If you don’t know what is the Japan Rail Pass (JR Pass), it’s basically a train pass that gives you unlimited train rides on the JR lines during a specific amount of days (7 days, 14 days or 21 days). You can buy your JR Pass here and it’s a service limited to tourists visiting Japan.
It’s a great way to save money on your transportation costs when you travel to Japan. Indeed, the JR Pass covers most of the Shinkansen train lines so you can go from Tokyo to Osaka, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Fukuoka or even Sapporo with the pass.
JR Pass Price Increase
On the 14th of April 2023, JR Group shared a press release that created a big shock. They announced a significant increase in the price of the JR Pass as you can see below:
To sum it up, the price of the JR Passes will increase as follow:
- JR Pass 7 days: from ¥29,650 (~$222) to ¥50,000 (~$374)
- JR Pass 14 days: from ¥47,250 (~$353) to ¥80,000 (~$598)
- JR Pass 21 days: from ¥60,450 (~$452) to ¥100,000 (~$747)
These prices are for the normal cars but similar changes were made for the green cars.
As you can see, we are not talking about a small change! The JR Pass prices will increase by around 69%!
The Press Release also indicated that the new prices will be effective from October 2023. But the exact has not been announced yet.
In addition, JR Group mentioned that the final prices may change comparing to what was announced in the Press Release. In other terms, they are going to see the reaction of the public and they may adjust the prices accordingly.
What else changes?
We can note two other interesting changes that are actually good news.
First, as you may know, the Nozomi and Mizuho services are not available to JR Pass holders. But this will change in the new JR Pass as both services will be included.
Another thing to note is that JR Pass holders will be able to enjoy discounts on several travel services and attraction tickets that have not been listed yet.
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What do you think about these changes? Is it still worth it to buy a JR Pass in the future? Let us know in the comments.