Buying a Rail Pass online or via an agency

Hi!

This is not my first trip to Japan, I have been many times. Since 2016, I've mostly gone in late June.

Last time I went to Japan and traveled around New Years, it was 2005 and friends who lived in Japan reserved my shinkansen seat between Kansai and Tokyo, we were also a large group.

I need a rail pass (doing Kyoto to Tokyo and Tokyo to Shin-Hanamaki round trip in a week) My travel will be December 27th Kyoto to Tokyo and January 1st Tokyo to Shin-Hanamaki and January 2nd Shin-Hanamaki to Tokyo. I'm not renting a car so the latter has to connect up to the free shuttle bus from the train to my ryokan.

Would you buy the pass from a travel agency or should I buy the pass direct from JR so I can reserve seats one month out because of when I am traveling. We are a group of 2. I will have a carry on sized wheeled bag and a violin on all 3 shinkansen trips. We need 2 seats together, because my daughter still wants to be seen with me.

Thanks in advance!

You are not travelling on the super busy days, so either option would work IMO.

Thanks @JapanCustomTours!

Is the December 28th super busy? I might be staying one more night in Kyoto. I just found out my brother and his family are arriving in Osaka December 28th and I'd rather spend an extra night in Kyoto and see them for dinner on the 28th and then go to Tokyo, then try to day trip to see them after the 28th.

I was also a little worried about the 2nd.

Do you think getting a green pass would up our chances of definitely getting seats? Normally, I wouldn't consider them, but the dollar is far stronger than usual.

Right now the plan is to fly HNL to KIX, pick up one of those JR West special edition suica cards and two discounted Haruka tickets to Kyoto. Stay either 3 or 4 nights in Kyoto, stay either 4 or 5 nights in Tokyo, 1 night in Airinkan, 1 night in Tokyo ad go.

I have everything booked for my original plans, but would alter some things if we do 4 and 4.

The JR West cards would be ICOCA, not SUICA, but that's hardly worth mentioning! :)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've been up since 5:30 am School starts just too darn early here.

I have an old Suica from when JR East use to do the Suica+NEX ticket package, but my daughter needs a new IC card because her old Suica is no longer valid as she is no longer under 12. I figure the JR West package offers a cute Icoca card so, flying into KIX is the perfect opportunity vs a boring IC card from JR East.

I don't have an iPhone and she doesn't have any phone, so for now I would prefer to stick with IC cards.

Dear rkold,
reading your old post,
I think your daughter will be 12 during this winter journey.

> her old Suica is no longer valid as she is no longer under 12.

If her thirteenth birthday is
April the 1st of 2023 or any earlier day,
her Child Suica Card is no longer valid,
and she travel with her adult railway card and/or tickets.

If her thirteenth birthday is
during the one year starting from April the 2nd of 2023,
she, until March 31,
can travel with her Child Suica Card and/or child regular tickets.

This rule means,
to Japanese elementary school 6th-grade pupils,
including pupils who are 12 years old,
child-rate railway fees should apply.

However,
regarding passes for foreign travelers,
JR companies do not seem to be adopting this rule.

> (doing Kyoto to Tokyo and Tokyo to Shin-Hanamaki round trip in a week)

Combination of
JR regular tickets to get to Tokyo and JR EAST Pass (Tohoku area; 5-day)
is worth considering, I suppose.

Tokaido Shinkansen trains for Tokyo may get crowded
from the evening of December the 28th.

As you know, Japan Rail Pass does not let you take Nozomi trains.

Compared to Hikari trains,
Nozomi trains are much more frequently available.

When you travel with JR regular tickets,
you can choose Nozomi,
so you are likely to secure more easily two seats which are next to each other.

----

You seem to be ready to pay several thousand yen more per adult
than the minimum cost to obtain 7-day Ordinary-Class Japan Rail Pass.

JR regular cost for one adult to travel from Kyoto to Tokyo
during the New Year busy season with your seats reserved
: 14050 yen | 14370 yen
= 8360 yen as basic fare
+ 5690 yen | 6010 yen as Shinkansen Hikari | Nozomi surcharge.

JR-East Pass (Tohoku area; 5-day) for one adult
: 20000 yen.
https://www.jreast.co.jp/multi/en/pass/eastpass_t.html

@omotenashi, OH! I did not know that about 12 vs. 13 for personal Suica cards. I've just been going by the age cut off for JR Passes. Her birthday just passed on Tuesday. (So Japan reopening was like a birthday gift lol) So no, she will not be 13 until October 2023, and we are planning two trips to Japan (December and Summer before then.)

Schooling is a bit complicated, because she skipped a grade.

So question, if I bought her a Nozomi ticket from Kyoto to Tokyo would she be the adult price like me, or still the children's price? Because if she is still a child rate on individual tickets but adult rate with passes it might behoove me to travel without a pass for her because she would be 7185+JR East Pass and since there are so many more Nozomi vs. Hikari, getting two seats together would be much easier. The JR East Pass is still worth it, because I believe the trains to and from Shin-Hanamaki are still around 8000 yen for a child each way and we are hoping to see the Winter Illuminations in Ashikaga as well.

Thank you! I didn't know about the age discrepancy and it doesn't come up much here because you have to be traveling with a child of a specific age.

(And I saw I can register her under my SOS App with me, and we both already have 3 vaccinations and are going to have a 4th before we go to Japan.)