# Japan Rail Pass



## JSUAlumni

I am accepting a job with an American company in Japan and will be staying for one year. I will be receiving all the necessary work permits during my stay (I won't be an illegal immigrant of any sort.)

I wish to travel around Japan on the metro to work, and I would also like to travel around Japan for sightseeing while I'm in Japan on the weekends. I've searched Google and found conflicting information so I was hoping someone here could give me a definitive answer.

What is the best rail pass to buy to use around my city for work, and to also take some distance trips throughout Japan to see the beautiful countryside. I'd like to visit several cities during my time there.

As a foreigner, what is the best (and cheapest) rail pass to buy. Can this pass be paid on a monthly basis? I'd really like to find a railpass that would allow me travel throughout Japan during the year long while I'm there.

If anyone has exoerience with this and could provide some insight, please let me know. I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you in advance.

JSUAlumni


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## larabell

All the train operators I know of offer monthly commuter passes. Usually, you have to tell them where you live and work because the pass is good for a specific pair of endpoints and a specific route. You can also get 3 month or 6 month passes (at least you could... it's been a while since I've needed to buy a commuter pass). For what it's worth, the commuter passes generally allow you to get on or off the train at any station along the way as many times as you want so if you have a relatively lengthy route, you can probably do quite a bit of poking around by getting off at stations in-between work and home.

As for sightseeing, there are a number of one-day, weekend, and multi-day deals, usually for a specific geographic area, that you can buy if you're planning on moving around a lot in a specific place for a weekend or a short vacation. There are no generic "go anywhere" passes and, even if there were, you wouldn't want one since the price is usually based on a certain number of trips in a given period of time and I kinda doubt you could possibly travel enough to make that pay off and work a regular job at the same time.

Tourists can get one-week and two-week "go anywhere" passes on JR only but if you enter Japan on a working visa, they might refuse to activate the pass since the deal is intended for tourists. But if you come over on a house-hunting trip, on a temporary visa waiver, and you want to tour around a bit at the same time, look into the JR Rail Pass. But... unless you make at least one long-distance round trip (ie: Tokyo to Osaka and back), the JR Rail Pass is likely to set you back more than just paying the regular fare as you go. Like they say... no free lunch...


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## JSUAlumni

larabell said:


> All the train operators I know of offer monthly commuter passes. Usually, you have to tell them where you live and work because the pass is good for a specific pair of endpoints and a specific route. You can also get 3 month or 6 month passes (at least you could... it's been a while since I've needed to buy a commuter pass). For what it's worth, the commuter passes generally allow you to get on or off the train at any station along the way as many times as you want so if you have a relatively lengthy route, you can probably do quite a bit of poking around by getting off at stations in-between work and home.
> 
> As for sightseeing, there are a number of one-day, weekend, and multi-day deals, usually for a specific geographic area, that you can buy if you're planning on moving around a lot in a specific place for a weekend or a short vacation. There are no generic "go anywhere" passes and, even if there were, you wouldn't want one since the price is usually based on a certain number of trips in a given period of time and I kinda doubt you could possibly travel enough to make that pay off and work a regular job at the same time.
> 
> Tourists can get one-week and two-week "go anywhere" passes on JR only but if you enter Japan on a working visa, they might refuse to activate the pass since the deal is intended for tourists. But if you come over on a house-hunting trip, on a temporary visa waiver, and you want to tour around a bit at the same time, look into the JR Rail Pass. But... unless you make at least one long-distance round trip (ie: Tokyo to Osaka and back), the JR Rail Pass is likely to set you back more than just paying the regular fare as you go. Like they say... no free lunch...



Thanks for the input. I'll be living in Yokohama. Is there anywhere you would recommend to travel to for a nice weekend trip? 

I understand they have bullet trains there. Where would you recommend to go for a weekend to get away from it all?


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## Hyuga Risingsun

*Weekend gettaway*



JSUAlumni said:


> Thanks for the input. I'll be living in Yokohama. Is there anywhere you would recommend to travel to for a nice weekend trip?
> 
> I understand they have bullet trains there. Where would you recommend to go for a weekend to get away from it all?


Howdie JSU! Here we go again.

If you want to use the Bullet trains for a weekend gettaway, your options are infinite.

Of course, you could go to the "cliche" places like Osaka, Kyoto, Tokyo, Shizuoka (for Mt. Fuji). But depending on your taste in travel, my recommendations are as follows:

1. If you like warm places to enjoy the beach as well as the Onsen-hot springs of Japan: I recommend Wakayama. Yes, it can be a lot of traveling done from Tokyo (3 hours to Osaka and another hour on local lines to Wakayama) but it's definitely worth it. Very few tourists crowding the area, lots of nice beaches nearby Wakayama City (Kada and Isonoura to name a few) and great onsen-spots around the area. You can also use a different train line from Osaka to go to Mt. Koya (Koyasan) and there enjoy one of Japan's most beautiful Buddhist temples, with fantastic hiking trenches that will make you feel you have been transported to old Edo-Japan.

2. Cold places and Ski resorts, Hokkaido and Nagano are the places. Not much to say about these two except that they are fantastic locations for ski and other winter sports. If you go to Niseko, in Hokkaido there is a hotel there that does fantastic work for its foreign gets. Search HTM Niseko on Google for more details.

Don't forget to check my blog for more content like this: hyugasuccesinjp.wordpress 
____________________________________________________________________
Language is the key into someone's world--as well as the key to open your own

Hyuga Risingsun
Philosopher, interpreter, translator, entrepreneur, philanthropist


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