 |
|
|
|
| |
At present all ordinary tickets, local or long distance, cannot be purchased from outside Japan. Only the Japan Rail Pass and the regional rail passes are sold overseas by our official distributors. Once in Japan however you can easily purchase JR tickets throughout the country. In Tokyo alone there are several hundred JR stations, most of which sell both local and long-distance tickets. The international airports at Tokyo (Narita) and Osaka/Kyoto (Kansai) have stations in the terminals where you can buy tickets immediately on arrival. If you are buying a series of tickets for use in sequence, the total price may go down a little if you buy them all at once rather than on separate days. |
|
|
 |
 |
|
Long distance reserved seat tickets (Shinkansen, Limited Express etc.) go on sale one month prior to the reservation date. They can be purchased any time after that date. For local trains, most people buy base fare tickets on the day of travel, but it is possible to buy base fare tickets for local trains in advance, especially as part of a long distance trip. |
| All tickets apart from rail passes are available only in Japan. In general people buy tickets for local trains at the station where they are boarding the train. Tickets for long-distance trains can be purchased at any JR station with a Ticket Reservation Office or Travel Service Center, as well as from major travel agencies. Please note that most stations accept credit cards but that none accept foreign currency or travelers' checks. |
|
Base fare tickets for local trains can be purchased from automatic ticket vending machines as well as at ticket windows. Many machines provide information and instructions in English. As most machines take only cash or special prepaid debit cards you should carry some cash for local travel. Machines will accept bills and give change. It is easy to obtain Japanese yen from banks or ATMs. |
 |
 |
|
All larger and medium-sized stations have separate ticketing areas called Ticket Reservation Offices (Midori-no-Madoguchi) for long-distance tickets or seat reservations. These will generally be marked as Ticket Windows in English. At smaller stations you will find only regular ticket windows for local tickets.
In addition, many JR stations have Travel Service Centers, which are similar to travel agencies and are operated by Japan Railways. Travel Service Centers offer a more personal approach to travel than the ticket windows. The staff is happy to assist you not just with tickets but with many other travel needs. The Japan Rail Pass exchange points are often located at Travel Service Centers so you can combine the rail pass process with other travel planning. Please note that the Travel Service Centers use different names around the country; for example in the Tokyo area they are called View Plaza. You can use your credit card at Ticket Reservation Offices ( "Midori-no-madoguchi") and Travel Service Center. Tickets purchased with credit card can only be refunded at the station where they were purchased.
|
 |
 |
| |
 |
|
Major travel agencies sell railway tickets for travel from
any JR station. |
|
|
|
