How to fill the application form of a JR East commuter pass

In more than half the areas of Japan, the blooming period is April, which coincides with the beginning of the fiscal year for companies and the start of a new school year for Japanese schools.

If you start working in Japan this April, you may witness a scene that so many people come flooding in, and make a long queue in front of a ticket office of the station.

They visit a ticket office to buy a new commuter pass or a renewal commuter pass. In this article, I want to show you how to buy a commuter pass referring to commuter pass system of East Japan Railway Company (JR East).

Where to buy

There are roughly three ways to buy a commuter pass in Japan.

Unfortunately, there is no English website that sells a commuter pass in Japan as long as I checked. So, those who don’t understand Japanese inevitably go to a ticket office usually installed in a station building, or use a ticket machine.

Buying a commuter pass with a ticket machine is an advanced course. You can’t make any mistakes when you buy an expensive commuter pass. If you accidentally handle the wrong buying process, you may end up wasting your money. Even if you have just a bit of concern about buying it with a ticket machine, you’d better go to a ticket office and buy it with the staff’s instruction.

Prior to buying a commuter pass in Japan, if you know basic information about a commuter pass, you will be able to buy smoothly according to station staff’s instruction. Let’s learn basic information about a computer pass.

Types of commuter pass

The following types of commuter pass are applicable in JR East

If you are student and buy student commuter pass, you need to submit a student certificate issued by a school you go to because the price of student commuter pass is quite a bit cheaper than the regular one.

If you work in Japan, you choose a regualr commuter pass

Joint(transit) Commuter pass

If your exit station is on the route of other railway company than JR East, you need to buy a joint commuter pass. With this commuter pass, you can transfer almost all the railways.

However, the number of railways (railway companies) you can transfer from an entraining station to an exit station is 3 railways. For example, if you get on a train at Kawasaki station (JR East) and get off at Koshigaya (Tobu railway company), you transfer three types of railways, which are Tokaido line (JR East), Hibiya subway line (Tokyo Metro), Tobu skytree line (Tobu railway company).

The JR East accepts 3 patterns of train transit for a commuter pass

If your entraining station is on the route of JR East, you should buy a commuter pass at JR East ticket office of the station.

Applicable student type for a student commuter pass

If you go to one of the above educational institutions as an international student, you receive student certificate (通学証明書: Tsugakushoumeisho) from school and submit it to a ticket office when you apply for a student commuter pass.

If your school doesn’t correspond to any of school types above such as a Japanese language school, you need to make sure if your school may be approved for a student commuter pass by JR East in accordance with the JR transit clause.

If not, you need to buy a regular commuter pass.

When to be able to apply for a commuter pass

You can apply for a commuter pass 14 days before the day you start using a commuter pass.

For example, if want to use a commuter pass on first, April, commuter pass application starts from 18th, March.

Application form (regular commuter pass)

A following picture is an application form of a commuter pass of JR East. When you buy a commuter pass, you fill this form and submit it to a ticket office called “Midorino Madoguchi (みどりの窓口)”

Unfortunately, there is no English application form. You have to write your necessary information on this application. For your name, you have to write it down in Japanese. If you do it by yourself, you can translate your name into Japanese by google translate and somehow imitate your name in Japanese letters, displayed in the right blank, on the name column.

If you worry about writing your name in Japanese, you leave the space blank and ask JR staff to write your name in place of you.

I will explain how to fill this form.

Choose “new” or “renew”

In the top left end column, you circle “new” or “renew”

If you newly purchase a commter pass, you circle, “新規” (Shinki). If you renew your commuter pass you already have, you circle, “継続” (Keizoku).

Choose commuter pass type

In the top left column next to the “new-renew” column, you circle the commuter pass type which you are going to apply for. What you need to circle is one of the following types

The term of validity of Yamanote line commuter pass is only 1 month. After 1 month, you need to renew it if you want to use continuously.

Suica (a rechargeable contactless smart card) type commuter pass

This is about if you hope to have Suica with commuter pass function.

If you hope to have it, you cirlce “する” (Yes). If you don’t hope to have it, you circle “しない” (No).

Payment method

If your want to pay by cash, circle “現金” (cash). If you want to pay by credit card, “クレジットカード” (credit card)

Name, gender and age

In the left space before “様”, you need to write your name in Katakana. If you google your name with google translation, you can find your name in Katakana easily.

“男女”, placed in the upper middle between “様” and “才” is about asking you gender. If you are a man, cirlce “男”. If you are a woman, circle “女”

In the space between “様” and “才”, write your age. By the way, “才” means “year old”.

Ride section

You write the station where you get on and the station where you get off. In a space before “駅” (Eki: station), write the station where you get on. In a space before “駅間”, write the station where you get off.

“経由”, placed in the bottom of this column, means transit station. This is about which station you commute to the destination by way of. This question all depends on what railway route you choose. However, if the number of the route between the station where you get on and the station where you get off is only one, you don’t need to write a transit point.

For example, if you get on a train at “Kawasaki” and get off at “Tokyo”, only Tokaido line run through the section between “Kawasaki” station and “Tokyo” station. Therefore, you don’t need to write a transit point.

Birth year and date

西暦 YYYY 年 MM 月 DD 日

Phone number

Wirte your phone number usable in Japan. This is needed when you lose a commuter pass on your way and a finder will contact you.

The term of validity

How many months would you like to use a commuter pass continuously? You can choose the validity term from selections of 1 month, 3 months and 6 months.

Write the start date and circle your preferable validity term.

“平成” is Japanese unique era name. “2019” can be expressed like “平成 (Heisei) 31 年 (Nen: year)”. However, the era name will change to “令和” from this May. In that case, you write “令和 (Reiwa) 1 年 (Nen: year)”. If a printing of era name is still “平成” even after this May, you should write “平成 (Heisei) 31 年 (Nen: year)”.

平成　YY 年 MM 月 DD 日.

In the right end bottom, you don’t need to write anything.

Application form (student commuter pass)

This is an application form of student commuter pass. How to fill this form is the same as an application form of the regular one above.

Name and Gender

Phone number

Date of birth

Payment method

Suica type commuter pass

ride section

The validity term

Things you need to write on the columns here about name and gender, date of birth and year, payment method, Sica type commuter pass, ride section, and the term of validity, are the same as what you write on those columns in the application form of the regular commuter pass above. So, I skip the explanation of these items.

Circle on of those which you apply to

Student commuter pass type has only two types, which is regular studetn commuter pass and bullet train commuter pass. In this column, you are asked about what type of school you go to and if you need bullet train commuter pass.

You just circle one of those which you apply to.

If your school is not categorized in any of these school types such as a Japanese language school or something, you need to make sure if your school may be designated by JR that gives permission to issue student commuter pass.

Name of school, your grade, and the nearest station from the school

The above space right next to “学校名” (Name of school), write the name of the school you go to.

In the bottom, wirte your grade in school and the nearest station from the school.

第　your grade 学年 最寄駅 ( the nearest station name 駅)

Note

JR East is still doing very amateurish business. It doesn’t suppose that non-Japanese residents buy a commuter pass at all although the non-Japanese population in Japan has been increasing year by year. It really doesn’t put serious effort to support foreigners to buy a commuter pass in English on its website. I don’t even think this is what one of the representative companies of one of the advanced countries in the world should do to people coming from other countries.

Anyway, filling the application form is the first hard step for you to overcome to buy a commuter pass at a JR ticket office. If you go to a ticket office without any preparation, a kind JR staff will assist you to fill the form from scratch at a counter.

However, when you think about other people who will stand in the queue right after you, you shouldn’t take much time to complete the application form with the staff in a ticket office. You should complete the form as much as you can by yourself. Don’t trouble others who may be in a hurry. Please learn how to fill the application form in reference to this article.