14/21D JR pass? Itinerary Advice/Suggestions

Hi everyone!

A couple of friends and I are planning our first Japan trip for 3 weeks from 26 October - 15 November. We will be arriving in Tokyo and departing from Osaka. Being students, we are on a budget but if we must spend, we are more than willing to :)

Please advice us on the best way to get around Japan in the most affordable way. We have been researching but are still confused with the many passes available. Especially with regards to the need to purchase a 14 or 21 days JR pass.

Here is a sample of our itinerary:-

26/10: Arrival in Narita airport, Tokyo, staying at Asakusa
27/10: Chuo
28/10: Travelling to Nikko - 1 night (purchasing Nikko bus pass as we are mainly visiting Lake Chuzenji & Kegon Falls)
29/10: Travelling back to Tokyo
30/10: Harajuku
31/10: Shinjuku
01/11: Koenji
02/11: Travelling to Fuji Five Lakes or Hakone - 1 night
03/11: Travelling to Hiroshima - 1 night
04/11: Travelling to Kyoto
05/11: Explore Kyoto
06/11: Explore Kyoto
07/11: Travelling to Naoshima - 1 night
08/11: Travelling to Kyoto
09/11: Nara Day trip
10/11: Arashiyama Day trip
11/11: Minoo Park Day trip
12/11: Travelling to Osaka
13/11: Universal studios
14/11: Explore Osaka
15/11: Departure from Osaka Airport

Any suggestions or advice (the detailed, the better) in terms of transportation or activities would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your time!

Neither. Use a 7 day pass in the middle to cover the long distance travel. Use Google maps or hyperdia.com to calculate costs. You need to have journeys tallying more than the cost of the pass or it's a waste of money.

Agree with the above - since you're going to Hiroshima you can make a 7 day pass pay off, but the 14 or 21 day pass isn't worth it. A 7 day pass could be used Nov 2-8. For Nikko, you can use a Tobu Nikko Free Pass.
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2358_002.html

On Nov 4, while on the way back from Hiroshima, you could also stop and see Himeji, which has Japan's best castle.

Himeji - one of Japans castles, may not be the best. There are some other pretty impressive and well built/maintained examples across the country. They could also stop at Okayama for their castle and avoid the crowds.

(There are some 25,000 registered castle sites across the country, but only a few considered original (12) including Hiemji.)

Thank you for the replies!

We've edited the trip and finalized the transportation within Tokyo (sooooo much cheaper).

We are considering your advice on activating the 7 day pass on the day we leave for Kawaguchiko.

The updated and rough itinerary for the 7 days pass is below:-

02/11: Kawaguchiko (day trip) from Tokyo and then to Osaka
03/11: Osaka
04/11: Universal Studios
05/11: Naoshima - 1 night
06/11: Kyoto
07/11: Hiroshima day trip
08/11: Kyoto

With regards to traveling to Naoshima, we understand that we'd have to change to a local train from Okayama to reach Uno. Will the ride to Okayama be covered under the pass? What about the ferry ride from Uno port to Naoshima?

Himeji is worth a day trip. It's got more than the castle too, as you can see on this website.
Arashiyama is part of Kyoto and in a three day trip would be one of those days but having more then three days in Kyoto is a good idea.
Mino-o is best visited from Osaka as the only train line to Mino-o is from the south (ie the Osaka side of Mino-o). You can go, see it and return to Osaka in 3 hours and have the rest of the day in the city.
Osaka to Kyoto is 30 minutes on the train, 580 Yen.
Shinjuku doesn't need a full day, though it is good at night as well.
Harajuku can probably be done in half a day so you could do Shinjuku and Harajuku on the same day. That would leave another day for seeing other parts of Tokyo not currently in your itinerary.
Nikko is about 2 hours from Tokyo if you use the shinkansen so you could return in the evening and spend two days in Nikko. There is plenty to do there.
Regards, Richard

Thanks Richard!

Ye, definitely will make plans to drop by the places mentioned above :)

Currently for Tokyo, we've edited it and the plans are to visit the following:-

27/10: Tsukiji / Tsukishima / Ikebukuro
28/10: Nikko - 1 night (All Nikko pass as we're interested in visiting the Okunikko area)
29/10: Back to tokyo
30/10: Harajuku / Shibuya
31/10: Daikanyama / Koenji
01/11: Shinjuku

We'll be activating the 7 day pass from 02/11 - 08/11 as mentioned above. Just a little lost with regards to the usage of the pass to Naoshima as mentioned above.

For the remaining of the trip, we're most probably exploring the kansai region. No concrete plans yet but the later part so we're wondering if Kyushu or anywhere else is worth exploring?