still confused about rail passes...

We are a family of three adults and one 8 year old travelling in Japan in November for 16 days. We arrive into and leave from Tokyo and want to visit Kyoto of course, and perhaps as far as Hiroshima in that direction and a few places out from Tokyo - Disneyland, Nikko, Hakone, Matsumoto and even Takayama.
I am trying to work out whether we it would be cost effective to buy the JR pass this time or whether there are any other passes that would be good for us to use. a few years ago we got a fabulous one valid for 3 non-consecutive days out of 5 days which we used around Nagano, Matsumoto and back to Tokyo.
Is there somewhere I can get a clear outline of the costs of various passes and exactly what they cover ie what trains are included???

This should be a good starting point:

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2357.html

Seeing that you are doing Tokyo and Nikko then Kyoto/Osaka - Hiroshima - back to TOkyo, if you do all that within a 14-day period, a 14-day Japan Rail Pass might pay off.

A 14 day rail pass would potentially pay itself off. But you really need some form of planned itinerary to make a concrete decision.

A 14 day pass is 46,XXX yen. Full price Tokyo to Shin-Osaka is 14,XXX yen and Shin-Osaka to Hiroshima is 10,XXX yen. So 48,XXX full price tickets (plus other JR travels).

But you can get one way Tokyo to Osaka tickets for 10,XXX yen from Platt Kodama. And a Kansai-Hiroshima 5 day pass for 13,500 yen. Making it 33,500 yen for you long distance travel. Plus using a suica card or regional pass for Kyoto/Tokyo.

But if you do add in Takayama etc, then you start calculating again. But most likely would go back to the 14 day JR pass if you include Takayama.

Ahhhh so much to think about - thank you - I'll try to get a clearer itinerary and ask again. Now I have to go and find out what Platt Kodama is... yikes.

#1 Try to check all the possible lines you are gonna take during your stay @ http://www.hyperdia.com/ and add them together

#2 14-day pass pays for itself if you do TKY -KYO (and back) and add a few other Shinkansen/Local rides (KYO - OSA, Hiroshima, NARA,and it paid for itself at Hiroshima time). Plus you can use it on Tokyo Yamanote line (1ride 160Y x#rides), Miyajima Ferry, Osaka LoopLine, Yamanote @TKY, Nex from/to Narita,

#3 If weather is bad in PlaceA... you can just hop on Shinkansen and be miles away in under 3 hours cross-region

#4 You're leaving from Tokyo. Why not leave Tokyo for the end of the journey and use the 14 days to travel Japan and spend days #15-#16 in TKY just wandering around and enjoying the city (Tokyo Government building observation deck at night is great!)

When you do your trip planning and pricing, you also need to think about which days you're going to do which journeys on. Then you'll see whether a pass pays off (and you might realise that shifting a journey by a day or so will make a lot of difference in cost).