Transportation Solution To Fit my Itinerary

Dear all,

I will be travelling with my wife and 2 years old daughter in the 4th of Nov to the 23th Tokyo Haneda Airport is our landing and KIX osaka airport is our last destination.

from 4th to 13th will be in Tokyo and will be doing some day trips (Nikko-Hakone-Yokohama-Kamakura)
then from 13th to 15th will stay in Takayama and do a day trip to Shirakawagu.
Finally from 15th to 23th will stay in Osaka and do some days trips (Hiroshima - Nara- Koyoto)

I was thinking of getting 14days Japan Rail Pass for me and my wife but I found it expensive and won't cover the buses and subways between suburbs!

So now I'm thinking to use the local trains and buses and when we arrive to Osaka we can use Kansai JR Kansai Wide Area Pass for one week!!

Does my plan for transpiration sounds right? Are we going to travel around easier and cheaper? Does JR Kansai wide Area Pass can let me travel to Hiroshima? Please give me a suggestions based in your experience that can fit properly in my itinerary and note that we're carrying a baby stroller and some heavy luggage.

Regards,

from 4th to 13th will be in Tokyo and will be doing some day trips (Nikko-Hakone-Yokohama-Kamakura)
then from 13th to 15th will stay in Takayama and do a day trip to Shirakawagu.
Finally from 15th to 23th will stay in Osaka and do some days trips (Hiroshima - Nara- Koyoto)

Why not get a 7-day national pass and include your day trip to Nikko, Tokyo to Takayama to Osaka, and the Hiroshima day trip. Combined those are probably Y50,000 cf the Y29,110 for the 7 day pass. (Say 11th to 17th.)

Yokohama/Kamakura doesn't need a pass, nor does Kyoto/Nara - they are close.

No the Kansai pass doesn't go to Hiroshima. That's in a whole different region. You need the JR Kansai Hiroshima Area Pass for that, which is 13500 JPY for 5 days.

Between Kyoto

For Takayama, the Bus is by far the cheapest. It's 5.5 hours and 6900 JPY from Tokyo-Takayama on the Bus, vs 14700 JPY and 4.5 hours on the Train. Only an hour more to save that much money seems worth it to me, plus you don't have to transfer trains with luggage. From Takayama to Osaka, it's the same story. 3.5 hours and 2-3 transfers by train, or 4.5 hours by direct bus for 10600 vs 4700 JPY. You'll want to use the bus to Shirakawago either way.

If you could condense ALL your big trips into 7 days as mentioned by the previous poster, I think the 7-day pass could pay off. But that seems a little hectic to me.

I'd probably do:

-Just Pay individual train fares around Tokyo/Yokahama/Kamakura. Inside Tokyo you can get a 3 day metro-only pass for 1500 JPY, which can save money if you take more than 3-4 subway trips a day.
-Nikko Pass (JR Pass doesn't cover Nikko buses)
-Hakone Free Pass (JR Pass only gets you to Odawara)
-Nohi Bus between Tokyo-Takayama-Shirakawago-Osaka (JR Pass wouldn't cover Shirakawago)
-5-day JR Kansai Hiroshima Area Pass for Hiroshima Trip and time it so last remaining day can be used for trip to airport. It opens up your day trip options immensely, as it covers a very broad area and the Sanyo bullet train.
-You can buy cheap 500 JPY daily metro Pass in Osaka and similar in Kyoto for trips inside the city.

I suggest something like this:

Nov 04 Arrival Tokyo HND (Staying Tokyo Nov 4-13) (Pasmo IC Card https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2359_003.html)
Nov 05 Explore Tokyo (Pasmo IC Card)
Nov 06 Explore Tokyo (Pasmo IC Card)
Nov 07 Day trip to Yokohama (Pasmo IC Card)
Nov 08 Day trip to Kamakura (Enoshima Kamakura Free Pass https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2358_003.html)
Nov 09 Day trip to Hakone (Hakone Free Pass https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2358_008.html)
Nov 10 Explore Tokyo (Pasmo IC Card)
1JRP Nov 11 Day Trip to Nikko (JRP)
2JRP Nov 12 Explore Tokyo (Pasmo IC Card, JRP for JR lines)
3JRP Nov 13 Train Tokyo to Takayama. Afternoon Arrival. Check out Old Town Takayama. (Staying Takayama Nov 13-15) (JRP)
4JRP Nov 14 Takayama Morning Markets. Afternoon Day trip on Shirakawago. (I recommend this tour http://tour.j-hoppers.com/shirakawago_tour.html)
5JRP Nov 15 Train Takayama to Osaka. Afternoon Arrival. (Staying Osaka Nov 15-23) (JRP, Pasmo IC Card)
6JRP Nov 16 Explore Osaka (Pasmo IC Card, JRP for JR lines)
7JRP Nov 17 Day trip to Hiroshima (JRP, Pasmo IC Card)
Nov 18 Explore Osaka (Pasmo IC Card)
Nov 19 Explore Osaka (Pasmo IC Card)
Nov 20 Day trip to Nara (Pasmo IC Card)
Nov 21 Day trip to Kyoto (Pasmo IC Card)
Nov 22 Explore Osaka (Pasmo IC Card)
Nov 23 Depart Osaka KIX (Pasmo IC Card or single tickets to KIX)

Activate Japan Rail Pass for Nov 11-Nov 17
Get Pasmo IC card at Haneda and preload as you need along the way. Good use for IC cards is also very good to use at vending machines and convince stores.

Kyoto, Nara, Yokohama and even Kamakura is pretty affordable train prices.

Hope this helps! Have fun!

Thanks guys youre posts are really helpful!

So i will consider buying one 7 days JR pass and active it in the middle of my itinerary.

Now some more questions came up!!

1. Can I buy JR Pass in the airport? Or better to buy it online and ship for $21 through Fedix?

2. Because I'm going to travel to Hiroshima, Koyoto and Nara from Osaka. What is the best area to stay in it? Umeda or Nemba? Not looking for nightlife only need an easy transporation access.

1) You need to get the Japan Rail Pass voucher in your country BEFORE you get to Japan. You will need to get this pretty soon. Then you exchange the pass at a JR Office either at the airport or a JR Station. You can then also tell them which day to start the pass and also make seat reservations.

2) I would probably stay closer to Osaka Station if you can but even places like near Namba is okay as long as your okay with about 15-20mins extra travel time to get to Osaka Station. My couple of times in Osaka was near Imamiya station.

Hope this helps!