Anyone done the Willer Bus Pass thing in Japan? Experiences? http://willerexpress.com/st/3/en/pc/buspass/ Seems like a much more reasonable cost then the JR Pass (if you're going to limited destinations) and if you do the overnight bus thing, you're saving on accommodations.
WILLEREXPRESS.COM
Japan Bus Pass / Bus, Night Bus, Booking in Japan / WILLER EXPRESS
Travel all over Japan on the highway bus!!

The rail pass is an excellent deal. It's usually going to be much better to spend 1-2hrs on a high-speed train than to try getting a good night of sleep on a bus. Japan isn't really a Mecca for budget/backpacker-style travelling. ?

Personally I wouldn't try to do overnight buses 2 days in a row unless your productivity depended on it (I speak from experience)

Meh I am totally fine on overnight buses - would agree though, would never do 2 in a row. I just can't justify $400+ for a few days of travel, when I could pick up the same travel for less then half the price. The buses look fine to sleep on, they have wide seats, reclining chiars and little hoods.

Kailey Erin
I did willer buses when I was in Japan and was pretty happy with the experience. They run on time and are quiet and I was comfortable and pretty well rested when I arrived. The only thing is that if you go for the cheapest ticket you get much less space (do-able) except there is no underneath baggage storage for you with that option and no under seat or overhead storage in the bus. All you have is a very small space allocated to everyone in the same ticket class near your seats. After that is full you have to hold it, which can be a pain for long trips and big bags. Also they are much cheaper if you buy the tickets at a gas station more than 5 day before departure.

Buses in the japan are good and comfy good for overnight trips

I did the Willer Bus Express overnight last month after a long flight. Having not slept for 30 hours while waiting for the Willer Bus was hard, however, it made sleeping on the bus so much easier. The bus was VERY comfortable as compared to the buses here because the seats recline a lot. They also had foot rests and curtains which isolates you from others. I thought this would be the better way to go since it helped me save on a night stay in Tokyo and the JR was more expensive. I justified not getting the JR pass because we were only in Japan for 5.5 days and not ALL the trains uses JR passes. I advise you check the Willer website to see if you can get any deals; I had booked the students rate even though I had an expired student card and they didn't check.
The entire bus trip was in Japanese though so I had to turn on GPS near the end of the trip to determine if i was at the correct drop off location. The bus has regular pit stops for rest rooms since there is none on board. Because I was on the overnight bus, all the blinds were closed and they advise that we all are quiet. Our seats did not have the little hood but I think that is dependent on which seats you book. Overall, I thought it was worth it and quite comfortable.

^ Thanks this is the kind of info I was looking for. I saw that some of the buses dont come with bathrooms on board (but most do) -- I think I would def have to make sure I booked one with haha... You can do 3 days of travel for 1000yen or 5 days for 1500yen. So 3 days of travel, $100cdn approx - if you go from tokyo - kyoto - osaka - tokyo, you save 2 nights on hotels. So $100 plus save 2 nights on hotels (plus $40 return ticket to narita) vs $300-500 for travel on trains. The reason I dont like the JR pass is that it is consecutive days of travel. So say you want to use your 7 day travel card starting with your trip from narita, that means you then must complete the rest of your travel in 7 days (and still pay for you trip back to narita) or you are stuck paying $200 more for the 14 day.

Kat
I just cant justify $500 for 2 weeks and 3 places when we went to 10 different destinations in Europe over a month for the same price haha. Our flights to Japan were also the same price as the JR pass haha.

dec 24 oneway tokyo to kyoto is 108 $

Winnie Lai
Eric