JR Pass: Worth it?

TL;DR: Yes. Yes it is. At least for us. And at least until the price increase in October 2023. YMMV.

I got Japan Rail Passes for both my 2013 and 2023 Japan trips and I’ll be honest: I just trusted that they’d be worth it. I didn’t do the math because I just couldn’t be bothered.

But since returning from the April 2023 trip, I’ve been curious: Had our Japan Rail Pass, indeed, been worth its ¥47,250 cost? I wanted proof! And the only way I could do that was to add up all the Japan Rail rides we took on the 2023 trip.

Below is that table of all our Japan Rail rides as best as I can recall. Any public transit that wasn’t on Japan Rail, such as when we took the Yurikakome, Enoshima Elecric Railway or Osaka Metro, we paid with our SUICA cards and is not included in this table. I include the regular rate – “Reg (¥)” – but some Japan Rail rides cost a few yen less if you pay with an IC card, so I included the slightly discounted rate here as well.

In addition, if we took a non-local train – i.e., a shinkansen or a limited express – I note if we got reserved or unreserved seats since reserved seats cost more.

Table: 2023 Japan Rail rides #

Date	JR Station From	JR Station To	Reg (¥)	IC (¥)	Non-Local
10 April	Haneda Airport	Hamamatsucho	500	492
10 April	Hamamatsucho	Tokyo	170	167
11 April	Tokyo	Fujisawa	990	990
11 April	Fujisawa	Shin-Yokohama	594	590
11 April	Shin-Yokohama	Shinagawa	870	870	unreserved
11 April	Shinagawa	Shinjuku	590	590
11 April	Shinjuku	Tokyo	210	208
12 April	Tokyo	Utsunomiya	2,840	2,840	reserved
12 April	Utsunomiya	Nikko	770	770
12 April	Nikko	Utsunomiya	770	770
12 April	Utsunomiya	Tokyo	1,980	1,980	unreserved
13 April	Tokyo	Katsuta	3,890	3,890	reserved
13 April	Katsuta	Tokyo	2,310	2,310	unreserved
13 April	Tokyo	Suidobashi	170	167
13 April	Suidobashi	Tokyo	170	167
14 April	Tokyo	Nippori	170	167
14 April	Nippori	Tokyo	170	167
14 April	Tokyo	Shin-Osaka	14,400	14,400	reserved
15 April	Shin-Osaka	Okayama	6,140	6,140	reserved
15 April	Okayama	Hokaiin	150	150
15 April	Hokaiin	Okayama	150	150
15 April	Okayama	Shin-Osaka	5,610	5,610	unreserved
16 April	Shin-Osaka	Okayama	6,140	6,140	reserved
16 April	Okayama	Bizen Ichinomiya	210	210
16 April	Soja	Kurashiki	240	240
16 April	Kurashiki	Okayama	330	330
16 April	Okayama	Shin-Osaka	5,610	5,610	unreserved
17 April	Shin-Osaka	Universal City	230	230
17 April	Universal City	Shin-Osaka	230	230
18 April	Shin-Osaka	Tokyo	14,200	14,200	reserved
18 April	Tokyo	Omiya	1,670	1,670	unreserved
18 April	Omiya	Kawagoe	330	330
18 April	Kawagoe	Omiya	330	330
18 April	Omiya	Tokyo	1,670	1,670	unreserved
18 April	Tokyo	Maihama	230	230
20 April	Maihama	Tokyo	230	230
20 April	Tokyo	Oyama (Tochigi)	3,930	3,930	reserved
20 April	Oyama (Tochigi)	Ashikaga Flower Park	682	680
20 April	Ashikaga Flower Park	Oyama (Tochigi)	682	680
20 April	Oyama (Tochigi)	Omiya	1,990	1,990	unreserved
20 April	Omiya	Ikebukuro	410	406
20 April	Ikebukuro	Tokyo	210	208
20 April	Tokyo	Hamamatsucho	170	167
20 April	Hamamatsucho	Haneda Airport	500	492
TOTAL			¥83,838	¥83,788

Conclusion #

To recap: A 14-day Japan Rail Pass costs ¥47,250. During the course of our 11 days in Japan, we rode Japan Rail trains enough to rack up about ¥83,800 in fares had we paid for each ride individually. That’s crazy! That’s 77 percent more than what we paid! 😮

I knew the Japan Rail Pass was a good buy if just for its convenience alone. Its access to unlimited travel gives you the flexibility of being able to hop on and hop off trains without having to worry about constantly purchasing single fares. But to discover that the pass also saved us heaps of money as well is so satisfying. What an incredible value.

So that’s the good amazing news.

If you think that’s an almost inconceivable cost saving measure, imagine what Japan Rail must think. Their JR Pass prices haven’t change in decades.

So here’s the bad news. In April, coincidentally while Van and I were in Japan, Japan Rail announced that beginning in October 2023 they were finally raising the price of their passes. By a lot. The 14-day pass, for example, will go from ¥47,250 to ¥80,000: a 69 percent increase. (Which, surprisingly, almost exactly brings it in line with our usage of the JR Pass on this trip.) All of the other duration passes face a similar percentage in price hike.