Child fare older than 12?

Hi, I'm travelling to Japan in December. I have a child who is 11 but will turn 12 on Dec 26. I've recently been told by a poster on trip advisor that he would be able to get a child fare until March next year. So up until he's 12 and 3 months. Does anyone know anything about that?

Also, If I purchase a pass before his birthdate and it is activated on or before his 12th birthday, should it be a child pass or an adult pass??

http://www.japanrailpass.net/en/about_jrp.html

Children who are age 6 through 11 as of the date on which the exchange order is issued are eligible for child PASS prices.

Within three months from the date the Exchange Order was issued, you must turn in your Exchange Order to obtain your JAPAN RAIL PASS (for example, an Exchange Order issued on April 15 would have to be turned in by July 14).

At that time, you have to specify the date that you want to start using the PASS. It can be any date within one month from the date the PASS is received.

So, if you purchase the exchange order on Oct 1st, you must exchange it to the JR pass before Jan 1st and start to use before Feb 1st. Therefore, if you buy the exchange order after Aug 26th, you can start to use it on Dec 26th. Your child is 11 years old on Aug 26th, so the child fare is applied. Actually, if you buy the exchange order before Dec 26th, there will be no problem.

Thanks. That's great to know.

Since I posted that question someone replied on TripAdvisor saying that if your child is 12 but still in "elementary " school, the child rate still applies for train tickets. The link that she sent was in Japanese saying so. The English conversion is not that specific.

So can you also confirm that? Just for general train ticket purchase?

The link that she sent was in Japanese saying so.

Maybe this one?

https://www.jreast.co.jp/kippu/06.html

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We identify "adults" and "children" as follows.

Adults: Ages over 12. Elementary school pupils are "children" even if they are 12 years old.

Children: 6 years old to 12 years old. Pre-elementary school persons are "infant" even if they are 6 years old.


Of course this is the rule for local people. As for Japan Rail Pass, they established a new rule which I linked earlier.

In Japan elementary school is 6 years, starting April, after the child becomes 6 years old. There is a somewhat complicated rule for the school age, so, children born between Apr. 2nd and next year's Apr 1st are in the same grade. At this time, children born from April 2nd 2009 to April 1st 2010 are in the 1st grade of elementary school.

http://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/shotou/shugaku/detail/1309966.htm

(Sorry, it's too long to translate :).

I don't know whether this rule is applied strictly to foreign tourists, but I am sure, if your child is born after April 2nd 2010, you can say he/she is "infant" not requiring train tickets when traveling with acommpanying person. As such, children born after April 2nd 2004 are "children", I think. I hope someone will post more accurate explanation.

Ok. So the question is, if I bought or reserved a ticket early (due it being a busy time of the year) for a train on December 22 for a trip on December 29 for my son who turns 12 on December 26, would I have to pay child or adult fare????

It will depend on the ticket counter person. Most will let you get a child ticket. Some may not. I'm pretty sure he'd be safe until the new school year which is in April.

If it relates to a JR pass, since you purchase the exchange voucher before 26th Dec, then it will be a child JR pass.

if I bought or reserved a ticket early (due it being a busy time of the year) for a train on December 22 for a trip on December 29 for my son who turns 12 on December 26, would I have to pay child or adult fare????

If you use JR pass, of course your child is 11 when you purchase the exchange order, so you will buy the child pass. If you will buy normal ticket, so the "general rule" will apply: Your child is in the "primary school" age in Japan on that date (until April 1st 2017) you will pay child fare, regardless you buy it before/after December 26. Believe me, your child is "child" in Japan until next April :).

Thank you very much for all that information. Very much appreciated and very helpful.

I googled and found a JR East page

http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/ticket/types.html

Adults and children are classified as follows.

Adult 12 or older
Child 6 through 11
Infant 1 through 5
Baby Less than 1

There is no explanation about the elementary school rules. However, this page is not for foreignes only though the language is English. Therefore there is a discrepancy between Japanese language/English language pages.

Japanguide seems to follow this page.

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2359_001.html

Further I found this page by JR Kyushu.

https://www.jrkyushu.co.jp/english/ticket.jsp

It says clearly

Child Between 6 and 11 years old (6-year old children that are not yet attending elementary school are still considered "Toddlers.")

Well done JR Kyushu! I think this should be the common rule for locals and foreigners.

Of course, it is possible that JR East sets different rules between Japanese and foreigners, but it is very unlikely. I think JR East just did not make effort to translate the full explanation.

Practically there are two age standards concerning child-rate railroad fees in Japan.
(A) Standard based on a passenger's age, which makes child-rate fees apply to a passenger who has reached 6 and has not reached 12.
(B) Standard based on the six-year term of elementary school, which makes child-rate fees apply to a passenger during the six years (when a person should be legally granted elementary school education).

Regarding JR regular tickets, the Standard (B) is de facto used.

In the service agreement of each JR regional passenger railway company, the Standard (A) is adopted;
however, all the six JR regional companies say that they actually use the Standard (B) for train rides with JR regular tickets.

The Standard (B) is also used for train rides with a Child Suica Card or Child PASMO Card, which is specified in a written rule.

—frog1954:

(From the rules) "Within three months from the date the Exchange Order was issued, you must turn in your Exchange Order to obtain your JAPAN RAIL PASS"
(From the rules): "At that time, you have to specify the date that you want to start using the PASS. It can be any date within one month from the date the PASS is received."

The former three months and the latter one month overlap on one specific day, which is the day when you turn in your Exchange Order for a Japan Rail Pass and receive the Pass.

if you purchase the exchange order on Oct 1st, you must exchange it to the JR pass before Jan 1st and start to use before Feb 1st.

On this condition, you cannot start using your Pass on January 31.

if you buy the exchange order after Aug 26th, you can start to use it on Dec 26th.

If your Exchange Order is issued by August 27, you cannot start using your Pass on December 26.

Day (X): Oct-01 | Aug-28
: The day when your Exchange Order is issued.

Day (Y): Dec-31 | Nov-27
: The day by which you should turn in your Exchange Order for a Japan Rail Pass, which is the last day of the three months from the Day (X).

Day (Z): Jan-30 | Dec-26
: The day by which you should start using your Japan Rail Pass in a case where you receive it on the Day (Y).

Here it sounds better to avoid words such as "before" "after" "over" "under" in describing time, because they may cause ambiguity about the border.

Sandib,

It doesn't depend on the "ticket counter person". It depends on the ticket or pass.

If you are going to use the Japan Rail Pass, which only foreign tourists are allowed to use and can only have the exchange order bought outside Japan, frog1954 has answered your question on his post dated 2016/9/28 14:55. Just in case, this is the pass we're talking about:
http://www.japanrailpass.net/en/about_jrp.html

If you're talking about other passes and tickets that you purchase after arriving to Japan, then the "elementary school student" rule applies.

If your child turns 12 on Dec 26, (s)he is equivalent to a 6th-grade elementary school student in Japan until the end of next March. So up to the end of next March, (s)he can ride trains and buses on child fare.

Meanwhile, tickets for long-distance routes as well as many passes are valid for more than a day (the validity depends on the distance). So, if you're traveling after March, you may want to keep that in mind.

On a side note, residents who have passed elementary-school-age still typically get student discount through the designated schools they attend, if they attend any. This apparently doesn't apply for foreign tourists who don't attend these schools in Japan. But at the same time, they don't strictly ask for IDs when issuing child-fare tickets ;)

For more details, ask in English at the following service centers or Infoline.
http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/customer_support/