Rail delay

Japan — JR delay certificates (遅延証明書) and limited express-charge refunds

NationalJPUnverified — check before relying on it

Japan

Rule id: rail.jp
Version: 1.0.0
In force from: January 1, 2000
Last read against its sources: August 5, 2026
Countries bound: Japan

Japan

In plain language

What this regime says.

Japan supplements (or, outside the EU, replaces) the EU rail passenger rights floor with JR delay certificates (遅延証明書) and limited express-charge refunds. This module names the scheme and the regulator and lists exactly which figures to go and check, because we could not verify them in this review cycle.

Who is covered

Rail passengers on services in Japan.

What you get

A delay certificate, and — for a substantially delayed limited express or Shinkansen — a refund of the express surcharge. Not general compensation.

Where claims go wrong

Spending an afternoon looking for a compensation scheme that does not exist.
Not realising the express surcharge is refundable on a badly delayed 特急 or Shinkansen.

Authority

Every citation,
with its pinpoint.

A claim that cites “EU law” gets filed. A claim that cites Article 7(1)(c) gets answered. These are the exact coordinates this entry rests on.

Carriers’ published conditions of carriage (運送約款)Carriers’ published conditions of carriage (運送約款)URL verified 2026-08-05

Sources

Where a figure is indexed, converted or published by a regulator rather than fixed in the instrument, the provenance is recorded separately. Anything marked as a modelled estimate is exactly that — a model, not a statutory number.

No separate source is recorded: every figure in this entry comes from the cited instrument itself.

What it imposes

Clocks, defences and the ladder.

A rule module builds these while it evaluates, because a limitation period depends on which forum is open to you. What follows is the structure this regime produces — deliberately with no dates and no figures, because those belong to your facts rather than to the law.

What it entitles you to, beyond money

A claim under JR delay certificates (遅延証明書) and limited express-charge refundsYou have a route. We are not stating what it pays, because we have not verified this network’s figures.

What the other side will say

Each of these is a refusal this regime lets a counterparty attempt, paired with the answer to it. Reading them before you write is worth more than any amount of polish on the letter itself.

"The delay was caused by Network Rail / the infrastructure manager / a third party"

high likelihood

The operator points at signalling failure, a broken-down freight train, trespass or someone else’s infrastructure and says the delay was not their doing.

What answers it

Under the contractual UK Delay Repay schemes, cause is irrelevant to your entitlement: the schemes pay on the delay, whoever caused it, and the operator recovers internally from the infrastructure manager. Under Regulation (EU) 2021/782 the railway undertaking is the passenger’s counterparty and only a genuinely exceptional, unavoidable circumstance excuses it — and a staff strike at the railway itself is expressly not one.

"Here is a voucher"

high likelihood

The operator settles in rail travel vouchers or credit rather than money, often at a discount to what is owed.

What answers it

You are entitled to be paid in money. UK operators must offer at least one monetary method — bank transfer, cheque or refund to the original card — and Regulation (EU) 2021/782 allows vouchers only where the passenger accepts them, meaning you can simply decline and ask for cash. A voucher is worth less than its face value to you and more than its face value to them, which is why it is offered first.

Where to take it next

Claim under JR delay certificates (遅延証明書) and limited express-charge refundsClaim directly with the operator, quoting the service, the booked and actual arrival times and your ticket reference. Keep the ticket and the booking confirmation.Claim direct
Ask for a written decision with reasonsIf the claim is refused, ask for the decision in writing with the reason and the delay figure the operator is working from. Regulators and ombudsmen will not act without it, and operators sometimes reverse the decision rather than write it down.Internal appeal
Complain to Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT)Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) handles passenger complaints about rail services in this country.Regulatorofficial page

Documents

What this regime can produce.

Every one of these is a document you send yourself, in your own name. Duesday never writes to anybody on your behalf and is never anyone’s agent.

Rail — delay compensation claimrail.delay-repay

The same claim type elsewhere

Other rights in the same countries

Japan — Act on Specified Commercial Transactions and the final-confirmation-screen rulesJPNational — Japan特定商取引に関する法律 (Act on Specified Commercial Transactions), Act No. 57 of 1976Subscriptions Japan — dormant deposits (Act No. 101 of 2016, in force 1 January 2018)JPNational — JapanAct on Utilization of Funds Related to Dormant Deposits to Promote Public Interest Activities by the Private Sector (Act No. 101 of 2016)Unclaimed property Japan — filed conditions of carriage, the Consumer Contract Act and the Montreal ConventionJPNational — Japan航空法第106条 (Civil Aeronautics Act, Art. 106 — filed conditions of carriage)Flight disruption Japan — Installment Sales Act connection of defences and Specified Commercial Transactions ActJPNational — Japan割賦販売法第30条の4 (Installment Sales Act, art. 30-4)Card and bank billing Japan — Japan PostJPNational — JapanPostal Act (Act No. 165 of 1947) and Japan Post's service termsParcel delay Japan — tax-inclusive price display and misleading representationsJPNational — JapanAct against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations (Act No. 134 of 1962), art. 5Hidden fees Japan — the national fee schedule and the high-cost medical expense benefitJPNational — JapanHealth Insurance Act (健康保険法) and the National Health Insurance Act (国民健康保険法)Medical billing Japan — two-stage collective consumer redressJPNational — JapanAct on Special Provisions of Civil Procedure for Collective Recovery of Property Damage Incurred by Consumers (Act No. 96 of 2013)Class actions

Does this one reach your facts?

The engine runs every regime that could apply at once and reconciles them, rather than making you guess which page to read.

Run your facts Back to the catalogue

Not a law firm. Not legal advice. You send it yourself. This page describes a law; it is not advice about your situation and no outcome is promised.