Japan Rail Pass and Seat Reservations

ireadtermsofuse on 06/09/2019 - 10:06

So I’m going to japan tomorrow and I can’t seem to find anything on the internet about seat reservations on the trains.

This time round, we are not getting the japan rail pass because we are not travelling via trains too often and will only pay for a ticket if we want to go to a different district around Tokyo.

One trip we have to take on the train is about 3 hours and I want to make a seat reservation just in case it’s full.

Do I need a japan rail pass to make a seat reservation? Last time I got a rail pass and made a reservation no problem at all.

Travel Asia Japan

Comments

  • Ocker on 06/09/2019 - 10:25

    I am sure a quick phone call to Japan Travel Bureau Australia will provide you with the definitive answer.

  • unco on 06/09/2019 - 10:36
    +2

    When I landed at Tokyo airport last year, I went to the train station to catch it in to the city.
    I chose not to buy a rail pass this time either.

    There were long queues to get to the staffed counters but I walked right up to one of the machines, clicked English and bought from there.
    At the same time I reserved seats for my Shinkansen ride from Tokyo to Kyoto and Kyoto to Osaka legs.
    It was quite simple if you know the dates and times you want to travel, it then shows you a seating map on screen.

    If you’re talking about regional trains rather than the Shinkansen then I’m not sure about being able to reserve seats on those..

  • Bonbi on 06/09/2019 - 10:40

    It totally depends on the train.

    One trip we have to take on the train is about 3 hours

    Where?

  • FloatingPoint on 06/09/2019 - 11:06
    +2

    You can try this
    https://www.jreast.co.jp/e/ticket/reservation.html
    Click on the banner button to start. Select 'travellers without rail pass'

  • currentfad on 06/09/2019 - 11:14

    We made a few trips and one of those was out of the JR pass 7-day period that we purchased (this is for Shinkansen) and we reserved seats no problem.

    But again it might depend on the location?

  • Nalar on 06/09/2019 - 11:55
    +1

    Goto any 'Midori-no-madoguchi" which is the green seat icon (same place you'd book tickets with rail pass) and join the regular queue and just point to the train you want in Google Maps or Hyperdia and say "Sea-to" when booking, they'll understand.

  • crentist on 06/09/2019 - 12:59

    I haven't done this in years, but when I traveled with a rail pass I never bothered booking in advance. Just walk up to the counter at a station, and got a reserved seat leaving 15 minutes later. Plenty of times, without any reason to think I was cutting it close.

    Though I've also helped my brother reserve seats days ahead so he's not juggling kids too much. Depends on group size and difficulty I guess. No rail pass needed, just pay a bit extra.

    Keep in mind there's a Tokyo-Osaka bullet train every 10 minutes. Super frequent

    • ireadtermsofuse on 06/09/2019 - 15:17

      The first time we went, we had to catch a 3 hour train up to the country side and all the carts were full up. We didn’t know you can reserve a seat so we had to stand for a good 1hr and a half until the first set of passengers left their stop.

      • crentist on 06/09/2019 - 16:52

        Ah that sucks. But was there a separate reserved seat car? Usually they are in a different carriage.
        I'm a bit surprised to hear it was that bad, but do I recall thinking that the non-reserved tended to be pretty full.

        I was talking more specifically about getting a seat in a reserved car. My impression has been that those are easy to get at the last minute, but you do pay for it.
        Another thing to note is how easy it is to change tickets if you need to. From memory, it's super easy if you change your mind or something (maybe even if you missed the train?), so there's no harm in booking ahead anyway. Worth double checking this. You may have picked up that I like a bit of flexibility in my travels, and Japan has been pretty exceptional in that area.

  • Sophie1990 on 01/10/2019 - 18:22

    If you have a Japan Rail Pass, you can book a seat on all Japan Railways trains free of charge. Even if you don't have this pass, you should always book a seat before boarding any train. The JR Group does not allow to change to a reserved seat once you have boarded the train. 
    You can book a ticket at any JR Ticket Office (Midori-no-madoguchi) spread through all Japanese train stations. Once at the ticket office, you will be asked about your destination and preferred departure time. 

    Source: https://www.jrailpass.com/faq/seat-reservation

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