Tigers and Cranes

japan is a country of bewildering number of private and public railways, largest of them all being JR (japan rail) and its many associated railways.

one good thing about extensive reach of JR, especially for foreigners visiting japan is the existence of JR pass, sort of japan’s version of eurail pass. in essence, it gives the holder of the pass unlimited rides on any of JR’s train lines, from hakata in the south all the way to sapporo and beyond.

this basically means any innercity trains, be it express or otherwise, as well as all the shinkansen [新幹線] (bullet trains) in the country, with the notable exception of nozomi super express. why is nozomi excluded? i used to always wonder. is it possibly the most opulent train with even more bowing than is usual in most JR trains? (yes, all the conductors, as well as the snack vendors bow to the passengers as they enter and exit the train cars).

hikari railstar

hikari

as it turns out, nozomi is just a garden variety shinkansen train, and in my experience, a little shabbier and dirtier and a hell of a lot more crowded, at least on the osaka-tokyo route. i’d never once had to stand inside a shinkansen, but this one time, because i had neglected to reserve seats, i had to ride the train in between cars, standing.

bollocks.

i believe nozomi maybe excluded because it is a little faster than other shinkansen. i’m not really sure.

now, obtaining a japan rail pass is a great deal. as it stands, 7 day unlimited use pass is going for 28,300 yen for ordinary pass. that’s approximately $250 at 115 yen=1 dollar exchange rate. to put this into perspective, it costs about 13,000 yen to travel one way from osaka to tokyo. a round trip between the two cities using the pass, and you’ve pretty much already got the cost of a rail pass. it’s a great way to see the country. 14 day pass goes for 45,100 yen.

there is a “superior” class in most shinkansen (”green cars”), but i really couldn’t tell you how nice those cars are… i’ve never been in one. ordinary cars are certainly comfortable and clean enough for me.

i suggest you reserve a seat when purchasing a shinkansen ticket, or even if you are using the railpass. it will save you the aggravation of looking for an empty seat and on a full train, save your legs as you stand between the cars.

please note that you cannot buy a japan rail pass in japan. it’s only open to foreign passports, and you must purchase an “order” in you own country before arriving in japan. once you arrive in japan, take your order to one of the redeeming JR offices (usually at a big train station and at airports), and receive your go crazy pass. and to use, simply wave it at the turnstile manning people, and they’ll just let you through.

for more information, visit JR rail pass .

korea doesn’t have a rail pass system simply because well, you don’t need one. the transportation prices in korea, compared to japan, are ricockulously cheap. you can feel confident jumping in a cab to get around seoul because in many instances, it’ll be cheaper than buying tickets for a japanese train. sure, the doors won’t automagically open for you like it does in japanese cabs, and the driver may or may not wear hats and white gloves… but they’re fast and efficient. just watch out for a driver in a bad mood… and don’t piss him off.

in addition, the long distance bus system in korea is super efficient, fast, and cheap. plus they always make a pit stop after two hours of driving, and you can get out and buy snacks or souvenirs at the rest stops that are the size of small villages. you can buy shirts, jeans, knives (!), snacks, and toys. i bought a pair of climbing gloves. just because.

many people may be surprised to find this out, but korea has bullet trains too. called KTX, these babies are clean and super fast, approaching 320kph on fast sections (what’s that in miles? like… super duper fast). thus, it only takes about two to two and a half hour for one to travel between seoul and busan. the best part? it’s only about 50 bucks (45,000 won) to ride!

KTX

right now KTX operates between busan and seoul, stopping at daejon, and a route to gyeongju is under construction.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 1st, 2006 at 11:00 pm and is filed under korea, japan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.