Seishun Juu-hachi Kippu (Part 1)
Mar 6, 01:22 pm
The Seishun Juu-hachi Kippu (Youth 18 Ticket) is a little known ticket that is a boon for the uber budget conscious, in particular those already living in Japan on Instructor or Student visas, who are unable to qualify for the JR Pass.
It allows for up to five days of unlimited travel on the JR local service anywhere in Japan. With careful management and some time on your hands you can literally travel from one end of the country to the other for around 2000 yen. That’s not to be sneezed at.
That said, this ticket is not for everyone. Its limitation to local and rapid services means you will be spending a lot of time on trains. Additionally, if you are traveling long distance you will be forced to change trains every few hours as you hop your way towards your destination. Traveling along the central corridor between Osaka and Tokyo takes around 7 hours on this ticket; Between Kyushu and Tokyo, 17 hours.
In the end it depends on both your budget and what you are looking for out of your travel.
Pros
- Very cheap way to travel
- Social way to travel with friends
- Use train lines and see places you wouldn’t usually
Cons
- You will spend a lot of time on trains
- See point one.
- Did I mention the amount of time you spend on trains?
Travelling on Seishun
Remember the translation of Seishun Juu-hachi? Youth 18. As the name implies, when this ticket was introduced, it was intended for impoverished University and High School students and even now, traveling during a Seishun period will mean running into hordes of Uni students carting huge rucksacks who are heading home for the holidays, or heading off into the countryside with their friends.
The Seishun 18 remains a very social way to travel. With four people sharing a single ticket and a bag full of goodies from the local convenience store, a day spent hopping from train to train passes in no time at all. In fact, there are whole magazines in Japan dedicated to exactly this pastime: planning extended trips with friends while using a Seishun ticket. We’ll get to that later though, for now let’s look at how the ticket works.
How it works
You buy a single ticket that costs 11,500yen. On this ticket there are five sections, each comprising of one day’s travel, from midnight until midnight.
You can use these five days in any way you please: whether consecutively or non-consecutively, alone or in a group. The following would all be valid uses of one ticket:
- One person traveling alone for five days
- Two people traveling together for two days and one person for one day
- Five people traveling together for one day
It’s entirely up to you, you just need to make sure that when you travel, you’re traveling together with the ticket.
Period of Validity
It’s also important to note that the Seishun ticket is seasonal and can only be used during three major holiday periods during the year. These usually fall on the same dates each year:
| Spring | 1st March – 10th April |
|---|---|
| Summer | 20th July – 10th September |
| Winter | 10 December – 20th January |
Period of Sale
To make things even more difficult, you can only purchase the Seishun tickets prior to the commencement of the travel period. The general periods of sale are:
| Spring | 20th February – 31st March |
|---|---|
| Summer | 1st July – 31st August |
| Winter | December – 10th January |
During the period of sale Seishun tickets can be bought at the Green Window (Midori Madoguchi) of any major JR station. Generally, any JR station larger than three platforms will have Seishun tickets for sale. Outside of the period of sale, Seishun tickets can still be bought from discount ticket shops, we’ll cover this later.
Terms and Conditions
The Seishun 18 ticket is only valid for JR lines and on Local, Rapid, and some Special Rapid services. You cannot use this ticket on any Limited Express, Special Express, or any train that requires a seperate express ticket. If you are found on a limited express train with only a Seishun ticket, you will be charged for the full price of the express ticket and also the relevant distance travelled locally, so it’s important to make sure you’ve got the right train.
Additionally, you cannot use this ticket on any private line or non-JR service.
Coming up in Part 2
In Part 2 of our guide to the Seishun Juu-hachi Kippu we’ll cover tips and tricks with the Seishun including great routes, sneaky tricks, and how to get from Hiroshima to Tokyo for 150 yen. Crazy, I know. Stay tuned.
Mar 6, 01:22 pm | Digg this!
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