About Japan Train Math

Japan Train Math answers one practical question for visitors to Japan: given the trains you actually plan to take, is a rail pass cheaper than buying ordinary tickets? Then it adds up the other costs of getting around — mobile data, airport transfers and regional passes.

Who runs this site

Japan Train Math is written by Shion, a university student from Japan.

Most JR Pass advice is a rule of thumb. We do the sums instead: every fare starts from the rail operators' own fare pages, each route shows the date we checked it, and the calculator shows the break-even point rather than a yes-or-no.

How the site is funded

Some links on this site are affiliate links. If you book through one of them, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. That is how this site pays its costs. It does not change the maths — when single tickets come out cheaper, we say so. Read how we check fares and the full affiliate disclosure.

Corrections and contact

Found a fare that is out of date or wrong? Tell us at the contact address we will add here shortly and we will check and correct it.