Go From One End of Japan To The Other For Under $25

Above, Atami Station, one of the transfer stops in the article. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

During my travels to Japan over the years, I have been as far north as Sendai and far south as Kumamoto, Kyushu by train. But these treks have not been during the same trip.

However, if one wants to go from one end of Japan to another (even to another island), visitors can do so for under $25.00 each.

You may wonder, how is this possible? RocketNews 24 has the answer in an article.

They wrote:

For the price of a couple beers in a Tokyo bar, you can go all the way from the eastern capital to the southwestern island of Kyushu. 

When someone says “Time is money,” it’s usually to encourage someone to hurry up, so as not to waste economic resources. However, sometimes that exchange works in reverse, and you can find some incredible bargains if you’re willing to spend some extra time. 

For example Japan Railways, the largest train operator in Japan, offers something called the Seishun 18 Ticket package, which is a bundle of five tickets that each grant you unlimited use of unreserved seats on JR local and rapid (though not limited express) trains. 

While seishun is the Japanese word for “youth,” there’s no age restriction for the Seishun 18 ticket. What’s more, even though the Seishun 18 Ticket is sold as a set of five for 11,850 yen (US$107), they don’t have to all be used by the same person. As such, a single Seishun 18 Ticket works out to just 2,370 yen (US$21), and it turns out that’s enough to get you all the way from Tokyo, near the eastern edge of Japan, to Fukuoka Prefecture, located on the southwestern island of Kyushu.

To read more, go here.