JR Tohoku-South Hokkaido Rail Pass: six days, coverage and seat reservations

Sendai · 仙台; Hakodate · 函館; Sapporo · 札幌; Otaru · 小樽.

Compare the pass price with individual ticket costs if your train journeys from Sendai through Tohoku to Hakodate, Sapporo and Otaru fall on six consecutive days. If starting in Tokyo, compare the JR East-South Hokkaido Rail Pass.

Non-Japanese nationals can buy and collect the pass with their original valid foreign passport. This pass does not specify a Temporary Visitor restriction. Carry a passport valid throughout the travel period and do not transfer the pass to another person.

The official price is JPY 32,000 for adults and JPY 16,000 for children aged 6–11 on the purchase date. Children under six do not need a pass unless they require a reserved seat. Validity is six consecutive days from your chosen start date; you cannot skip dates.

Covered JR East and JR Hokkaido Shinkansen and limited express services in Ordinary Cars, Aoimori Railway, Iwate Galaxy Railway (IGR), Sendai Airport Transit and JR East BRT are included. Journeys starting in Tokyo and South Hokkaido Railway are outside this pass’s coverage.

Asahikawa (旭川), Furano (富良野) and Biei (美瑛) are outside the coverage area. Open the official English map in the sources below and check your boarding and arrival stations. A city name appearing on the map does not mean that it is covered.

For a direct JR-EAST Train Reservation purchase, collect the pass from a supported Travel Service Center or a ticket machine with an IC passport reader. For a travel-agency purchase, show the exchange voucher and your original passport at an authorised collection point. Do not assume that a machine handling direct JR purchases can exchange a travel-agency voucher.

Obtain a reserved-seat ticket before boarding with a reservation. The pass alone does not guarantee a seat. Green Car and GranClass travel require separate charges. Retrieve your paper pass after inserting it into an automatic gate; show it to staff where the gate does not support it.

Once issued, the pass’s validity period cannot be changed and a lost or stolen pass cannot be reissued. JR’s conditions specify a 10% fee for refunding an unused pass. After use starts, the pass cannot be extended or refunded, including because of cancelled or delayed services.

If you have not exchanged a travel-agency voucher for the actual pass, request cancellation from the agency where you bought it. JR does not refund that voucher. Check the seller’s cancellation conditions separately from the conditions applying after JR issues the pass.