Rail Pass Question

Hey everyone,

So I finally have most of my trip set (and we've decided to skip RTW and go to the UK in late August) so now I am debating passes.

The current plan is:

Arrive in Itami 18:00 on a Tues and take the shuttle bus to Kyoto
Tues-Sat nights in Kyoto
Sat start up a 5 day Kintetsu Pass (3600 yen for 5 days or 720 yen a day) and visit Nara
Sun go to the hydrangea festival and then down to Sakurai via Kintetsu and then back to Osaka for dinner, we're traveling with a violin this time which complicates things.
Sun-Tues nights stay in Sakurai and do day trips to Muroji, Akame Falls, Hadesera, do the Yamanobe no Michi walk, anything else that catches our interest.. (I figure the pass will cover any travel on Kintetsu in the area)
Wed do whatever we are still wanting to do in the Sakurai area and then take Kintetsu to Nagoya.

And here is where the Pass question comes in...

So our options are:

Wed night Nagoya because that is the furthest we can go with the Kintetsu Pass, Thurs start a 7 day Pass and do a morning train from Nagoya to Tokyo, with Thurs-Sat nights in Tokyo Fri we're doing TDR, Sat seeing a friend, Sun either seeing a friend, shopping or go to Licca Castle 1 hour out from Koriyama (night either in Sendai or Morioka)
Monday we're going to get a rental car in either Morioka or Ichinoseki, spend Mon and Tues nights in Hanamaki onsen. If we've not done Licca Castle hit it Wed on our way back to Tokyo, or if we have sightsee elsewhere in Tohoku before spending Wed night in Tokyo, and Thurs leave Japan. A 7 day pass would cover Thurs-Wed and our departure day we're on an early flight from Haneda, so we don't need any sort of pass, just our Suicas.

But we could also:

Pay out of pocket for a train from Nagoya to Tokyo, and then get a JR East Tohoku Pass. We need something to cover JR East because at the very least we're doing a roundtrip from Tokyo to Ichinoseki which is ~13,000 yen one way. I don't want to rent a car from Koriyama (which is still 8000 yen each way by shinkansen) because that's 3 hours to get to Ichinoseki post Licca Castle vs. 70 minutes by train.

The plus of a full pass is it covers everything until my departure day while in Tokyo/JR East and costs 29,100 (I'm just using my price since my daughter's will be 1/2 whatever mine is.)

The plus of out of pocket and a JR East pass is I wouldn't need to stay over Nagoya on Wed and could go straight to Tokyo and can use a Nozomi which is a lot more often than a Hikari. I'm getting 10,890+19,000 or 29890, so it's a little bit more, but negates needing to overnight in Nagoya Wednesday night. (Cause if we make it to Nagoya by 18:00 there are lots of trains to Tokyo arriving by 20:00)

Which do all of you think makes more sense?

Disclaimers, this is my daughter's 4th trip, my I don't know what number. We're not quite as interested in itinerary help unless you have suggestions of absolutely amazing places in northern Tohoku we might want to consider.

Thanks in advance. :)

Hi rkold,

Which do all of you think makes more sense?

I would choose Nozomi to Tokyo and then JR East Pass (Tohoku Area).

Hi @Frog1954,

After talking it out with a few people here, I think that is what I want to do. If we finish early in Sakurai and Nabari we can head to Nagoya earlier and we can easily be in Tokyo by 20:00. It's a little more than 1/2 way through our trip so my daughter should be better about being up at 20:00. It also makes our Tokyo half easier because we can do TDR on Thurs, day trip to Licca Castle on Fri (and so not have bags later one), can see my friend or do what we would like Sat and Sun and then start Mon in Tohoku and on Wed not be in a rush to leave Hanamaki to go to Licca Castle, we just need to head back to Tokyo eventually for last minute shopping, but I just won't have as much stuff I am dragging on trains.

Thank you! :D