When it comes to travelling abroad, one of the most stressful tasks is organising transport in a foreign language. Transport schedules and train station maps turn into challenging puzzles that you try and piece together via Google Translate and the mercy of the travel gods. Add the station ticket kiosks that you don’t know how to navigate and inevitable queues in popular destinations, and you might as well order an extortionate Uber and call it a day.
Luckily for those heading to Japan soon, TOBU Railway, a Japanese network of rail tracks connecting Tokyo with the surrounding areas of Chiba, Saitama, Tochigi, and Gunma, just launched its first digital ticket platform to make inbound travel more convenient for international visitors. Say konnichiwa to TOBU Japan Trip Tickets.
This nifty, all-English website allows travellers to book tickets in advance, helping us overwhelmed explorers escape the queues, and offers discounts, all-area access tickets, reserved seating and limited express trains that zoom into some of Japan’s popular destinations.
Visitors can buy up to eight tickets at a time, and each train passenger has to register their e-mail address on the website for their ticket. You can buy tickets for individual trips, or go all out with area access passes that provide rail and bus transit, as well as discounted offers for nearby parks, experiences and restaurants.
The Nikko Pass, for example, includes a return trip between Asakusa station in Tokyo and Shimo-Imaichi station in the city of Nikko, with transit to nearby natural landscapes like Nikkoshi Ogurayama Forest Park, and the many shrines and temples that made the area an UNESCO World Heritage Site, though entry fees are not included.
So, ready to take on Japan via rail? Brush up on our ultimate two-week rail itinerary for first-time visitors.
Did you see that this South Asian island is now offering visa-free travel to 40 countries?
Plus: This glass-roof train that travels through the US and Canada was just named the world’s best rail journey.
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