Children 12 years are considered adults and pay the full fare. Children ages 6-11 years pay half the price of the base fare, (limited) express fee and seat reservation. If traveling on the green car children ages 6-11 will pay full price. Children 1-5 years travel for free if accompanied by an adult, up to two children between the ages of 1-5 can travel for free per accompanying adult, child fares apply to any additional children. A child fare would also apply if the child (1-5) occupies a seat in the reserved seat section. Infants (0 years) travel for free unless occupying a seat in the reserved seat section, where the child fare charge applies.

Yes. There are discounts available for certain train tickets. There is a round trip discount that offers 10% off a round trip ticket if the trip covers over 372 miles one way. A multiple ticket discount is applied when over 10 tickets are purchased, for example, buy 10 tickets and get one free on routes that cover 124 miles or less. Tickets must be used within 3 months and can be applied in either direction. A group discount between 10-15% applies to eight or more adults, a 30-50% discount for groups of eight or more students and additional discounts apply to groups of 30 or more people. Group tickets must be reserved at least two weeks prior to usage.

There is a student discount of 20% on tickets for trips covering 62 miles or more. These students must be registered and enrolled in a Japanese junior high school, high school or university. Not applicable to students enrolled in universities abroad.

In addition, certain trains offer discounts for youth, child or senior travelers. We always attempt to find the cheapest fares for your traveling party and get you the discounts you're eligible for. This is why it’s important to accurately indicate the composition of your traveling party when requesting fares and schedules from our website. You may also have to enter the age of certain travelers, so we can determine whether they're eligible for certain age-related discounts.

The JR Rail Pass is the only type of train travel ticket we are able to sell to you online (all other tickets and passes need to be purchased once you arrive in Japan). An exchange order (voucher) will be sent to you and you will need to take this to a JR Pass Exchange Office (found in most major train stations and airports) once in Japan to receive your actual pass. At the exchange office fill out a brief form with spaces for your name, passport number and the date you want the rail pass to start and the form will be copied into your official rail pass. Once you receive your green JR Rail Pass with a JR rail ticket pasted into a special folder, this is what you will need to show at the gate to pass through and also at ticket offices to obtain your seat reservations.

Important Note: Regional passes can only be exchanged at certain exchange offices within the region, please check your voucher beforehand.

This is a rail pass and not a traditional ticket, with the Japan Rail Pass you can use it on all trains that run on the JR railway network along with local express trains, and Shinkansen bullet trains. The pass will not allow you through the automatic gates at the stations, you will just show your pass to the staff in the glass booth next to the gate and they let you through.