Mar–MayOne pass for unlimited JR travel the length of the country, from Hokkaidō to Kyūshū. Best value when a single week takes in several regions.
The pass covers almost every JR line in the country: the Shinkansen spine from Kagoshima up to Hokkaidō, the Hokuriku corridor through Kanazawa, and all the JR limited express, rapid, and local trains in between. The one big catch is the Nozomi and Mizuho, the fastest services on the Tōkaidō and Sanyō lines.
The pass is honoured by all six JR Group companies. It covers the Shinkansen, limited express, rapid, and local trains, plus a few ferries and airport links. The headline exclusions are the Nozomi and Mizuho and anything that is not JR.
You must hold a foreign government-issued passport and enter Japan as a Temporary Visitor, the 90-day visa-free tourist stamp. Japanese nationals are not eligible. Your passport must be shown when collecting the pass and may be checked when you board, so carry it with you.
Prebooked passes cost ¥53,000 from 1 Oct 2026 (¥50,000 until then). You pay before you fly and Klook posts the Exchange Order to your home (allow about a week), so it is in hand before you leave. It is valid for 3 months; in Japan you swap it for the pass at a major JR station (Tokyo, Shin-Ōsaka, Kyoto and others).
Book ↗The official JR Group site sells at the official price of ¥50,000. You still collect the pass in Japan, usually at the ticket office of a major JR station, where the queues can be long.
Official site ↗Buy it on arrival at the official price of ¥50,000, at JR ticket offices in major stations and airports. Expect a long queue. Fine as a backup; for most trips the ¥3,000 extra to prebook is worth it.
Where to buy ↗Three things matter most: pick your start date so the Shinkansen-heavy days fall inside the window, exchange the Order before that date, and reserve seats early around weekends and Golden Week.
You receive a voucher (the Exchange Order) by email, or a digital ticket if you buy on the official site. The voucher is valid for 3 months, so you can buy it before flights are booked.
Bring the voucher and passport to a JR ticket office at Tokyo, Shin-Ōsaka, Kyoto, Narita, Haneda, and most large stations. Specify your start date, which can be any day within 1 month of exchange.
The pass runs for 7, 14, or 21 consecutive calendar days from your start date, not days of use. Plan the long-haul Shinkansen legs to fall inside the window.
Reservations cost nothing with the pass. Use a JR ticket machine or Midori no Madoguchi counter before boarding. To ride a Nozomi or Mizuho, pay the limited express supplement at the counter.
The 7-day pass earns its ¥50,000 on routes that cross more than one region. Three weeks that do, plus one where the cheaper Hokuriku Arch Pass wins.
Tokyo to Kyoto on the Hikari, two nights in Kansai, then west to Hiroshima and the Miyajima ferry (both covered), returning to Tokyo. Two long Shinkansen legs are enough to clear the ¥50,000.
Ride the Tōhoku and Hokkaidō Shinkansen the length of the country. Long, expensive point-to-point fares make this one of the clearest wins for a 7- or 14-day pass.
If your week stays on this corridor and nowhere else, the Hokuriku Arch Pass covers the same route for ¥35,000, ¥15,000 less. Choose the JR Pass only if you also go further afield.
The 7-day pass jumped from ¥29,650 to ¥50,000 in October 2023, so the break-even is higher than the old advice suggests. It pays off on a week with two or more long Shinkansen legs. Here is a multi-region example.
If your week takes in two or more regions, the JR Pass is the simplest way to do it. Buy the Exchange Order before your flights, it's valid for 3 months, and collect the pass at any major JR station on arrival.
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