Japan Rail Pass NowAustralia's No.1 Choice
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Japan Rail Pass NowAustralia's No.1 Choice
This pass bridges the gap between Tokyo and Hokkaido, covering eastern Honshu and the southern part of Hokkaido including Hakodate. It is the one to look at if you want to reach Hokkaido by rail rather than flying.
Unusually, this is a flexible pass rather than consecutive days, which suits the long distances involved.
Worth being clear about what this does and does not get you. The Hokkaido Shinkansen currently terminates at Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto, not Sapporo. The extension to Sapporo has been delayed to around FY2038 after tunnelling problems.
So this pass gets you comfortably to Hakodate and the southern part of the island. Sapporo requires a further limited express of around three and a half hours, and that leg sits outside this pass. Most people heading for Sapporo fly.
Hakodate has the night view from the mountain, a morning seafood market, and the star-shaped Goryokaku fort. Onuma Park nearby is a lake district at the foot of a volcano.
Heading south, Aomori has the Nebuta festival museum, Hirosaki has one of the twelve original castles surrounded by cherry trees, and Sendai and Matsushima Bay sit on the way back to Tokyo.
Available through overseas agents and at JR East ticket offices and reserved seat machines at major stations. The flexible six-days-in-fourteen structure means you should plan which days to activate.
No. The Hokkaido Shinkansen ends at Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto, and the onward limited express to Sapporo is outside the pass area.
No, six days of your choosing within a fourteen day window, which suits the long distances better than a consecutive pass.
Yes, along with the Tokyo Monorail, so airport transfers at both ends are included.
