What you get, and until when

The campaign key visual, from JR Central’s official site. ©nagano ©ナガノ / 2026「映画ちいかわ」製作委員会

The campaign is a tie-in with Chiikawa the Movie: Secret of Mermaid Island, and it runs from 8 July to 31 October 2026. Chiikawa is the enormously popular character series by the illustrator Nagano — if you have walked past a queue snaking out of a character shop in Tokyo Station lately, that was probably this.

The core of it is an AR photo frame (four designs) that only works inside a Tokaido Shinkansen carriage. Experience it, and you qualify for one physical freebie. The freebie changed partway through the campaign:

One detail worth pinning down: which item you get depends on the day you redeem, not the day you rode. JR Central spells this out with an example — a boarding proof obtained on 31 August and redeemed on 1 September gets you the tote bag.

What the tote actually looks like

Front and back of the phase-two mini tote, from JR Central’s official site (image for illustration). ©nagano ©ナガノ / 2026「映画ちいかわ」製作委員会

• Size: roughly 180mm tall × 250mm wide, with an 80mm gusset. Enough for a wallet, phone and water bottle — a short-errand bag rather than a day bag.
• Colours: cream and navy, with navy handles and base.
• Front: three characters in JR Central conductor uniforms standing in front of a shinkansen, under the words “HAVE A NICE TRIP!”
• Back: the JR Central × Chiikawa logo and a small island illustration.

Read this first: Japanese-only site, Japanese phone number

This is the part most English-language write-ups skip, and it is the most likely reason you personally will not be able to take part.

• You need a phone number that can receive SMS. The campaign site states plainly that “a phone number capable of SMS authentication is required for account registration.” If you are on a data-only SIM with no SMS, sort that out before you travel.
• Both sites are in Japanese only. There is no English toggle on the campaign site or the speed-test page. Browser translation handles the sign-up flow well enough, but be aware you will be reading machine-translated terms as you go.
• Location permission is mandatory. The whole thing is gated on your phone reporting shinkansen-level speed, so a device that cannot report GPS location is out.
• Redemption is done in person, with staff. You show a live screen on your phone and tap through it together — no screenshots, and nobody can collect on your behalf.

How to get one, in four steps

There is nothing to apply for in advance, and you never have to show your ticket to anyone. It all happens on your own phone.

1. 1Ride the Tokaido Shinkansen during the campaign periodOnly the Tokaido Shinkansen counts. Local JR lines and other companies’ shinkansen do not.
2. 2Open the campaign site on board and register an accountRegistration is free but needs an SMS-capable phone number. One account per person.
3. 3Run the speed test and answer the surveyTap 「速度測定を開始！」 and the site uses your location to check you have reached a certain speed. Allow location access in the browser first.
4. 4Enjoy the AR frame, get your boarding proof, show it at a pickup pointAt any of the three locations, tap through the redemption screen with a member of staff and walk away with the bag.

Speed-test page (official)

The boarding-proof rules that catch people out

Almost everyone who misses out on the bag does so because of one of these four rules rather than the speed test itself.

• It expires at 23:59 the following day. The one exception is the final day, 31 October, when it is valid only that same day. In practice, you redeem either on the day you ride or the day after.
• One per person per day, and you cannot stockpile them. Generating a new boarding proof voids the previous one, so riding several times and collecting a pile of bags at the end is not possible by design.
• Screenshots are not accepted. Your phone has to be online so the redemption screen can be operated live with staff.
• Redemption is also one per person per day, with no proxy collection. Travelling as a family means each person registers on their own phone and runs their own speed test on board.

Only three pickup points in the country

This is the constraint that actually shapes your itinerary. Note too that the redemption hours are not the same as the shop’s opening hours, so arriving shortly before closing may not be enough.

The cheapest way to qualify

The official condition is simply that you ride the Tokaido Shinkansen and are detected at a certain speed. There is no minimum distance, which means the cheapest short hop that reliably gets up to speed is, in theory, the cheapest way in.

In Kansai: Kyoto to Shin-Osaka

This section has a discounted tokutei tokkyū limited-express charge, which makes an unreserved seat unusually cheap:

It is under fifteen minutes, but the train picks up speed soon after leaving Shin-Osaka. Since the Osaka pickup point at HEP FIVE is walkable from Osaka Station, riding one stop and doubling back to redeem in Umeda is the tightest loop available in Kansai.

Two things to watch in Kanto and Chubu

• Tokyo to Shin-Yokohama may not register. The official site warns of “sections where access is not possible, such as between Tokyo and Shin-Yokohama, for example when the train does not reach a certain speed.” Betting a short Tokyo-area hop on it is a poor gamble.
• The Shizuoka stretch is full of tunnels and coverage is patchy. Start the measurement before you hit the hills, or wait until the view opens up and your signal is stable.

Redeeming in Nagoya knocks ¥200 off admission

Admission to the SCMAGLEV and Railway Park is ¥1,200 for adults, ¥500 for school-age children and ¥200 for children aged three and over. There is a discount for EX service members (Express Reservation or Smart EX): if you travelled to Nagoya Station on an EX product either the same day or the day before, showing your EX usage slip at the admission reception takes ¥200 off for adults and ¥100 off for children. If you are booking through EX anyway, there is no reason to skip it.

Ten ways this goes wrong

Drawn from the official notes and from what people actually report tripping over. The higher up the list, the more likely it is to waste an entire trip.

Clawing back the cost of the trip

The tote is free; the ticket, the hotel and the data are not. Since you are spending the money anyway, it is worth spending it through the right door.

Book with EX, pay with a card that gives something back

• Book through Express Reservation or Smart EX. Beyond the museum discount above, you skip the ticket window and changes are painless.
• Pay with a high-rate card. EX charges a registered card, so those points are pure upside. A Tokaido round trip often clears ¥10,000, and the gap between 1% and 0.5% adds up over a year of travel.

If you have not settled on a daily card yet, Rakuten Card is the easiest starting point for residents: no annual fee, 1% back as standard, and higher multipliers on travel-adjacent spending like Rakuten Travel. Conditions and the application route are in our Rakuten Card guide.

📖 Read Guide

Rakuten Card Get 6,000pts! Essential card for Rakuten users

Staying the night? Don’t open the booking site first

If the trip involves a night in Tokyo, Nagoya or Osaka, the order you do things in matters:

• Go through a cashback point site before you book. For the same room at the same price, clicking through from a point site first returns a few percent. Book directly and you get nothing — it is the single most common thing people leave on the table. Our beginner’s guide to Japanese point sites covers how it works.
• If you already stay at Marriott properties regularly, the referral bonus on the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Premium is worth several free nights. That said, the annual fee is steep and the bonus requires real spending, so it only pays off for people who were staying at Marriott anyway. The break-even reasoning is in our Marriott Amex referral write-up.

You will be using your own data

As noted, onboard Wi-Fi is optional and data is on you. The speed test, survey and AR frame together will make a dent. If you were already thinking about switching carriers, Rakuten Mobile has an employee-referral route with better terms than the standard referral, and it also covers second lines and re-contracts after cancelling. Details are in our Rakuten Mobile employee referral guide.

Other things happening along the line

Osaka: a five-metre Chiikawa balloon at KITTE Osaka

KITTE Osaka, next to Osaka Station, is hosting a giant Chiikawa balloon around five metres tall until 31 October. Looking at it costs nothing. There is also a prize draw attached: post your own photo of the balloon on X with the hashtag #JR東海巨大ちいかわキャンペーン, submit the post URL through the official form, and you are entered to win one of 120 original card cases each month (480 in total). Entries run from 8 July at 11:00 to 31 October at 23:59; you may enter repeatedly but can only win once, and prizes ship within Japan only.

Nagoya: Chiikawa hidden in the railway diorama

The museum’s huge model railway diorama has Chiikawa characters tucked into it, and there are collaboration photo spots around the building. If you are going there to redeem anyway and have children in tow, going inside is the obvious move — with the EX member discount above.

Tokyo: where to go after you redeem

Chiikawa Land sits in Tokyo Character Street, in the basement on the Yaesu north side of Tokyo Station, so the merchandise is right there once you have your bag. The same film also has a real-life escape game running on the Tokyo Metro — how it plays and which ticket to buy is covered in our guide to the Tokyo Metro escape game.

Atami is on the Tokaido Shinkansen too, incidentally. If you want to stretch the trip into an onsen weekend, the coupon release dates for the Ito hot spring accommodation subsidy are worth checking alongside.

A word on resale

The official terms are blunt: “Resale and transfer of the gift are strictly prohibited.”

On 8 September 2026 it was reported that a single account on a Japanese flea-market site had listed a large number of these tote bags — a quantity that, under a one-per-person-per-day rule, could not plausibly have been collected within the period. The account was suspended and JR Central said it was checking the facts.

What that means for you is mostly a stock question: supply may run dry earlier than the calendar suggests, so move sooner rather than later if you want one. And there is no reason to pay for one second-hand. It is a gift that anyone willing to buy a ticket could have collected, and the organiser has already said transfers are not allowed.

FAQ

Do I need a Japanese phone number?

You need a number that can receive SMS, because account registration uses SMS authentication. The official site does not say the number must be Japanese, but a data-only SIM with no SMS capability will not get you through registration. Sort this out before the trip rather than on the platform.

Is there an English version of the campaign site?

No. Both the campaign site and the speed-test page are Japanese-only, with no language switcher. Browser translation works well enough to get through registration and the survey, but you will be reading a machine translation of the terms rather than an official English version.

Does it matter which train or seat class I take?

The official conditions say nothing about train type or seat class — Nozomi, Hikari and Kodama are all fine, as are unreserved seats and Green Cars. What matters is that you are on the Tokaido Shinkansen and your phone registers a certain speed. The site does warn that some sections, such as Tokyo to Shin-Yokohama, may not reach it.

Can one person collect bags for the whole family?

No. It is one account per person, one boarding proof per person per day, and proxy collection is refused. Everyone who wants a bag has to register on their own phone and run the speed test themselves during the ride.

I can’t get to a pickup point on the day I travel. Is the next day too late?

The next day is fine. A boarding proof is valid until 23:59 the following day, with the single exception of 31 October, which is same-day only. One caution: generating a new boarding proof voids the old one, so don’t run the speed test again on a day when you are planning to redeem yesterday’s.

Is there still stock?

The giveaway runs until stock is gone. Sell-outs are announced on JR Central’s tourism X account, @JRC_kanko, though the company notes there can be a delay between running out and posting. Check that account and the individual venues before you set off.