What is the Japan Rail Pass?

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The Japan Rail Pass is a special rail pass that is available to overseas visitors to Japan. The pass entitles the holder to unlimited travel on the national JR train network, including the shinkansen (bullet trains) and selected JR buses and ferries.

Purchasing a Japan Rail Pass is a fantastic idea if you plan on doing extensive travel within Japan. If you plan on visiting popular tourist destinations such as Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Nara and Hiroshima, it is well worth looking at getting this pass to save both money and time. The rail network in Japan is second to none with excellent fast, efficient services that go just about everywhere throughout the country from one end to the other.

The Japan Rail Pass comes in two different types, one for each class of service, Standard (普通車), also known as economy and Green Car (グリーン車), also known as executive-class.

©Akira Okada/©JNTO

How the Japan Rail Pass Works 

The Japan Rail Pass must be purchased outside of Japan and you must be traveling in Japan under the visa status of ‘temporary visitor’ to be eligible. In order to get a pass, you must first purchase an ‘exchange order’. Once you are in the country, you can validate the ‘exchange order’ at any JR Travel Service Center, which are located all over the country. Make sure you have your passport, temporary visitor stamp and exchange order with you. The pass is time limited with three time periods available: 7 day, 14 day and 21 day. When transforming your Exchange Order you will select an activation date, which is up to 30 days from the time of transformation, so you don’t need to activate it right away. The clock doesn’t start to tick until your desired activation date so you can travel around the first city you arrive in and get the most use out of it later.

©Yasufumi Nishi/©JNTO

 
Here is how the Japan Rail Pass works in six easy steps:

1. Buy your Japan Rail Pass - you can choose between 7, 14 or 21 days and select Economy or Green Car (executive class).

2. Receive your exchange order – you will be shipped your Exchange Order, this is required in order to receive your actual pass in Japan.

3. Go to Japan with your Exchange Order

4. Get your ‘Temporary Visa’ stamp –if you’re Australian you will automatically receive a temporary visa stamp in your passport on arrival.

5. Transform your Exchange Order into a Japan Rail Pass – locate the nearest JR Travel Service Center to change your exchange order into your Japan Rail Pass.

6. Discover Japan using your Japan Rail Pass – now is the fun part you can start using your Japan Rail Pass to discover all that Japan has to offer.

Take a look at this video to see how it all works


You can purchase your pass at Japan Rail Pass Now

Bunka no Hi

Bunka no Hi (文化の日) or Culture Day is a Japanese National Holiday that is held annually on November 3. The purpose of the holiday is to promote Japanese culture, the arts and academic endeavour in Japan.

Typical events on Bunka no Hi include culture festivals, art exhibitions, parades, and award ceremonies for distinguished artists and scholars.

November 3 is typically blessed with fine autumn weather with beautiful blue skies and warm temperatures.

History of Bunka no Hi 

Bunka no Hi was first held in 1948 to commemorate the announcement of the new post-war Japanese constitution on November 3, 1946.

November 3 was first celebrated as a national holiday in 1868, when it was called Tenchō-setsu (天長節), a holiday held in honour of the birthday of the reigning Emperor Meiji. It ceased to be a holiday following Meiji’s death in 1912, but was brought back again in 1927, when his birthday was given its own specific holiday, known as Meiji-setsu (明治節). Meiji-setsu was discontinued as a holiday with the announcement of Culture Day in 1948.

How is Bunka no Hi Celebrated? 

Bunka no Hi is a day to promote Japanese culture, the arts and various fields of academic endeavour. Festivities on the day include art exhibitions, parades, and award ceremonies for distinguished artists and scholars.

Local and prefectural governments typically choose this day to hold art exhibitions, culture festivals and parades. For example, the Hakone Daimyo Gyoretsu Parade takes place on this day every year on November 3. It is a spectacular autumn festival held at Yumoto Onsen in Hakone, west of Tokyo. The festival commemorates the journey of Japan’s daimyo, or feudal lords from the capital Edo (modern-day Tokyo) to the provinces during the Edo Period (1603-1868). The festival exhibits Edo Period clothing and historical costumes.

Elementary and Junior High schools often have a ‘Culture Festival’ on or near this day and it is common for universities to present new research and projects on Culture Day.

The prestigious ‘Order of Culture’ has been held on this day since 1936 with a special award ceremony at the Imperial Palace. The Emperor presents those who have significantly advanced science, the arts or culture with an award and it is one of the highest honours bestowed by the Imperial Family.

While this award usually goes to Japanese citizens, foreigners have been recipients in the past, most notably the Apollo 11 astronauts upon their successful return from the moon, and the literary Scholar Donald Keene.

Festivals and Events for November in Japan

Halloween Donuts at Mister Donut

October is the time for delicious autumn food in Japan with seasonal favourites such as pumpkin, sweet potato and chestnuts. Mister Donut Japan has joined the party with a new range of Halloween Donuts that feature pumpkin and sweet potato.

The new special limited edition Halloween range of donuts include Pon de Shu Donuts, which are cream-filled and are fun to eat as well as two types of Jack-o-Lantern donuts and a Pon de Ring Pumpkin.

The Halloween donuts went on sale in early October and will be available for a limited time in Japan. Here is a brief description of each donut for your enjoyment.

Pon de Shu Donut Murasaki Imo and Cookies & Cream 

The Pon de Shu Donut Murasaki Imo and Cookies & Cream features a murasaki imo (purple sweet potato) cream filled donut as well as a crunchy cookies & cream donut. 

Pon de Shu Donut Pumpkin and Cookies & Cream 

The Pon de Shu Donut Pumpkin and Cookies & Cream features a pumpkin cream filled donut as well as a crunchy cookies and cream donut.

Pon de Shu Donut Custard and Cookies & Cream 

The Pon de Shu Donut Custard and Cookie & Cream features a whipped custard cream filled donut as well as a crunchy cookies & cream donut.

Misudo Jack-o-Lantern Pumpkin Yellow 

The Misudo Jack-o-Lantern Pumpkin Yellow donut is made with cookie dough, which gives it a light and crunchy pastry texture. It is coated in a pumpkin glaze and perfectly captures the spirit of Halloween.

Misudo Jack-o-Lantern Pumpkin Chocolate 

The Misudo Jack-o-Lantern Pumpkin Chocolate donut is also made with cookie dough and features both a white and milk chocolate coating giving it the appearance of a mask.

Pon de Pumpkin 

The Pon de Pumpkin donut is a limited edition Pon de Ring just for Halloween that has a pumpkin glaze and pumpkin seed topping.

The donuts come in a cute Halloween box, which is a great idea. Here are a few pictures from my recent taste test. I hope you enjoy them and Happy Halloween from Japan!

 
Mister Donut Japan Website 

Learn Japanese with Nihongo Master

Nihongo Master is a fantastic Japanese language learning website to help you learn Japanese.

The biggest challenge for me in learning Japanese was trying to stay motivated with my studies. One of the best ways I found to stay motivated is to learn while having fun. You are more likely to learn something and retain it after all if you are enjoying it and having fun. I also found that having a competitive nature behind my studies whether that be an upcoming Japanese test that I wanted to pass, or simply beating my friends in Japanese also helped me stay more motivated.

The Nihongo Master website is all about fun and provides fun interesting lessons and tools that are adaptive and change according to the needs of the learner. The learning system is not dull and boring like a lot of Japanese textbooks can be, but engaging and fun. The easy to follow lessons teach you how to read, write, and speak Japanese with ease.

The site is set up like a competition with rewards and points for the user. This makes it challenging as well as highly motivating. You can test your Japanese skills by completing drills and exercises with your progress recorded by the site and posted on leader-boards. You can celebrate milestones as well as trying to match or beat the progress of your friends or other community users.

The website also has a great community behind it, which means you have other Japanese learners there who are always willing to help. This is great for exchanging ideas or simply asking questions.

If you are looking to learn Japanese, improve your Japanese level or just needs some extra incentive and motivation to get back into the language, definitely give Nihongo Master a try.

Taiku no Hi

Taiku no Hi (体育の日) or Health and Sports Day is a Japanese National Holiday that is held annually on the second Monday of October. This year Taiku no Hi will be on Monday, October 12.

Taiku no Hi commemorates the opening of the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games on October 10, 1964, and is a day to promote both sports and an active lifestyle.

History of Taiku no Hi 

 

Taiku no Hi first started as a national holiday on October 10, 1966, just two years after the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics. October was chosen as the unusually late time for the Olympics due to its beautiful weather and in order to avoid the Japanese rainy season.

In 2000, Taiku no Hi was moved to the second Monday in October as a result of the Happy Monday system to promote more long weekends in Japan.

How is Taiku no Hi Celebrated? 

Health and Sports Day is a day to promote sport and physical and mental health. A lot of schools in Japan hold their sports festivals (運動会) on this day, which is similar to a mini Olympics with a variety of physical activities ranging from traditional track-and-field events to fun games like tug of war and sack races.

Sports Festival in Gifu

 How will you celebrate Taiku no Hi this year? 

Festivals and Events for October in Japan

Shubun no Hi

Autumn Equinox Day or “Shubun no Hi” (秋分の日) in Japanese is an annual Japanese National Holiday that usually occurs on September 22 or 23. This year Shubun no Hi will be on September 23.

Shubun no Hi marks the changing of the seasons in Japan and commemorates the autumnal equinox, which is a 24-hour period when day and night are the same length. From this day on, days begin getting shorter than nights in the Northern Hemisphere. It can be seen as the official start of autumn in Japan and a sign that cooler days are to come.

It is part of the ‘Silver Week’ holiday period in Japan and follows on from Keiro no Hi which is held on the third Monday of September.

History of Shubun no Hi 

Shubun no Hi first started as a national holiday in 1948. It is a day to mark the changing of the seasons in Japan as well as a day to pay our respects to our deceased ancestors.

In the past, the autumnal equinox was called Shuki-koureisai (the autumn festival of the Emperor’s spirits), and was a day where the emperor worshipped his deceased ancestors.

How is Shubun no Hi Celebrated? 

Many memorial services take place at temples around Japan. People also visit the graves of their ancestors to offer rice cakes called ohagi, clean the tombstone, and offer incense and flowers. It is a time to pray to our deceased ancestors to comfort their spirits.

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Keiro no Hi

Respect for the Aged Day or “Keiro no Hi” (敬老の日) in Japanese is an annual Japanese National Holiday held on the third Monday of September.

This year Keiro no Hi will be on September 21st and is part of the 'Silver Week' holiday period in Japan.

Keiro no Hi was established as a day to honour elderly citizens and celebrate longevity in Japan. 

History of Keiro no Hi 

Keiro no Hi first started as a national holiday in 1966, but can trace its origins back to 1947 when Taka-cho in Hyogo Prefecture declared September 15, “Old Folks Day”, highlighting its elderly citizens and celebrating longevity. Its popularity soon spread nationwide and it became an official national holiday in 1966. It was originally held every September 15th, but changed in 2003 when the Happy Monday System kicked in, moving it to the third Monday of September.

How is Keiro no Hi Celebrated?

To honour their elders, many Japanese communities throw parties and offer special gifts to bring even more longevity to their lives. Young school children in Japan are encouraged to present their grandparents with presents or handmade gifts to celebrate the occasion and show their respect and appreciation.

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Japanese media take the opportunity of ‘Respect for the Aged Day’ to feature the elderly by reporting on the population and highlighting the oldest people in the country. Japan has one of the highest life expectancies in the world with men on average living to 80 and women 87 (WHO 2015).

Japanese citizens who became 100 years old in the 12 months before Keiro no Hi receive a silver sake dish on Respect for the Aged Day.