Kansai WIDE Area Pass: routes, collection and seat reservations

Compare it with the total cost of individual tickets if you will take covered limited express or Shinkansen trains over several days. If your journeys are spread apart, check whether all of them fit into five consecutive days.

You need a passport issued by a country other than Japan and Temporary Visitor status in Japan. Kansai WIDE Excursion Pass is a separate product with different eligibility and validity; do not apply its conditions to this pass.

The official five-day pass costs JPY 12,000 for adults and JPY 6,000 for children. The current Japanese conditions assess child eligibility, ages 6–11, at the time of payment. Check the selling price and cancellation conditions of your selected travel-agency option separately.

Each adult or child pass holder can accompany up to two children aged 1–5 free of charge. A child pass is required for the third young child, or when a young child occupies their own reserved seat or travels alone. Children under one travel free.

Validity runs in Japan time from 00:00 on the start date to 24:00 on the fifth day. If you are still on a train across midnight at the end, the basic-fare portion remains valid until you leave the gates and the train-charge portion until you leave that train. This does not let you start new journeys freely the next day.

An MCO or E-MCO received from a travel agency is an Exchange Order. Exchange it for the actual pass before boarding. WEST QR Kansai Area and Kansai Mini are separate products; this paper-pass collection procedure does not apply to them.

The Sanyo Shinkansen is included only between Shin-Osaka (新大阪) and Okayama (岡山). The conventional-line coverage map shows Yura (由良), Tottori (鳥取) and Toyooka (豊岡) towards Sanin; Tsuruga (敦賀) and Maibara (米原) to the north; Tsuge (柘植) to the east; Shingu (新宮), Wakayamashi (和歌山市) and Kishi (貴志) to the south; Soja (総社) and Uno (宇野) to the west; and Utazu (宇多津)–Takamatsu (高松) in Shikoku. The Tokaido Shinkansen and Sanyo Shinkansen west of Okayama are excluded. Coverage can differ between Shinkansen and conventional trains travelling between the same stations.

Covered West JR local bus routes are included, excluding the Kanazawa area and highway buses. Take one numbered boarding slip per person when boarding. When getting off, show your pass to the driver and put only the boarding slip in the fare box. Keep the pass with you.

At Kansai-airport Station (関西空港), go to the JR Ticket Office on 2F, which is separate from the Nankai gates on the same floor. Its published opening hours are 5:30–23:00, and the station appears in this pass’s travel-agency exchange list. Bring your electronic Exchange Order and original passport and give the start date you want. Before using a machine, check for the PASSPORT sign and support for your E-MCO. The separate Terminal 1 counter is on 1F South and opens 8:00–20:00. For station collection elsewhere, use JR West’s East Gate Ticket Plaza at Shin-Osaka, the Central Gate JR Ticket Office at Osaka (大阪), or the JR Ticket Office outside the gates on 2F at Okayama. Shinkansen transfer-office and machine hours are not substitutes for exchange-counter hours. Tottori’s JR Ticket Office is listed as 8:00–19:00. The English station maps show Kyoto’s Central Gate on 1F, Osaka’s Central Gate on 1F and Shin-Osaka’s East Gate on 3F. Those maps are dated 1 September 2025, 14 January 2026 and 1 October 2026 respectively; counter hours were checked separately against the station guides.

Reserve an Ordinary Car seat before boarding. Green Cars, Green private compartments, Ordinary Car private compartments on conventional limited express trains and Special Rapid A-SEAT require separate charge tickets. Sanyo Shinkansen S Work cars and Sunrise Seto/Izumo, including Nobi Nobi seats, are excluded. For S Work travel, pay both the basic fare and train charges for that journey separately.

On the Sanyo Shinkansen, luggage whose three dimensions total more than 160 cm and no more than 250 cm needs a seat with an oversized baggage area reserved in advance. The reservation itself costs no extra, but bringing this luggage without the required reservation incurs a JPY 1,000 fee. Some 16-car trains have a trial of deck luggage lockers available without reservation. Those lockers do not remove the seat-reservation requirement for luggage over 160 cm; distinguish them from the reserved space behind the last row of seats.

If you miss a reserved train, use an eligible train’s non-reserved seats or reserve a seat on a later train. All-reserved trains have no non-reserved seats. Standing is allowed only on services where it is officially offered when reservations are full, not on every all-reserved train. Lost passes are not reissued. If your Sanyo Shinkansen luggage exceeds 160 cm in total dimensions, reserve another seat with an oversized baggage area instead of simply boarding a non-reserved car.

Before exchanging a travel-agency voucher, apply to the original seller for cancellation. JR’s conditions refer to agency refunds within one year of issue, but the actual deadline and fee depend on the seller and option. A pass collected using an agency voucher can be refunded at a designated exchange counter or a Nippon Travel Agency branch handling exchanges if it is unused and before the start date or within validity. The fee is 10% of the sale price, rounded down to the nearest JPY 10, with a minimum of JPY 220. Direct JR online purchases have separate conditions, including a JPY 560 fee. No refund is available after use begins, including for service disruption or delay.