Everything you need to know about the JR Kansai-San’in Area Pass
What is the JR Kansai-San’in Area Pass?
The JR Kansai-Sanin Area Pass is designed for foreign tourists and unlimited travel within the designated area, covering the Kansai and San’in regions as well as Okayama.
How much does it cost?
- 7-day pass:
- Adult: 18,000 yen
- Child: 9,000 yen
Child passes are only available for those between 6 and 11 years old.
Where can it be used?
- JR-WEST lines within the pass area:
- Limited Express trains (reserved and non-reserved seats, e.g., HARUKA, KUROSHIO,KONOTORI,KINOSAKI)
- Special Rapid Services
- Rapid Services
- Local trains
- Sanyo Shinkansen between Shin-Osaka and Okayama.
- West JR Bus (local routes only)
- Wakayama Electric Railway
- Kyoto Tango Railway
- Chizu Express Railway
Important information
- May require a separate fare for travel on non-JR lines within the pass area.
- Valid for seven consecutive calendar days (midnight to midnight) from the date of your choice.
- Exclusively for foreign visitors to Japan (on temporary visitor status).
- Not valid for Japanese residents.
- The age of a child is defined as the age on the date of purchase. A passport or other such document is required to prove a child’s age.
- Children under 6 years old who do not require seat reservations do not need a pass.
- A separate fee is applicable if you wish to use the Green Car or GranClass.
- Youth fares (including student discount) are not offered for this pass.
- You can only use one JR Kansai-San’in Area Pass at a time while travelling in Japan. (You cannot purchase two of the same type of pass if their validity periods overlap)
- The JR Kansai-San’in Area Pass cannot be used on the Tokaido Shinkansen or the Sanyo Shinkansen between Okayama and Hakata.
Where to buy
- Purchase through online or offline travel agents outside of Japan.
- Travelers must collect the physical pass at a JR West Travel Service Center, JR West Ticket Office (Midori-no-madoguchi) or at a passport reader-equipped ticket machine in a JR West station.
- Available for purchase on the official JR West website.
For a full list of JR West locations where passes booked via the official JR West website can be collected, the JR West website provides a search function that will find the all locations where the pass can be collected in their area.
How to reserve seats
Free seat reservations available at:
- Seat reservation ticket machines.
- JR ticket offices.
- JR West Train Reservation website (collect physical tickets at a ticket machine or ticket office).
How to use
Insert only your rail pass into the automatic ticket gate.
Make sure to pick up your rail pass after passing through the gate. The rail pass cannot be reissued even if it is lost or stolen etc.
Value
The pass offers value for those planning on exploring the Kansai and San’in regions of Japan.
It is not good value for those seeking to make one or two short journeys within the pass area, however it can be cost saving if you plan to make multiple journeys within the timeframe and predominantly use the Shinkansen or Limited Express trains to do so.
Combining multiple Shinkansen and Limited Express journeys with daily use on local lines and buses would likely give good value for the ticket price and in many cases exceed the cost of the pass.
For one adult, a one-way trip on the Sanyo Shinkansen between Shin-Osaka and Okayama will cost approximately 6,540 yen.
A one-way trip on the SUPER HAKUTO limited express train between Osaka and Tottori would cost around 7,920 yen.
If turn either of those journeys into a round trip and add further travel in the Kansai and San’in regions, you should easily save money using this pass when compared to buying individual tickets.
