JR West: Express tickets, City Zone Journeys, IC Cards, and Avoiding Queues!

[HankyuDentetsu]

Hey folks, been a while since I've posted and good to be back browsing the forum. Missed it and loving reading all the threads and posts about travel now that the country is well and truly back open.

 

Despite having lived in Japan for several years (although not there right now!) I've got a few questions around express tickets and IC cards that have come to mind that I don't have the answer to. Hoping that the answers may be found here, and that they may also be helpful for other travellers if so. So here we go:

 

1. When arriving at Kansai Airport, and using a Haruka service to travel to - for example - Osaka Station, does that express ticket also permit a local follow-on journey on the JR West network, like a Shinkansen ticket allows? Let's say my end destination is Osakajokoen: can I get there using my Haruka ticket to Osaka? Or will I need to purchase a separate ticket upon arrival at Osaka Station which will take me to Osakajokoen?
2. And has there been any change to the rule that you cannot use IC Cards (Suica, ICOCA etc) on Haruka, Rapit or any other express services? I'm asking as I'd love to avoid queuing at the ticket office/machines at Kansai Airport as I have heard the queues can be significant at peak times.
   1. I've seen tourist tickets which you can buy overseas, but they provide a QR code which still needs to be validated by machine or person. What I'm looking for is any way to jump straight to the ticket gates with my ICOCA, and provide the super express element of the ticket either via Smartphone/App or pay the balance to the on-train conductor for my seat...

 

Any insights gratefully appreciated!

[bikkuri bahn]

Limited express tickets (tokkyu-ken) and distance tickets (jousha-ken) are separate, so at the ticket machine (the grey/green ones for limited express/shinkansen, not the regular ones), select your final destination (e.g. Osaka Castle) and it will print that out on the distance ticket, and the relevant stop (where your transfer will occur) on the limited express ticket (Osaka Station).  I don't know if the densha kukan system is applied to zairaisen limited expresses as it is done with the shinkansen (so seldom I use zairaisen limited expresses in metropolitan areas). *note-sometimes the limited express ticket and distance ticket are combined on one ticket.

 

I didn't know IC cards were not usable on limited express services within IC card network boundaries.  I have used IC cards to ride limited expresses on private railways just by buying the relevant limited express ticket (often sold from on-platform ticket machines) and using the IC card to pass through the faregates.  I dunno about JR, but using the ticket machine will likely provide the answer- typically if there is an option "just buy limited express ticket", then you can use the IC card as your distance ticket, otherwise buy the distance ticket too, it just takes a few more seconds.

Edited November 6, 2023 by bikkuri bahn
addtl. info

[kuro68000]

I made that mistake last time. Got off the Shinkansen at Tokyo, transferred to the Yamanote line, went to Okachimachi and realized that nether my Suica card nor the Shinkansen ticket were going to let me out of the gate. I don't know what sort of ticket would let you use the transfer gates, if any.

[HankyuDentetsu]

@bikkuri bahn fantastic response thank you. Looks like all roads lead to the JR ticket machines/ticket office... which as saitoshika west has recently shown, is the problem I'm trying to avoid haha!

https://saitoshika-west.com/blog-entry-9050.html

 

If the queues are dreadful and the Haruka full, I may look at taking the rapid express instead, topping up my IC card at the nearby family mart before riding 🙂

 

I do wish Japan would enter the 21st century when it comes to mobile ticketing!!!

[Gunzel]

We were on a Haruka the other day (but not from the airport) and the English announcement said “you cannot travel on this train with _only_ an IC card”. 
 

i would do what you said, if the queue may are too long to get a reserved seat ticket then just catch the rapid train. I think if you have money on the IC card you can top it up inside the gates at many destinations anyway. Certainly probably everywhere the Haruka would stop. 
 

i converted my Suica to run on my phone and I can top up with Apple Pay (Mastercard or Amex only, Visa has been broken for a while). 

[HankyuDentetsu]

Thanks @Gunzel, really helpful and I think you've just convinced me just to ride on the rapid instead!