Trains and Railway Systems We Used in Japan - Japan 2015 2/7

One of the most complicated researches I've had to do was on the transportation we needed in Japan. I've always known that Japan has one of the most robust public transportation systems, but wanted to know more specifics so I know what I'm getting myself into.

As there are too many questions and too many possible options to list out, I will approach this post by writing about our experience somewhat chronologically.

Osaka Station

JR (Japan Rail) Pass
Foreigner visitors travelling to Japan may qualify to purchase these unlimited JR (mostly for Shinkansen) train ride passes, but note that you must purchase this outside of Japan as it is not available in Japan. Also, there are limitations, and this pass does not work on every single JR line. More details can be found here.

We purchased the 7 day pass for ¥29,110 each. To put that in perspective, a one way ticket from Shin Osaka to Shin Fuji is ¥11,860. Which means, we made 82% of our money back with that one trip alone. In the end, even after canceling our trip to Tokyo, we still took ¥56,950 worth of train/ferry rides.

You receive a voucher in the mail, which you'll need to activate and exchange for the actual JR Pass after arriving in Japan. Passports are required to activate the pass.

JR Pass

You can activate the JR Pass at various JR Pass activation offices, we activated ours at Osaka Station. To ride unreserved trains, simply show your JR Pass to the station staff when passing through the gates and they will let you in. To make a seat reservation, go to any JR ticket office and they will make the reservation for you at no charge.

We find it easier to find our desired train on Hyperdia first, then simply show them the train info when making the seat reservation. On Hyperdia, there is a search criteria where you can unselect Nozomi and Mizuho trains as JR Pass holders don't qualify for them.

Shinkansen

Nankai Airport Limited Express Rapi:t
There are various options to travel from Kansai airport to Osaka. As far as I know, the 2 main companies that provides railway services to and from Kansai airport are JR and Nankai.

Nankai Airport Limited Express Rapi:t

We were not planning on activating our JR Pass right away, and the Nankai options seemed really popular, so we went with that instead. The price varies depending on:

1. The types of trains you take: Local, Express, Super Express, Limited Express, Limited Express Rapi:t...etc.,
2. The direction you're headed to: Kobe, Kyoto, Nara, or Osaka...etc.,
3. The station you're headed to: For instance, for the Osaka direction there are Namba, Izumisano, Sakai...etc.
4. And if you combine it with any other tickets (such as the Osaka municipal subway day pass).

It's really a handful to digest. More information here.

Osaka Shuccho Kippu Ticket

We eventually decided on the Rapi:t ticket in combination with the Osaka municipal subway day pass for the following day (you have the choice to use the day pass for the day of or the next day). If you buy this type of ticket outside of Japan, it's called the "Yokoso" ticket. However, we were able to buy the equivalent at the Kansai airport called the "Osaka Shuccho Kippu" ticket. These tickets are ¥1,500 and can be purchased at the Nankai ticket office at Kansai airport.

Osaka Municipal Subway
The Osaka municipal subway contains 9 lines, certain stations also connects to private railways, JR lines or even Shikansen. Trains from other companies also run on these subway lines such as Hankyu, Keihan, Kintetsu, and the previously mentioned Nankai. There are also trams and monorails that connects to the Osaka railway network. This being said, I was concerned that I would need to buy separate tickets for the different companies. Luckily, that wasn't the case.

Sakaisuji Hommanchi Subway Station

Single tickets, round trip tickets, day passes, commuting passes, and all sort of other types of combination tickets can be purchased for the Osaka subway as well as railway systems in the other cities we visited. The easiest and fastest way, however, is to simply purchase an IC Card. According to japan-guide.com, the "10 major IC cards have become compatible with each other since Mar. 23, 2013". We purchased the Icoca card at the JR ticket office at Kansai airport, which is right next door to the Nankai ticket office.

The Icoca card is ¥2,000 with a ¥500 deposit (available balance is then ¥1,500). But since all of the trains/subways/buses that we took in all the cities we've been accepts these IC cards, and many convenient/grocery stores accept these IC cards for payment as well, we loaded them up with ¥10,000 right off the bat.

ICOCA Card

This may not have saved us any money, but it was extremely convenient and stress free. If we were to purchase Osaka subway day passes, they are ¥800 on weekdays and ¥600 on weekends. Single subway fares for us were usually ¥180 one way, and they range up to ¥370 depending on the distance.

Kyoto Subway & City Buses
There are only 2 subway lines in Kyoto, the Karasuma and Tozai line. However there are many other private railway lines as well as JR and Shinkansen that further supports the city. In our 5 occasions in Kyoto, we used a combination of the subway, JR, and city buses.

Kyoto has many buses and it was a lot easier to navigate than I thought. There are real time bus locations/times at most of the bus stops as well as all of their route maps including a full schedule. There are 3 express touring bus routes that goes to major tourist attractions (#100, 101, and 102), which we used to visit Kiomizu-dera and Kinkaku-ji. Multiple methods of payments are accepted, including cash, IC cards, and passes. The fare is ¥230 per trip, which is paid when you exit the bus. Day passes are ¥500 and can be purchase at stations or on the bus. We bought ours through our hotel.

Kyoto City Bus Day Pass

We also used our Icoca cards for subways, the fare ranges from ¥210 to ¥350 depending on the distance.

My personal preference between the bus and subway is the bus. The subway system, for some reason, really confused me, and doesn't get close enough to the location I want to get to. Whereas the buses are easy to find and gets us to our destination without needing to transfer.

For the days we had our JR Passes though, we used our JR Passes to get around via JR lines. We purposely chose Arashiyama and Fushimi Inari for these days as they are easily accessible via JR trains. It is used the same way as the Shinkansen, but because these are local unreserved trains, you simply show up at the gates and flash your JR Pass to go through.

Fuji Local Bus
We went to Fuji specifically for the Shibazakura Festival, which runs for about a month each year during May. During these times, a special express bus called the Shibazakura Liner is set up to run in addition to the local buses during weekends and holidays. This bus runs to the festival site (from Shin Fuji station) 3 times in the morning, and back to the station 3 times in the afternoon.

We wanted to take this liner bus but our first and foremost consideration was the weather. Apparently you need a very sunny day in order to see Mount Fuji, and the weather forecast, during the time we went shows a limited amount of sunny days. We ended up going on a Friday, and thus taking the regular local bus instead.

Fuji Local Bus

According to the online schedule, the local bus gets to the festival site just as fast (about 1 hour and 15 minutes) as the liner. At Shin Fuji station's bus terminal gate number 6, there's a ticket stand that sells a combo ticket of round trip bus rides plus Shibazakura Festival entrance ticket for ¥2,320. We took the 11:45 am bus there, and came back at 5:00 pm.

Hiroshima Streetcars (Hiroden) & the Miyajima Ferry
At first, just by looking at google map, I thought Hiroshima had a subway system. After arriving at Hiroshima though, I was having a hard to finding the entrance to the "subway", and that was because, they use streetcars instead. I have never really rode in streetcars before so it was super fun for me. These little 2 car trains run in the middle of the road, they are super cute and quite convenient. We used our Icoca card for it but many people used cash, and from what I've seen, the cash system seems to be a bit more complicated. The fare ranges from ¥160 to ¥260 depending on the distance. If using an IC card, tap once when you get on the train and again when you exit.

Hiroshima Streetcar (Hiroden)

Lines 2 and 6 will take you from Hiroshima station to the Atomic Bomb Dome, and line 2 will take you to Miyajima Guchi station. We took the streetcar to the Dome and Miyajima Guchi station, but took the JR train back from Miyajima Guchi station to Hiroshima station.

Our JR Pass covers the Miyajima Ferry, so we just used that to and from Miyajima. There are 2 ferry companies though, so make sure you go to the JR one. Both ferries are, however, the same price (¥180 one way), comes at the same frequency (every 15 minutes) and takes the same amount of time (10 minutes).

Kaiyu Ticket
There's an aquarium in Osaka, and according to Wikipedia it is one of the largest public aquariums in the world. They sell a ¥2,550 ticket that includes the entrance ticket to the aquarium and an Osaka subway day pass. These tickets can be purchased at any Osaka municipal subway station.

Kaiyu Ticket

To be continued...