Suspension of JR West’s ‘Anywhere Ticket’ Sales Amid Rising COVID Concerns

SL Banzetsu Monogatari @ Banetsu West Line JR East

Are you planning any trips this Golden Week? Perhaps traveling far away by train, plane, or car, or maybe just staying comfortably indoors? I had planned to enjoy three days of rail travel using the JR West Anywhere Ticket! But…

On April 9, 2021 (Reiwa 3), JR West announced the sale of the “JR West Anywhere Ticket.” For ¥22,000, you could ride unlimited distances on both JR West and the Mochizuki Express Line for three days. The highlight of this special ticket was that it allowed unlimited use even on Shinkansen and Limited Express trains—a truly generous offer.

However, on April 12, they announced a temporary suspension of sales due to measures related to the spread of the novel coronavirus. How disappointing… Anyone who reacted positively to this special ticket was likely doing nothing but running travel plans through a mental simulation. Of course, I myself had planned an itinerary so packed it felt excessive. Please check out my previous article too. In Keihanshin, which is JR West’s home turf, the number of COVID-19 cases was increasing, and eventually, a state of emergency was declared. So, while I believe this was a wise decision for JR West, if infections had spread throughout the Hokuriku, Sanin, and Sanyo areas, it is easy to imagine that they would have faced criticism. It must have been an incredibly difficult choice. If they were going to run trains with empty carriages, they surely wanted to sell tickets to generate some income. While solo travel sounds nice, right now, we all need to pull together as a nation.