is it worth buying the JR Pass?

I will be travelling with my two teenage kids, a few days in Tokyo and then a few days in Kyoto and back to Tokyo. Is it worth buying the JR Pass?

A 7-day JR Pass comes close to paying off with a round-trip between Tokyo and Kyoto, but does not fully pay off. The convenience may be worth the extra money. You could also consider discount shinkansen vouchers from Japanican (Google).

The JRP will be more expensive. Unless you are doing some other travel within the seven day period (like a Hiroshima day trip), just get single tickets.

For a simple round-trip to Kyoto, the JRP is less convenient because you have to order the voucher, do the exchange and also get tickets. Doing single tickets you can bypass that and just use a ticket machine.

If you use the JR Pass for a ride on Narita Express to Narita airport it will probably pay off. But again We are talking about less than JPY 1,000 saving here. so it is convenience vs 1,000 yen saving, like post above mentioned. The only time you can use JR pass in Kyoto is maybe when you go to Arashiyama and Fushimi Inari.