The epidemic has changed many things. In Japan, ticket booking and seat allocation can be completed online earlier.

I have always been an free traveler, planning the itinerary, booking hotels, and arranging transportation by myself.

In addition to the hotel making a decision after comparing prices on different online platforms, the ticket of transportations can be booked directly on the Japanese official website.

Although there are Klook or travel agencies that can be booked or purchased, I am used to ordering on the official website, so that changes can be made immediately.

Before departure this time, I decided to buy JR Pass JR East and South Hokkaido Rail Pass. (used for six consecutive days)

In addition to the fact that the destination from Tokyo to Hakodate was about four hours on the first day, we booked the Hayabusa Gran Class although the fare is expensive

But I always feel that I must take it once in a lifetime… Haha! In fact, it is not as expensive as I thought! Although it is the first class of the train, it is very cheap compared with the first class of an airplane.

Gran Class seats and fare increases can be settled online, that is, after buying a pass, the system will automatically deduct the basic fare, and then display the upgraded fare.

Direct online payment and reserve the seat. After purchase, you will receive an email with a QR code on it. After arriving in Japan, you can directly use the machine to pick up the ticket in most of the JR station.

I am writing this article mainly to explain the part of ticket collection. I hope that people who go there in the future will not spend a long time trying to collect tickets like us.

January 2nd, after arriving at the airport on the same day, I wanted to go directly to the hotel first, so I didn’t pick up the ticket at the airport, and I felt that there would be more people at the airport…

The plane was delayed for two hours before getting off the plane. I didn’t want to catch up with the crowds in Tokyo, so I went to Ikebukuro immediately.

I plan to go to the machine at Ikebukuro Station to get the ticket after dinner, but I didn’t expect…

My friend needs to buy warm pants, so we went to Uniqlo first… I thought we can get the tickets on the way back. The machine provide service until 11 o’clock in the evening.

When we get back to Ikebukuro Station, although there are a lot of JR machines, I tried every one of them but didn’t work, so I was asked to go to the office.

But the ticket office at the south entrance is closed, just when we don’t know what to do? A Japanese elder told us that we can go to the north entrance…

We thought we were saved. When I north entrance office, the staff told me that I could only use the machine to get the ticket, but the machine just didn’t work!

It turns out that …. There is only one machine at Ikebukuro Station that can scan passports, can’t believe it. we finally found it just across from the north entrance office, I wish the staff would have told us.

I finally got all the tickets. In fact, after scanning the QR code and passport, a whole stack of tickets came out…

Many passengers next to me have to continue to arrange ticket seats because they did not reserve seats in advance.

Although we spent so much time finding the machine. And I was really exhausted after a whole busy day.

This is how you learn from the experience of traveling, you will know how next time! I guess the airport may have more machines.

JR Pass is the same as other tickets, it is no longer a whole book like before! So be sure to keep it safely, because if you lose it, you can’t reissue it.

Therefore, when entering and exiting the station, sometimes two tickets are required to enter the machine together, and it is best to figure it out in advance, otherwise it is easy to get stuck at the ticket gate.

All JR Pass cars can be ridden, as well as the Tokyo Yamanote Line, so it is a very cost-effective travel ticket.

We used this pass to go to Hakodate, Aomori, and other distances in between, which is quite cost-effective, except for the Gran Class and Green Class that require additional prices.

There is no need to pay extra for a general cabin class! So if the trip is planned in advance, you should be seated early so that you don’t have to stand on to the next stop!

JR Pass official website: https://www.jreast.co.jp/multi/zh-CHT/pass/index.html

~To be continued~