Everything you need to know about the JR Tohoku South Hokkaido Rail Pass

What is the JR Tohoku South Hokkaido Rail Pass?

The JR Tohoku South Hokkaido Rail Pass offers foreign tourists unlimited travel on JR trains within the Tohoku region and southern Hokkaido for six consecutive days.

This includes shinkansen, limited express trains and local trains, as well as BRT buses.

How much does it cost?

• No green car option is available.

Where can it be used?

• Unlimited use of JR trains in the Tohoku Region (Fukushima, Miyagi, Yamagata, Akita, Iwate, and Aomori Prefectures) and southern Hokkaido (up to Sapporo).
• Includes Shinkansen, limited express trains, and local trains.
• The following lines are included:
  • JR EAST (including BRT*)
  • JR Hokkaido Lines (Hakodate, Sapporo, Otaru area)
  • Aoimori Railway Line
  • Iwate Galaxy Railway (IGR) Line
  • Sendai Airport Transit Line
  • BRT refers to a Bus Rapid Transit system
• *BRT refers to buses along the Sanriku Coast, which are also included.

Important information

• May require a separate fare for travel on non-JR lines within the pass area.
• Valid for six 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 Tohoku-South Hokkaido Rail Pass at a time while travelling in Japan. (You cannot purchase two of the same type of pass if their validity periods overlap)

Where to buy

• Purchase through online or offline travel agents outside of Japan.
• Available at major railway stations and airports within the pass area. If purchased outside Japan or online, collect the physical pass at a JR East Travel Service Center in the pass area.
• Available for purchase on the official JR East website. Pickup options include passport reader-equipped ticket machines.
• Can also be purchased at passport reader-equipped ticket machines within Japan.

For a full list of JR East Travel Service Centers, or for ticket machines locations for collection of passes booked via the official JR East website, the JR East website has a full list of locations and facilities.

How to reserve seats

Free seat reservations available at:

• Seat reservation ticket machines.
• JR ticket offices.
• JR East 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 making multiple long-distance journeys within the Tohoku and southern Hokkaido regions.

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 6 day 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.

The pass offers great value for long journeys. For example, for a trip to Sendai to Aomori and then Hakodate using the Tohoku Shinkansen, it would cost around 37,000 yen for a round trip using reserved seat tickets.

This would mean you could complete the same journey for just the pass price of 30,000 yen. Any additional travel you complete, for example on local lines in the cities visited, would effectively be free.

Some travellers may want to consider the JR East South Hokkaido Rail Pass, if their trip also includes Tokyo or cities in the wider Kanto region such as Yokohama. This would especially apply to those using Tokyo as a base.

Although this ticket is priced slightly higher, as your travel around Tokyo would be included it may allow for some additional savings.