5 Days Exploring Tohoku With The JR East Pass

Above, a boat tour of Matsushima Bay's islets. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

One of the best things about being a foreign visitor to Japan are the JR Rail Passes, which allows for unlimited travel during a certain amount time (for example: 5 days).

Unfortunately, travel to Japan is verboten at present due to the pandemic. Eventually, things will open up again (when, is anyone's guess). But, since we all have plenty of time to plan ahead, this is something to take into consideration.

GaijinPot has posted an article on the JR East Pass. I used it back in 2006 to travel from Tokyo to the Tohoku region to visit Sendai and Matsushima. It came in handy and I saved some money using it.

They begin their article with:

The JR East Pass for the Tohoku region provides anyone holding a non-Japanese passport, including residents of Japan, five days of unlimited travel from Tokyo around the zone of the pass for just ¥20,000.

The pass provides huge savings to non-Japanese travelers, making it easier to explore this fascinating region of Japan when travel reopens. Earlier we gave you an itinerary to explore Akita, Aomori and Iwate, the three northern prefectures of Tohoku. Now, we’ve got a great itinerary introducing Tohoku’s three southern prefectures of Fukushima, Miyagi and Yamagata.

This is a chance to explore a bit of history and culture as well as plenty of lakes, mountains and ocean scenery. So daydream now and see it for yourself later.

To read more, go here.