Two stations with very similar names —KEIHAN Fushimi Inari Station and JR Inari Station.
I commute to work from Fushimi Inari Station. There are a lot of tourists among the station's users. Sometimes they can't get through the automatic ticket gates and get stuck at the bars, looking confused. The error announcement in Japanese, so they don't seem to understand it.
There are basically three types of errors.
- Cases where the pass balance is insufficient and needs to be recharged.
- Cases where the previous trip hasn't been settled yet (you might have left last time without touching your pass. In that case, you need to call a station staff and explain the situation).
- Cases where you're trying to use a ticket or pass that can't be used on that train line.
There are a lot of stations in Japan with very similar names. And in this Fushimi Inari area, there are also two stations like this.
- Fushimi Inari Station on the Keihan Railway, a private railway.
- Inari Station on JR (Japan Railways), which is mostly public.
These two have different tickets and different destinations. If you're visiting as a tourist and plan to use one of them, make sure to pay attention to the differences between the two.
Inari Station on JR (Japan Railway), which is almost a public railway, is right in front of the main gate of Fushimi Inari Shrine. If you take a southbound train from platform 2, the terminal is Nara Station. If you take a northbound train from platform 1, the terminal is Kyoto Station.
Fushimi Inari Station on Keihan Railway , a private line. From there, if you take a southbound train from platform 2, the terminal is Osaka(Nakanoshima Station). If you take a northbound train from platform 1, the terminal is Demachiyanagi Station in northern Kyoto city. You can't go to Kyoto Station.
So, if you're going between Kyoto Station and Fushimi Inari Shrine, or between Nara and Fushimi Inari Shrine, you'll use JR. On the other hand, if you're going between Osaka and Fushimi Inari Shrine, or between the Gion area and Fushimi Inari Shrine, you'll use the Keihan Railway.
Let's check the information printed on the ticket. Does it say JR, or does it say KEIHAN? If you got the ticket in advance through a travel agency or a friend, be careful not to mix up the station you should board at or your destination.
There's a simple way to solve this problem. It's to get a pass that works at both stations. If you use a pass called ICOCA, you can use it on KEIHAN and JR. You can even use it on Kyoto city buses. It covers the main transportation in Kyoto, Osaka, Nara, and nearby cities. You can buy it at the ticket machine or ticket counters of major stations.
When you tap it, the remaining balance should show on the automatic ticket gate. Even if the balance isn't enough, you can recharge it on the ticket machine and station platform.
Lastly, when taking limited express or rapid trains, make sure to check if the train stops at the station you want to go to. Sometimes it might pass through even if it's going in the right direction.