goes for you too Mark!
My wife and I just got back (yesterday!) from a three week vacation in Japan, and I must say the Japan Rail Pass is a good investment. My only complaint came from our week in Osaka. The JR line wasn’t as useful for us, given the location of our hotel, so we ended up using the subway more (which is not owned by JR – and is therefore not covered by the Rail Pass). Everywhere else though, the Japan Rail Pass was totally worth it. (We did a lot of traveling up in Aomori/Akita Prefecture via local trains and we spent a good amount of time on various Shinkansen, so it paid for itself pretty quick)
Yeah, it doesn’t take too long for train fares to add up, especially on the Shinkansen! You are right though about the pass no covering every train, however the JR network is pretty extensive.
Love the Shink ride from Tokyo to Osaka, especially if there’s a good view of Fuji along the way.
absolutely love the trains (shinkansens included) in Japan. JR Pass – great deal! makes getting lost and hopping on and off trains a synch.
Hey Michael nice one man! My friend came to Japan last time and he bought the pass.
What he did was he went to hiroshima in the morning and came back to tokyo with
a hamburger from hiroshima…haha
Anyways I just want to say the pass really saves a lot of money
Thank you for providing such a good info!
recently I created this blog on How to save money in Tokyo
if you have time take a look my friend
I’ll be happy to hear some advices from you
http://howtosavemoneyintokyo.blogspot.com/
Hey Im glad you liked my post! Well if you want to hear some of my tips for saving money in Japan please check out my “Save Money In Japan” category located on the righthand sidebar of this page. Feel free to link to my pages! Thanks!