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JR Pass & Seat Reservation 2008/2/24 10:34
We will be traveling in Japan March 26 - Apr 6. Intending to start using the JR Pass from Mar 30th from Tokyo to Nara. We will buy JR Pass before arriving in Japan.
1.When I go to exchange the Exchange order to the actual Pass can I do so for my friend as well or must she be there personally? She will be busy working the first few days while I will be free. If I can do so on her behalf what do I need to bring?
2. How about seat reservation? Can I reserve the seats for her as well as myself or must she be there personally?
3. I am just worried that if I wait for her to be free for us to reserve the seats they will all be gone. Is that traveling period a busy period? It is Sakura season and I will be traveling Tokyo-Nara/Osaka-Kinosaki Onsen-Tokyo.
4. If the trains are full can we still board? In some countries, even if the train is full passengers can still travel, just there is no seat for them and they need to stand or sit along the ailse.. So what is the situation with JR?
by Mel  

Working? 2008/2/25 09:39
If your friend is entering Japan for work she will not be able to use the JR Rail Pass. To be eligible for the Pass, you must be entering Japan only for sightseeing. If she declares that she is coming to Japan for work at immigration, JR will not issue the Rail Pass.
by RobBeer rate this post as useful

Check your visas 2008/2/25 10:03
As RobBeer stated, you can't get a JR Pass if you are working in Japan. You have to show your passport and if it doesn't have a 90-day visa in it, a pass will not be given. If somehow the work is part of a business trip, then the 90-day tourist visa will be stamped in her passport. Then the JR Pass is OK.

She does not have to be there. Her passport and JR Pass voucher are the only things needed for you to get it for her. You just fill out 2 forms with names and start dates, and turn in the vouchers and show the passports.

You can get reserved seats anytime before the train leaves, so if you know your schedule, you can make reservations a couple of days before to be sure you have seats. If there are no seats, you can always try the free-seat cars at anytime. If they are full, you get to stand. If you go to the free-seat smoking car, there are usually a few empty seats. If you sit near the front, you sometimes don't even know it's a smoking car. The ventilation on the shinkansen smoking cars is pretty good. I sat behind two guys once that couldn't breathe without a cigarette in their mouths but the vents took the smoke right up.
by Anaguma rate this post as useful

. 2008/2/25 11:41
Your status matters. However just for tourism isn't exactly correct. As long as you're there on temporary visitors status is what matters for the JR pass.

I know you say working, is she doing a business trip on a short visit on a temporary visitors permit (which is allowed), or actually working in Japan with a Working Holiday visa or Work Visa?

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Temporary visitor=
Sightseeing; recreation; sports; visiting relatives, friends, or acquaintances; visiting a sick person; attending a wedding or funeral ceremony; participating in athletic tournaments, contests, etc. as an amateur; business purposes (such as market research, business liaison, business consultations, signing a contract, or providing after-sale service for imported machinery); inspecting or visiting plants, trade fairs, etc.; attending lectures, explanatory meetings, etc.; academic surveys or research presentations; religious pilgrimages or visits; friendship visits to sister cities, sister schools, etc.; or other similar activities during a short period of stay in Japan.
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As long as she's on a temporary visitors permit in Japan then you are ok.

But yes she needs to be there at the time to exchange for the pass because as mentioned they need to check her status in Japan that is in her passport.

She needs to show her JR pass for seat reservations as well.

As for trains being full.
Many trains (minus a few) have UNRESERVED cars, meaning you can get on and take any free seat available, it is on the first come, first serve basis. So if it all fills up then you just stand until a seat frees.
by John rate this post as useful

. 2008/2/25 13:16
Hi Guys. She will be there on business for 2-3days, meetings with her Japanese colleagues and customers. I guess that sounds like a temporary visa? And she will be eligible for JR Pass?
As for the issue of whether I can exchange and reserve the seats for her I am a bit confused reading conflicting feedback from Anaguma and John. So will I be able to do it on her behalf if I show them her passport and the exchange order?
by Mel rate this post as useful

. 2008/2/25 14:38
When you arrive at Narita Airport there is an JR exchange office inside Narita Airport at the JR station, you and your friend can both exchange it right there.

You don't have to exchange the vouchers for the passes the day of travel, you can set on the form which date you wish for the pass to be activated.
So if you arrive on the 26 at Narita, when you get the exchange form, it will ask you which date you want to use it, just put the 30th.
I doubt your friend will need to go immediately to work right from the Airport the day of arrival?

Also you can make reservations on the Shinkansen as far as Kyoto, the JR train from Kyoto to Nara is a non reserved seating train so you can't make reservations on it.
by John rate this post as useful

Just her passport & her voucher 2008/2/25 14:48
She doesn't have to be there. You can carry her passport and voucher for them to check and issue the JR pass. I do this every year and sometimes several times a year. Last March I carried 23 passports & 23 vouchers into the Midorimadoguchi and did them all at once, while everyone else waited in the gate area.
by Anaguma rate this post as useful

. 2008/2/25 14:50
It is possible however it is not a good idea to have her passport with you if she is not anywhere even close to you (eg she's elsewhere in the city), not withstanding she is required by law to have her passport with her at all times.

As mentioned, it shouldn't come down to that, because you can exchange the pass right inside Narita Airport, again you don't need to use the pass when you exchange it, you can indicate which date you want to first use the pass.
by John rate this post as useful

. 2008/2/25 21:33
The thing is we won't be arriving together. I am arriving 1 day earlier so I can't exchange for her on my 1st day anyway. Also, my flight's eta is 7pm so I prefer not to waste time at the airport as I'd like to get to the Tokyo hotel asap as I am traveling alone. So hoping to do everything on the 28th as I'd have her passport by then. Can't do it on the 27th as her arrival is late as well and she is getting to our hotel on her own. Then again like you said, I am not sure if it is a good idea for her to give her passport to me while she goes to work. Of cause I won't want to reserve seat for just myself before her arrival as then we won't be able to sit together. With seat reservation, the seatings are allocated? Or just that we can access 'reserve coach'?
by Mel rate this post as useful

Exchange at the Airport 2008/2/25 23:28
By the time you clear customs and immigration, it will be after 7.00 pm and you can exchange your voucher at the JR ticket office at Narita and get your ticket for N'EX (make sure you get the N'EX + Suica deal) at the same time. It may take a few minutes extra, but it will save you time in the long run. I have found the queues to exchange the voucher at Tokyo station can get quite long, the last time I did it there it took about 45 minutes. If your friend is arriving after 7.00 pm. she should also do the same. As you are not arriving together, the reservation will have to be made later, but the queue for this will be much quicker.
by RobBeer rate this post as useful

. 2008/2/25 23:58
Hi RobBeer, in that case I will exchange the Exchange Order to the JR Pass at Narita upon my arrival. And I will get my friend to do the same when she arrives the next evening. And on the 28th I will go make the seat reservation for us both when she is at work. For seat reservation what do else do I need to produce aside from the JR Pass? Do I need to show our passports as well?
by Mel rate this post as useful

. 2008/2/26 04:04
I think you're making it more complicated then it has to be.

Meet up with your friend when she arrives at narita airport, or meet up with your friend when she arrives in Tokyo from narita airport, by then she should already have her JR pass, just take a few extra minutes walk to ANY JR station reservation office make the reservation together the night she arrives. Once you both have your railpasses you can make actual seat reservations at any JR reservation office. It doesn't have to be at the station you are departing from.

So just do it at one near the hotel after she arrives from the airport and checks in and drops off luggage. Once that is done you're set.
by John rate this post as useful

. 2008/2/26 04:16
If your response will be "I will not meet up with her the first night".
The reservation offices usually close around 23:00 in the evening.

Then do the reservation the next day at the nearest JR station with her. The reservation offices at most JR stations open up at 05:30. I mean you plan to meet up with her eventually for her to give you her passport right? Just take an additional extra minutes to walk to the station in the morning and make the seat reservations together. Again it can be done at any JR station reservation office, not just the station you depart from.

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JR Passes can only be exchanged at certain offices, however since you both already have your JR passes (exchanging it at Narita Airport) actual seat reservations can be made any any JR station.
by John rate this post as useful

. 2008/2/26 11:26
Hi John. As I mentioned earlier, her eta is also quite late on the evening of the 27th. I may be able to persuade her to get the exchange done at Narita but it is unlikely that she will want to check into the hotel and go out to do the reservation again after checking in as it will be quite late by the time she gets in and she will probably want to sleep early after the 7 hr flight and since she has early meeting the next day. I am meeting her at the hotel (the Grand Hyatt) and I believe that it is not very near to the Roppongi Station? You will probably advise me to wait for her at Roppongi Station but she is travelling from Narita to the hotel by taxi.. Unlike me, she is on company account (lucky cow!)
by Mel rate this post as useful

. 2008/2/26 11:51
I wouldn't recommend roppongi station since its not a JR station.

Wait for her @ Narita Airport, make the reservations then when she arrives, at the same time shes exchanging the pass., ride in a cab with her back to the hotel, the fare should be the same. From Tokyo you can get to nrt as cheap as 1000 yen.

Otherwise you can both do it together at a JR station the next morning.

by John rate this post as useful

. 2008/2/26 12:05
If you have her actual pass then maybe you could make a reservation without her present. But it depends on the clerk, as the pass is only to be used by the pass holder, and i would assume that xtends to seat reservations.
What im getting at is there are various opportunities where you both can make reservations together.
by John rate this post as useful

Thanks! 2008/2/26 12:23
Thanks a lot, John, for your feedback. Will do the reservations in the morning of the 28th then. Hopefully it will not be too late to get some reservations for travel dates starting on the 1st. Thanks again!
by Mel rate this post as useful

once you have passes.. 2008/2/28 05:13
...[hope I'm helping here] once you both have passes, (however you achieve that: but my recommendation would be that you go to the JR Pass website, print off the pdf file with the form you need to accompany the exchange voucher and fill it in for both of you before you fly, making sure you both have the same start date for the pass, and then each go to the green window in Narita on arrival and exchange for your pass while you get your ticket into Tokyo. It takes possibly 5 minutes more than the time it takes to get your ticket to Tokyo. Nothing in the grand scheme of a 12hr flight to Tokyo), then your friend can go to work and you can go at your leisure with both your JR passes and book tickets, reserve seats, etc, for both of you (for the whole of your trip in advance, if you like).

I've always been to Japan with my wife, and we almost always find it easier for one of us to go and do something useful like pick up drinks and snacks, go to the ATM, etc, whilst the other goes to get the tickets. What I can't remember for sure is whether we had to take both passports as well as both rail tickets, but we're always carrying one another's stuff, so I can't be sure but I don't think we needed passports. Just rail passes (but I'd check this before relying on it)

Hope that helps
by Winter Visitor rate this post as useful

Passports 2008/2/28 07:16
It is not the norm to ask to see your passport when making a reservation, although they are quite entitled to do so. I can't remember ever being asked for my passport when making a reservation, but I have been asked for my passport 2 or 3 times whilst on the train. Although that is over 15 separate trips to Japan.
by RobBeer rate this post as useful

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