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{"id":1707,"date":"2018-09-27T00:49:08","date_gmt":"2018-09-26T22:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thetokyotourist.com\/?p=1707"},"modified":"2018-09-27T01:04:01","modified_gmt":"2018-09-26T23:04:01","slug":"tokyo-to-osaka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thetokyotourist.com\/tokyo-to-osaka\/","title":{"rendered":"Tokyo to Osaka: The Fastest and Cheapest Ways"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"\" — Tokyo to Osaka: The Fastest and Cheapest Ways<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
UPDATED<\/strong>: *September 2018<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n*
I hope you enjoyed your time in Tokyo. Next up Osaka, the City of Business! When you’re visiting Japan it’s fairly common to go from Tokyo to Osaka, but how do you get there? In this short article, I\u2019ll run you through the fastest, the cheapest and the best ways of moving from Tokyo to Osaka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let me just start off saying, if you\u2019re getting a JR Pass<\/a> this is a no-brainer. Use the rail pass and jump on a train! Now that that\u2019s settled let\u2019s look at your options if you **DON\u2019T<\/strong> have a Japan Rail Pass. <\/p>\n\n\n\n**
**Not sure what a Japan Rail Pass is and want to learn more about it? Please do check out my article on the subject:** **Is a Japan Rail Pass Worth It?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n**
<\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\"><em>The distance from Tokyo to Osaka is 250 miles (400 km)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Tokyo to Osaka: The Cheapest Way<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This is a bit of a weird one, but if you\u2019re traveling around on a tight budget you really need to know this! But before you get too excited about this awesome value for money option, keep in mind it\u2019s only valid some parts of the year.<br\/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019m talking about something called <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jreast.co.jp\/e\/pass\/seishun18.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Seishun 18<\/a>. This ticket gives you <strong>unlimited rides<\/strong> on local and rapid Japan Rail trains in all of Japan. The Seishun 18 ticket is valid for five days, and multiple people can use the same ticket. It\u2019s by far your cheapest travel option coming in at <strong>only \u00a52,370 per day.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Are you interested in seeing Kyoto instead? Check out <a href=\"https:\/\/thetokyotourist.com\/tokyo-to-kyoto\/\">Tokyo to Kyoto<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How Seishun 18 Works<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Seishun 18 consists of five days of <strong>unlimited rides <\/strong>on local and rapid JR train for the cost of \u00a511,850, which is only \u00a52,370 per day. You <strong>don\u2019t <\/strong>have to use the ticket five days <strong>in a row<\/strong>, and the same ticket can be used by up to five people. <br\/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The fact that you can share the ticket with others is really great. If you\u2019re traveling in a group of five, all you need is one Seishun 18 ticket to transport the whole crew for a full day. Whereas a single ticket on Shinkansen from Tokyo to Osaka is around \u00a514,000, you can now transport five people for only \u00a511,850. Granted, it will take you longer, and you\u2019ll have to transfer a few time, but you\u2019ll save as much as $500. <strong>This is PERFECT if you\u2019re traveling on a tight budget.<\/strong><br\/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re traveling by yourself, you can use the Seishun 18 ticket for five full days (not necessarily continuous) as the ticket is valid from midnight to midnight. As soon as you use it one day you\u2019re down from five to four days left. No matter if you ride the train for ten minutes or ten hours. Keep that in mind and only use the ticket on days you\u2019re planning to travel for more than \u00a52,370!<br\/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Seishun 18 Cons<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>There are two major ones. You can only buy and use this ticket specific times of the year, and it\u2019s only valid on local and rapid Japan Rail trains. No Shinkansen, no private railways<g class=\"gr_ gr_23 gr-alert sel gr_gramm gr_replaced gr_inline_cards gr_disable_anim_appear Punctuation only-ins replaceWithoutSep\" id=\"23\" data-gr-id=\"23\">, <\/g>and no buses. So when can you buy and use Seishun 18? <br\/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Buy<\/strong>: February 20 to March 31<ul><li><strong>Use<\/strong>: March 1 April 10<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><strong>Buy<\/strong>: July 1 to August 31<ul><li><strong>Use<\/strong>: July 20 to September 10<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><strong>Buy<\/strong>: December 1 to December 31<ul><li><strong>Use<\/strong>: December 10 to January 10<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>You have to use all of your five travel days during a single period. If you get on a train on the last day of a period and ride on it until after midnight, the ticket will still be valid, but you have to buy a separate ticket for your next ride.<br\/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To plan all your travel by only using JR train can be complicated, so I suggest you use <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hyperdia.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">HyperDia<\/a> to help you out. It\u2019s a great\u00a0help when planning your Japan itinerary. But remember, when you search for travel options you have to uncheck everything except walking, local, and JR trains.<br\/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"950\" height=\"345\" src=\"https:\/\/thetokyotourist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/HyperDia-Tokyo-To-Osaka-Large.jpg\" alt=\"A screengrab from the HyperDia page showing which boxes to check. Tokyo to Osaka\" class=\"wp-image-1715\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thetokyotourist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/HyperDia-Tokyo-To-Osaka-Large.jpg 950w, https:\/\/thetokyotourist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/HyperDia-Tokyo-To-Osaka-Large-300x109.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thetokyotourist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/HyperDia-Tokyo-To-Osaka-Large-768x279.jpg 768w, https:\/\/thetokyotourist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/HyperDia-Tokyo-To-Osaka-Large-100x36.jpg 100w, https:\/\/thetokyotourist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/HyperDia-Tokyo-To-Osaka-Large-900x327.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 950px) 100vw, 950px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The Seishun 18 ticket is the perfect way to travel for a real explorer who doesn\u2019t mind spending a bit more time on transportation and who\u2019s not afraid to navigate Japanese train stations. <br\/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>I know the Seishun 18 ticket can be a bit complicated at first so if you have any questions or comments, please ask them in the section down below!<\/em><br\/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background has-regular-font-size has-light-green-cyan-background-color\"><strong>Tokyo to Osaka by local and JR trains<br\/><\/strong><u>Time:<\/u> About 9 hours<br\/><u>Money:<\/u> \u00a52,370 (\u00a511,850)<br\/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Low-Cost Airlines<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Up, up and away! A flight from Tokyo to Osaka takes about 1 hour and 30 minutes, but that\u2019s only counting the time in the air. Do not forget transport to Narita Airport or Haneda Airport and the time you spend going through the security checks and so on. More on this later.<br\/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are quite a few low-cost airlines operating in Japan. Here are some of them:<br\/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Japan Airlines<\/li><li>Jetstar<\/li><li>Peach Aviation<\/li><li>All Nippon Airways (ANA)<\/li><li>Star Flyer<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Compared to how much it costs to buy a single ticket on Shinkansen, the airline tickets are surprisingly cheap. The price, of course, depends on how early you book your flight and on which day of the week you decide to fly. <br\/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\n\nFrom my research, I\u2019ve found that you\u2019ll have to pay \u00a54,500 to \u00a59,000 for a one-way ticket from Tokyo to Osaka. I know that\u2019s a pretty big price range, so I looked at the average lowest price for\u00a0<strong>each day<\/strong>\u00a0for a whole month (October 2018, one month from now).\u00a0\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What I found was that \u00a56,900 is the magic number.<\/strong> On average \u00a57,000 will fly you from Tokyo to Osaka. The weekends are usually the most expensive, and\u00a0<span style=\"background-color: rgb(245, 246, 245);\">Monday or Tuesday is generally the cheapest day<\/span>.<br\/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to the plane ticket, you have to add whatever the transport to the airport will cost you.<br\/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background has-regular-font-size has-light-green-cyan-background-color\"><strong>Tokyo to Osaka with a budget airline<br\/><\/strong><u>Time:<\/u> About 3 hours (including airport security)<br\/><u>Money:<\/u> \u00a57,000 on average (Range: \u00a54,800 to \u00a59,000)<br\/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"950\" height=\"444\" src=\"https:\/\/thetokyotourist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Shinkansen-Tokyo-to-Osaka-Large.jpg\" alt=\"A Shinkansen train on the tracks from Tokyo to Osaka.\" class=\"wp-image-1720\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thetokyotourist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Shinkansen-Tokyo-to-Osaka-Large.jpg 950w, https:\/\/thetokyotourist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Shinkansen-Tokyo-to-Osaka-Large-300x140.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thetokyotourist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Shinkansen-Tokyo-to-Osaka-Large-768x359.jpg 768w, https:\/\/thetokyotourist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Shinkansen-Tokyo-to-Osaka-Large-100x47.jpg 100w, https:\/\/thetokyotourist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Shinkansen-Tokyo-to-Osaka-Large-900x421.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 950px) 100vw, 950px\" \/><figcaption><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/hansjohnson\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Hans Johnson \u00a9<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Tokyo to Osaka With a Bullet Train (Shinkansen)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I have to be honest with you; this is my favorite mode of transportation from Tokyo to just about anywhere. That\u2019s why I\u2019m a big fan of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jrailpass.com\/?utm_source=aff&utm_medium=cpa&utm_campaign=https:\/\/thetokyotourist.com&affiliate=thetokyotouristcom0169464001535620805\" rel=\"nofollow\">JR Pass<\/a>\u00a0which will give you unlimited Shinkansen rides for 7, 14 or 21 days.<br\/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have a Japan Rail Pass, you\u2019re probably not reading this guide. So let\u2019s have a quick look at how much it costs if you to buy single tickets for Shinkansen.\u00a0<br\/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>First some basics:<\/strong> On Shinkansen you\u2019ll have to pay a seating fee in addition to the fare itself. There are three different seating fee options, three different train types with different speeds and it’s also a peak, a normal and an off-season. All of these choices affect\u00a0the price.<br\/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now you need to go ahead and pick one option in each of the three categories. <strong>It\u2019s as easy as 1, 2 and 3.<\/strong><br\/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\"><strong>One – Type of train\/speed<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Nozomi<\/li><li>Hikari<\/li><li>Kodama<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\"><strong>Two – Seating feat<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Unreserved seat<\/li><li>Reserved seat<\/li><li>Green seat (1st class)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\"><strong>Three – Season<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Peak<\/li><li>Normal<\/li><li>Off-season<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1 Type of train\/speed<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>I have sorted the trains from the slowest to the fastest. Kodama stops at every station, while Hikari and Nozomi skips a few stations and they also have a higher operating speed.<br\/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Kodama (234 – 237 minutes. About 3 hours and 55 minutes)<\/li><li>Hikari (173 \u2013 177 minutes. About 2 hours and 55 minutes)<\/li><li>Nozomi (150 \u2013 153 minutes. About 2 hours and 30 minutes)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Check out the differences in price in the table below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2 Seating Fee <\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>If you want to learn more about the different seating options and see my review of the 1st class seats and if they\u2019re worth it, check out my <a href=\"https:\/\/thetokyotourist.com\/tokyo-to-kyoto\/#The_Different_Seats\">Shinkansen article<\/a>. You can also read about the amount of luggage you can bring on Shinkansen along with some other helpful information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3 When You Ride (Season)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, this isn\u2019t much of a choice unless you plan your whole trip to Japan around when the Shinkansen seasons are! Anyway, here you can see the different seasons.<br\/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Peak<\/strong><ul><li>December 25 – January 10<\/li><li>March 21 – April 5<\/li><li>April 28 – May 5<\/li><li>July 21 – August 31<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><strong>Off-season<\/strong><ul><li>Januar 15 – February 28 *<\/li><li>June 1 – June 30 *<\/li><li>September 1 – September 30 *<\/li><li>November 1 – December 20 *<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><strong>Normal<\/strong><ul><li>You do the math!<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><em>* Except for weekends and national holidays.<\/em><br\/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A Table to Compare Ticket Prices for Shinkansen Trains<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Remember you have to pay a seating fee+fare. If you don\u2019t want to study the table in depth you can just focus on the prices in green and they\u2019ll give you the answer.<br\/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>UPDATED<\/strong>: <em>September 2018<\/em><br\/><em>If you\u2019re on mobile, you might have to scroll to see all the columns (there are three trains listed).<\/em><br\/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[table id=7 responsive=scroll \/]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Infants and babies (0 to 5 years) travel for free. Children from 6 to 11 years get 50% off. 12 years and older counts as adults.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>I have a pro tip for you!<\/strong> When you reserve your seats on Shinkansen from Tokyo to Osaka, try to book seats on the right side of the train. From there you\u2019ll have a great view of <a href=\"https:\/\/thetokyotourist.com\/mount-fuji\/\">Mount Fuji<\/a>. \ud83d\ude42<br\/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background has-regular-font-size has-light-green-cyan-background-color\"><strong>Tokyo to Osaka with Shinkansen<br\/><\/strong><u>Time:<\/u> 2 hours and 30 minutes to 3 hours and 55 minutes<br\/><u>Money:<\/u> \u00a513,940 to \u00a514,650<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Bus from Tokyo to Osaka<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A cheap but, in my opinion, not at all comfortable option is a night bus from Tokyo to Osaka. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kosokubus.com\/en\/\">Kosokubus<\/a>\u00a0is a well-renowned bus company that will take you from Tokyo to Osaka in about 8 hours for \u00a53,000 to \u00a58,000. If you book early, it’s cheaper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some people have problems sleeping on buses. If you\u2019re one of them, keep in mind that <strong>you\u2019ll arrive in Osaka 5 a.m. – 8 a.m.<\/strong> If you can\u2019t check into your hotel until 3 p.m., you\u2019ll probably be a walking zombie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can store one big piece of luggage in the trunk, and you can bring a small carry-on with you inside the bus.<br\/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background has-regular-font-size has-light-green-cyan-background-color\"><strong>Tokyo to Osaka by bus<\/strong><br\/><u>Time:<\/u> 7 to 9 hours<br\/><u>Money:<\/u> \u00a53,000 to \u00a58,000<br\/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Too Long<g class=\"gr_ gr_3 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Style replaceWithoutSep\" id=\"3\" data-gr-id=\"3\">; Didn\u2019t<\/g> Read<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The cheapest way is to use your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jrailpass.com\/?utm_source=aff&utm_medium=cpa&utm_campaign=https:\/\/thetokyotourist.com&affiliate=thetokyotouristcom0169464001535620805\" rel=\"nofollow\">JR Pass<\/a> if you have one. If you don’t have one and want to know if it’s worth it for your itinerary, you can check out the article on the <a href=\"https:\/\/thetokyotourist.com\/japan-rail-pass-worth-it\/\">Japan Rail Pass<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you decide not to buy a JR Pass then Seishun 18 or a night bus is the cheapest option. Seishun 18 will take longer, but is a bit cheaper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The fastest way to go from Tokyo to Osaka is by bullet train! It even beats the planes when you take the tedious security checks into account. Shinkansen is also a very comfortable way of travel so if you haven’t tried it already, you really should!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:18px\">Did I miss anything? Let me know in the comments down below!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UPDATED: September 2018 I hope you enjoyed your time in Tokyo. Next up Osaka, the City of Business! When you’re visiting Japan it’s fairly common to go from Tokyo to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1717,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetokyotourist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1707"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetokyotourist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetokyotourist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetokyotourist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetokyotourist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1707"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/thetokyotourist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1727,"href":"https:\/\/thetokyotourist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1707\/revisions\/1727"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetokyotourist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetokyotourist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetokyotourist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetokyotourist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}