• expired

60% off Shinkansen Tickets between Tokyo ⇔ Akita, Yamagata, or Niigata (Travel dates Jun 2nd ~ 22nd) @ JR East

960
60% off Shinkansen Tickets between Tokyo ⇔ Akita, Yamagata, or Niigata (Travel dates Jun 2nd ~ 22nd) @ JR East
Go to Deal
scrimshaw on 16/05/2025 - 13:23 eki-net.com (1194 clicks)
Last edited 23/05/2025 - 21:33

Plan to be in Japan in the hot summer months of June? Then this deal might be applicable to you.

Basically, there will be 60% off Shinkansen train rides between the city of Tokyo to the northern cities of Japan, namely Akita, Yamagata or Niigata. This promotion is applicable for rides from Monday, June 2, 2025 to Sunday, June 22, 2025
Advance booking is required so you'll need to know the dates you're riding. If your travel plans changes you can change the dates online via Eki Net, but discounts may not carry over to the new reservation. Read the section [Changes and refunds] for terms.

The discounted tickets are only applicable to Ordinary Reserved Cars (no Green cars)

Pricing examples for major sections

Train and section used "Shinkansen e-Ticket" Basic/Normal Period Price "Shinkansen e-Ticket (Tokudane)" Limited Time Sale 60% Off Price
"Komachi" Tokyo ⇔ Akita 17,820 yen 7,120 yen or 10,700 yen off!
"Tsubasa" Tokyo ⇔ Yamagata 11,250 yen 4,490 yen or 6,760 yen off!
"Toki" Tokyo ⇔ Niigata 10,560 yen 4,210 yen or 6,350 yen off!

This is a set product of "board ticket + reserved seat express ticket" (ordinary car reserved seat / one way / 1 adult).

Tickets are available to purchase starting from either 5AM JST (6AM AEST) on the 22nd of May or the 23rd of May, so mark your calendars and prepare to get up early to snatch up the tickets.

Please note that it may be difficult to connect due to heavy traffic on the first and last days of the sale. Please make your reservation with plenty of time.

An Eki-Net account is required to make purchases. Create your account in advance here before purchasing on May 22nd.

If you need help with account signup, refer to this cheat-sheet which explains how to fill in your personal details

For credit card registration, it's recommended to use a card that does not have overseas transaction fees (e.g Revolut, Wise, Macquare, HSBC Global etc)

Ekinet has a quick reference table showing expected demand for Shinkansen trains that are on sale
The tables will show you how difficult it would be to obtain a reservation based on the route / day

https://secure.okbiz.jp/eki-net/faq/show/9558?site_domain=de…

Important Notice

・This product is limited in terms of sales period, trains, number of seats and section.
・This is a limited edition product available only through the Shinkansen e-Ticket Service.
To board the train, you must first link your transportation IC card, such as Suica.
・Compared to regular tickets, the terms and conditions for changes, refunds, etc. are different.
Please be sure to check the terms of use and precautions on the website before applying.

Travel Asia Japan Public Transport Shinkansen Train Fare

Related Stores

East Japan Railway Company
East Japan Railway Company

Comments

  • node modules on 16/05/2025 - 13:43
    +2

    Did Bullet Train Explosion (2025) scare people off?

  • ewieb on 16/05/2025 - 14:27
    +2

    any discounts on the Tokyo - Osaka route?

    • scrimshaw on 16/05/2025 - 14:34
      +1

      Maybe check the EX-Hayatoku tickets https://smart-ex.jp/en/product/. you get a small discount for booking in advance.

      Note that EX Hayatoku 21 and Hayatoku 28 wide have a really strict restriction which prevents you from making changes to the trip after reserving the ticket. So while you do save money, you lose flexibility.

    • quackie on 16/05/2025 - 14:51
      +2

      If you're happy to catch the Kodama service (all stops as opposed to the Nozomi or Hikari services which doesn't stop at all stops), get a Platt Kodama ticket https://travel.jr-central.co.jp/plan/en/. 4 hours 10 minutes on the Kodama compared to the 2 hours 40 minutes on the Nozomi.

      Comes with a drink too. 11100 yen for a normal car ticket on Monday to Thursday, Friday it's 11460 yen and on weekends it's 11640. You can get the Green car seats for an extra fee (I think it's an extra 2000 yen? Been a while since I did a Platt Kodama).

      There are some downsides. For one you don't have the flexibility of a normal ticket as the ticket is heavily discounted. It's takes the longest. But hey, decent savings.

      • ewieb on 16/05/2025 - 15:00

        oh yeah this looks great, I will check it out! Thanks for sending this through :)

        • Ryanmyo on 17/05/2025 - 08:06

          Did Nozomi Kyoto to Shinagawa Tokyo yesterday (Friday), two adults, two kids, unreserved section. $427 Aud.

  • nandystam on 16/05/2025 - 14:45

    Is this a seasonal / regular thing?

  • fl360 on 16/05/2025 - 14:50

    geez, looks like the 5 July disaster prediction is really hitting travel bookings…..

    • Telios on 16/05/2025 - 22:00

      They picked a specific day?!

      I'm assuming this is the earthquake right?

  • Kaiserschmarrn on 16/05/2025 - 15:19
    +2

    Tokudane discounted shinkansen tickets are a regular occurrence depending on the route. I’ve gotten Gran class tickets (better than green class) from Tokyo to Nagano in February for less than the cost of a regular class seat.

    Make sure you create an account on the Japanese ekinet website. I believe the English ekinet website shows no such discounts (or maybe it’s changed recently?)

    • danz84 on 17/05/2025 - 01:46

      Do they send promotional email? Going to travel from sapporo to tokyo next jan, any tips?

      • Kaiserschmarrn on 17/05/2025 - 10:35

        I didn’t get promotional emails for mine. But if they did send it it’ll probably be in Japanese anyway.

        For travel from sapporo to Tokyo, shinkansen travel time is long enough to actually warrant flying instead. Book well ahead of time ( 3 months) and you’ll find some really good deals with either ANA super saver fare or JAL Explorer Pass flights (you don’t need to pay any money for a pass, it is available to you if you have an international flight ticket in and out of Japan). Best thing about these domestic fares other than the extremely reasonable price, is the baggage limit is their international limit ( 2 x 23kg check in).

        Assuming you might be heading to the slopes and you have your ski stuff in tow, use luggage forwarding services to send it directly from hotel to hotel. Makes your transits relatively hands free.

  • hobo123 on 16/05/2025 - 15:42
    -4

    My Niiga-ta

  • Shenannigoat on 16/05/2025 - 15:54
    +3

    I'm actually there during these dates, landing in Narita and flying up to Hokkaido. Flying was still cheaper/quicker though. YMMV.

    • nightelves on 16/05/2025 - 20:12
      +1

      Did you have to go to Haneda to fly out to Hokkaido?

      • Shenannigoat on 18/05/2025 - 12:18

        Sorry, should've said flying IS still cheaper; my trip's in a month's time. I wasn't able to find a way to connect the flights so I'm staying at Toyoko Inn just near Narita airport - $3 cheaper than the airport capsule hotel and has a free shuttle - then returning in the morning to take the flight to Asahikawa (my first stop on Hokkaido). I had originally booked New Chitose and was going to bus up but then discovered direct flights to Asahikawa, which will cut travel time a little more.

    • Telios on 16/05/2025 - 22:02
      +2

      May the aircon gods be with you.

      Until I got to the most Northerly parts of Hokkaido the humidity was absolutely killing me.

      • Shenannigoat on 18/05/2025 - 12:20

        My first trip was Osaka/West Japan/Tokyo in June 2012, and I live in Queensland, should be fine :)

    • YetAnotherChris on 17/05/2025 - 05:57
      +2

      The problem isn't just the $300 cost premium, it's also sitting in an uncomfortable and loud diesel multiple unit for six hours after Shin-Hakodate. Save your time and sanity and fly Peach. Noone who lives up there is catching the train either.

      • Shenannigoat on 18/05/2025 - 12:22

        To be fair I'll be doing this when I leave as I'm going to stay in Aomori and then make my way down to Niigata after that. It's a real shame the shinkansen to Sapporo has been delayed by another few years.

  • soggypotato on 16/05/2025 - 17:43

    tokudane is such a lame play on words

  • Pseudomocha on 16/05/2025 - 19:20
    +2

    The Shinkansen is definitely worth trying on your first trip to Japan, but it's so much cheaper to fly domestically. I don't think I'll be using it next time I visit.

    • highwind on 17/05/2025 - 00:05
      +4

      Depending on the travel distance/locations, it may still be worthwhile to take the shinkansen.
      The shinkansen often transits between city centres rather than outskirts (e.g. Narita is far from Tokyo and is not cheap to get to). You also don't need to get there 1+ hour early for check-in etc like with a flight - just get there a bit before departure and take your luggage on the train. Not to mention the more leg room and better views!

      • YetAnotherChris on 17/05/2025 - 06:11
        +2

        If you're on Honshu and have a 90 day tourist sticker there is very likely a regional JR pass that will work out the same price as a flight and two airport trains/buses. The full JR Pass is rarely a good deal since the price change, but the Hiroshima and Sanyo San'in passes are still good value if you're heading west from KIX. Past Fukuoka or Aomori you really really want to fly.

        I loved using the Seishun 18 Kippu and just hopping on slow trains when I wanted to change towns, but JR ruined it last year by making it a consecutive day pass.

        • highwind on 17/05/2025 - 11:39

          It's so disappointing… I do wonder why JR made so many terrible changes to the various passes that basically rendered most of them not worth buying

      • Russ on 18/05/2025 - 21:24

        Some of the JR Shinkansen passes are still excellent value.

        I visited the area between Tokyo and Osaka, but on the other side of Japan, the side facing Korea. It's called the "Hokuriku Arch" area, and there are two JR passes for that area. One of them, called the "Hokuriku Area Pass" is currently 76 AUD for four days of unlimited Shinkansen travel along some 280km of coastline, that's $19 per day:

        https://www.klook.com/en-AU/activity/2773-4-day-jr-hokuriku-…

        I stayed at a hotel beside Shin-Takaoka station and did day trips to various attractions in the area for a week, using two of the passes sequentially, and the on the eighth day used the pass to take me most of the way to Osaka.

        When you have an unlimited Shinkansen pass, your perception of how far away everything is changes. You wouldn't normally consider "I'll drive 45km to visit that restaurant that looked interesting", but with a pass it becomes "it's only 15 minutes on the train to get to that restaurant in Kanazawa".

  • Tppskk on 16/05/2025 - 22:06

    This will be so hard to book.

  • Wootwootwoot on 17/05/2025 - 09:23
    +1

    Dont go in summer. You will melt and die.

    • GS9891 on 20/05/2025 - 09:52
      +1

      It's no worse than a Brisbane summer, and lots of fun festivals in summer.

      • Russ on 23/05/2025 - 23:58

        Disagree. I've lived in Brisbane almost all my life, but when I visited Hiroshima in September 2023 it was hot and even more humid than Brisbane. Just standing outside my accommodation, waiting, I created a puddle of sweat. And that was the first month of autumn!

        TimeAndDate.com has historic records for the weather measurements in most locations. Here's the historic data for June 2024, hover over the graph and it will show you the humidity at the time/date you are hovering over: https://www.timeanddate.com/weather/japan/hiroshima/historic…

        • GS9891 on 24/05/2025 - 01:55

          I've also lived in Brisbane almost all my life. Yeah it might get a tad more humid, but temps rarely ever push 40c even in summer in Japan whereas we always get a solid week or so of 40c+ here. And if you walk around the Brisbane CBD under the midday sun in Feb for five minutes, you'll still get a puddle also.

          I've been over in summer four times myself, and the only real hassle is a typhoon forcing a change of plans at times. Just bring fresh clothes, shower, and stay in AC where possible. And enjoy the festivals!

  • furyou on 20/05/2025 - 22:19
    +1

    Any 60% off flights…. so exp.

  • scrimshaw on 21/05/2025 - 16:30

    Remember to link your e-tickets to your IC card (such as SUICA, ICOCA, PASMO) after purchasing the tickets. You will otherwise not be able to board the train.

    • payless69 on 22/05/2025 - 19:53

      Looks worse than an Opal card for a pensioner.

  • vongz on 24/05/2025 - 01:36

    JR Pass used to be good, it has gone up in price by a lot.
    Any good value pass for travel between Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto?

    • GS9891 on 27/05/2025 - 14:27

      JR Central is very stingy about passes, so the only pass linking Kansai and Tokyo besides the nationwide is the Hokuriku Arch Pass that bypasses them entirely really.

      That being said a 21-day nationwide pass is still a steal at 100,000 yen even, got over 300,000 yen of value out of it last trip.

  • fl360 on 30/05/2025 - 08:58

    If you have big luggage, long distance bus is the first preference, usually they let you store 2 under the bus per passenger. Whereas Shinkansen you need to book in advance, or you will be cursed.

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join