JR expiry

Hi there!

Which night train to you plan on boarding? The JR Pass will allow you to finish your ride without having to pay anything extra if you board the train before 23.59. What I am wondering about though, is which train you plan to take from Sapporo - Tokyo as there's no night train covered by the JR Pass that travels all the way.

Seat reservations are always covered by the JR Pass both for the Green pass as for the Ordinary pass, so you will never have to pay for them. Sleeper seats will require an extra fee however.

I hope this answers your questions!
-Daniel

For reference:

Here are the official rules for overnight travel on your last day of use:

If you travel overnight on the last day your pass is valid, the basic fare will be covered as far as you travel, including train changes, until you first exit a station. However, surcharges are only covered for the train on which you were riding past midnight on the final day your pass was valid.

From Japanrailpass.net.

Thank you for your quick response. The overnight train will only take us from Sapporo to Aomori and is called the express Hamanasu line. Then we will have to transfer to Shin-Aomori to travel to Tokyo by bullet. This part will be after midnight so I assume we would pay for the transfer and the bullet train. Is this correct?

We are also considering if travelling by budget airway might make more sense as it will be an hour worth of travel and will possibly be cheaper than Aomori to Tokyo transit. What do you think? Thank you

Your night train would be covered by the JR Pass but you would have to pay for the Shinkansen to Tokyo.

What I would suggest trying is to take a normal train to Aomori from Sapporo and take the Akebono night service to Tokyo. This way your full trip back to Tokyo is covered by the JR Pass. You could also look into airfares but ticket prices can change a lot so it is hard to advise about them.