Getting around in Japan

How to get about Japan cheaply, whether as a resident or guest. Including organised tours.

Flying:

Check out this website detailing discount options, before deciding what suits you best - http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2364.html
Hyperdia and Jorudan (websites both below) can also be used to check out internal flights.

JAL and ANA both do special welcome flights for foreign visitors for around 12,000yen. They may have to buy a travel pass first.
http://www.staralliance.com/star_alliance/star/content/News20040219Star.html
http://www.ana.co.jp/eng/
http://www.jal.co.jp/yokosojapan/
http://www.jtb.co.jp/air/ (in japanese)

ANA and JAL both have discount tickets available called Tabiwari and Chowari for ANA. Find them on the websites, though for JAL it's a lot easier to find in Japanese. Prices for these are about the same as birthday flight prices and like the birthday flight must be booked 30 days in advance and cannot be booked earlier than two months in advance. You also get a small additional discount if you book online. You can pay later in a conbini.
http://www.ana.co.jp/eng/dom/nav/far-ij.html

Birthday flights:

Don't leave it too late. You need to book between about 2 months and 21 days before you intend to leave. The JAL site has no information in English. You can be put on the waiting list to make sure - online for members or at the travel agents. As soon as the fares come out you must pay for it.
NOTE: ANA no longer do Birthday Flights.

Trains:

Seishun 18 Kippu - A pack of 5 tickets ot use on local trains at school vacation times. Go as far as you want in 24hours on each ticket. The 5 tickets can also be shared between a few people. http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1361761
Useful sites - http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2362.html (useage periods)
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2362_02.html (maximize your distance)

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the privatization of JR, the Seishun 18 Kippu is available for only 8000 Yen during spring 2007 (booking between February 20 to March 31) http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2362.html

Do-Nichi Kippu - Another unlimited train ticket which you use on Sat-Sunday. You have to buy the ticket a day or so before you go. Costs ￥18,000. You can go to loads of places in East Japan with it. After you have purchased the ticket, you can make reservations any time at the green window. High School students can get the ticket for only 9,000 yen. http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/pass/donichi_kippu.html
Hyperdia - great for shinkansen and JR trains - http://www.hyperdia.com
Jorudan - better for more local trains, but also has JR schedules - http://www.jorudan.co.jp/english/norikae/

JR Rail Pass: - visitors need to buy the rail pass from a travel agent BEFORE they come to Japan. They get a ticket/voucher that they exchange when they get to Japan in any JR office for the real passes. Only foreigner non-residents can use these passes, so they cannot buy you one to use while they are here. For travelling around Japan they save you hundreds. The pass can be used anywhere in Japan and you can make reservations for the Shinkansen, JR ferries and even a few JR bus lines are included. http://www.japanrailpass.net/
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2361.html
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2357.html

Sometimes it is best for visitors to get the regular rail pass. The west pass doesn't seem to cover Mt. Fuji area or Tokyo. Check out this site for the info on the JR West Pass.
http://www.westjr.co.jp/english/travel/jrp/index.html

Tips to Remember:

You cannot use it for any of the Nishitestsu lines.
Not all trains in Tokyo are JR.
There are limitations of various sorts, depending on the type of pass you buy. For example, you can buy all-country or regional passes. You can buy ordinary (cheaper) passes, which are unreserved seats, or green (pricier) passes which allow you to reserve your seat.
You can't ride some Nozomi trains with the rail passes. If you want to ride a Nozomi or reserve a seat (w/an ordinary pass), you just pay the applicable charges.
Beware of peak travel times on a rail pass - standing room only for multiple hours isn't great fun, but it can also be avoided fairly easily by not taking rush hour trains or traveling on the first/last day of a major holiday to popular destinations.
You can make stop-overs with a Shinkansen ticket - it's cheaper than buying individual tickets. Buy the route fare with a date range instead of specific dates, then get the seat reservations separately. You will need to get seperate tickets to get out of the turnstiles. Talk to the person at the Midoriguchi counter before buying the tickets, don't just do it on spec.
There's a JR East railpass for any 4 days with a month of issue if you just want to use it for major long distance travel (on the shink especially). There are also different passes for JR East and JR West or both so make sure you only buy what you need.

Note: If you want to risk it, many people get friends to buy them a pass. This could backfire and you could lose your money. Your passport will be checked when you pick up your pass and your Japan work visa will negate it, if they check that far.
Here are some tips if you want to try it.

Have a friend buy the Rail pass (in your name) and bring it over. When you get it validated, go to a small train station and/or go to the Ticket Centre rather than the Travel Centre as they will be less thorough.
Make sure that your pass is refundable, just incase.
Passes are valid for 3 months so you can always keep trying in different stations.
The voucher is only redeemable at big stations that are listed. So I guess choose a location wisely.
Don't exchange it at an airport. They'll most likely catch you.
Once you have the pass, you don't have to worry about them checking your passport again.
Speak only English and look like a tourist.
Alternatively, get your friend to order two passes in their name and then get them validated at different stations, it's probably the safer way to go. They might write your name in katakana on the inside of the pass, but no one EVER looks at the pass very closely. The only thing anyone looks at is the date it's valid until, which is stamped in massive numbers in the middle of the pass.

Bikes can be taken onto local, express or even shinkansen trains as long as they are not too big and are in some kind of bag - any kind of bag is ok, as long as it was wrapped in something. It pays to always check first to be safe.

Long Distance Buses/Coaches:

http://www.nishinihonjrbus.co.jp. - Japanese (but not too hard to use) website of buses between Kyoto and Tokyo (Shinjuku or Tokyo-eki). Costs ￥5000 one way ￥9500 return. Buy at the station in advance, or call up to book and then pay in the combini, or risk getting one on the night since there are often empty seats.
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2366_sendai.html - information on and links to different buses between Sendai and other main cities.
http://www.489.fm/ - Sakura Buses - cheap bus travel all over Japan (Japanese)
http://jetholidayinfo.pbwiki.com/to+the+airport - links to all the main companies doing the Sendai-Tokyo route.

Driving:

Here's the link to the site for Highway Navigator and finding out the toll roads. It's all in Japanese -http://www.hinavi.jp/route/hinavi.html
Also try Drivers' Navi http://www.nexco.ne.jp/ also in Japanese.

Car Hire:

ToCoo - is a link to places to rent a car in Japan. They are very cheap compared to booking direct and have weekend deals for much cheaper than a regular rental over three days. You can also rent various commercial vans, which is much more economical than a moving service or an Akabou. Insurance is included (about ￥50,000 excess if you damage the car in any way, but more if you wreck it so badly it has to be towed). Also, despite what the website says, you can ask to change things over the counter when you pick up the car (like if you need to add another driver, change the drop-off time etc).
http://www2.tocoo.jp/?file=rentcar_inbound/main

Ferries:

Website information about ferries all over Japan. http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2355.html

Hitch-hiking:

For those of you adventurous enough it might be a good way to cut down on your travel costs. Most of the information seems pretty sound.
http://wikitravel.org/en/Hitchhiking_in_Japan

Organised Tours:

Sunrise Tours - a part of JTB, so bookable through their offices or online. Tours are for foreign visitors but they are allowed to take guests who live in Japan. Best options are Free Plan as include only shinkansen tickets and accommodation for a fraction of the cost of doing it seperately.
http://www.jtbgmt.com/sunrisetour/

Intrepid Travel - have tours all over the world. Japan tours are 9 or 14 days long. http://www.intrepidtravel.com

Japan holiday info

Travelling and Tours