JR East–South Hokkaido Rail Pass: six-day routes, prices and collection

Tokyo / Hakodate / Sapporo / Otaru

Compare ordinary ticket totals if your rail journeys from Tokyo via Tohoku to Hakodate, Sapporo and Otaru fit within six consecutive days. If you start within Tohoku, compare the Tohoku–South Hokkaido pass area first.

Non-Japanese nationals can purchase and collect this pass with their valid original foreign passport. The official conditions do not impose a Temporary Visitor restriction. Carry a passport valid throughout the pass period, and do not transfer the pass to another person.

The official price is JPY 40,000 adult or JPY 20,000 child. Children are aged 6–11 on the purchase date. Children under six do not need a pass if they do not require a reserved seat. Validity is six consecutive days from your chosen start date; you cannot skip dates.

Eligible Ordinary Car reserved and unreserved seating on JR East and JR Hokkaido Shinkansen and limited expresses is included, along with Tokyo Monorail, Aoimori Railway, IGR, Sendai Airport Access Line and JR East BRT. Through JR–Tobu limited expresses require either the departure or arrival station to be a JR station. The Tokaido Shinkansen, JR buses and South Hokkaido Railway (Donan Isaribi Railway) are excluded.

Tobu local and rapid trains are covered from Shimo-imaichi · 下今市 to Tobu-nikko · 東武日光 and Kinugawa-onsen · 鬼怒川温泉. Between Kurihashi · 栗橋 and Shimo-imaichi, only eligible JR–Tobu through limited expresses are covered. A Tobu-only limited-express journey is not included.

Asahikawa · 旭川, Furano · 富良野 and Biei · 美瑛 are outside this pass area. Open the official English map in the sources below and check both your boarding and alighting stations. A city being labelled on the map does not necessarily mean it is within the covered area.

The map also places Karuizawa · 軽井沢, Atami · 熱海 and Otsuki · 大月 outside the area. Do not assume this pass has the same Tokyo-side coverage as the JR EAST PASS or JR TOKYO Wide Pass.

A direct JR-EAST Train Reservation purchase can be collected at a supported travel service center or IC-passport-reader ticket machine. For an agency purchase, show the exchange order and your original passport at a location that handles that order. Do not apply the direct-purchase machine procedure to agency orders.

In Hokkaido, a pass bought through JR-EAST Train Reservation can currently be collected at the JR Information Desks at New Chitose Airport · 新千歳空港 and Sapporo, or the designated counters at Noboribetsu · 登別, Hakodate and Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto · 新函館北斗. Bring every traveller’s original passport. The current collection guide excludes machines for issuing the actual pass. Passport-reader machines at Sapporo and New Chitose Airport are announced for 20 October 2026; they are not yet available on this guide’s check date.

For an agency exchange order in the JR East area, the current pass-specific list accepts both joint Hokkaido passes at Haneda Airport · 羽田空港 Terminal 2 Tourist Information Center from 06:00 to 22:00 and Terminal 3 JR EAST Travel Service Center from 06:45 to 20:00. The Terminal 3 passport machine is for direct JR purchases only. Use the supported counter and check current opening hours before travelling there; these times are Japan time.

Obtain reserved-seat tickets before boarding; the pass does not guarantee a seat. Green Car and GranClass require additional charges. Insert the paper pass into a compatible automatic gate and collect it afterwards. Show it to staff at unsupported gates.

Green Car, GranClass or sleeper accommodation requires its own charge plus the applicable limited-express or express charge. Obtain those separate tickets before boarding; the Ordinary Car pass does not cover the upgrade by paying only a price difference. After collecting the actual pass, JR Hokkaido reserved-seat machines can issue pass-related seat tickets within this pass’s area. This does not make the machine an exchange counter for an agency order.

Once issued, the pass’s validity period cannot be changed. Lost or stolen passes are not reissued. JR’s transport conditions specify a 10% fee for refunding an unused pass. If you have reserved a seat, a refund is unavailable after that train’s scheduled departure, even if you have not used the pass. Cancel an unwanted seat reservation before departure. After use begins, the pass cannot be extended or refunded, including for cancellations or delays.

Request an unused actual-pass refund within its validity period at a location selling this pass. For a pass bought by credit card in Japan, use the selling company’s own location. The fee is 10% of the JPY selling price. An unexchanged agency order follows the agency’s cancellation terms instead.

For a direct JR-EAST Train Reservation purchase that you have not collected, cancel online by 23:50 Japan time on the day before the pass starts for a fee-free refund. Later online cancellation may carry a fee and is available only until 23:50 on the last valid day. A station cannot process that uncollected online booking. If you have a reserved seat, cancel it before the train departs.

If you have not yet exchanged an agency order for the actual pass, request cancellation from the selling agency. JR does not refund that unexchanged order. Keep the seller’s cancellation conditions separate from the rules for an issued JR pass.