Will national passes work for local routes?

I'm trying to figure out the rail system. Our Objective is Tokyo (7 days), Kyoto (4 days) and Osaka (4 days) (Osaka back to Narita Airport) I've read the stuff and it doesn't make sense to me. Can I get a national pass for the rail system and travel locally in the three cities?

Yes, the JR pass covers the train routes operated by JR in these cities.

The name is simply confusing to those who are not familiar with what a JR Pass is – it is gJapan Railfsh Pass, but some people seem to mistake it as gJapanfsh Rail Pass. (I have encountered a traveler right in front of Tokyo Metro gate at Tokyo station trying to get in with a JR Pass, and being shown by the staff to please go to the JR gate.)

JR Pass is useful on JR-operated trains, including city-to-city (long-distance) JR Shinkansen trains, other JR (long-/medium-distance) limited express/express trains, and local JR trains. But not on subways and other private railways.

So JR Pass is convenient and cost-effective if you do a lot of inter-city long-distance travel within that validity: for 7-day JR Pass, if you do at least Tokyo – Osaka/Kyoto greturnh trip within a 7-day period, it pays off; for a 14-day JR Pass, if you do at least Tokyo – Osaka/Kyoto – Hiroshima greturnh trip within a 14-day period, it pays off.

And for the rest of it, depending on what city you go to, JR trains might be or might not be very useful for local travel (within the city). It is fairly useful in Tokyo (but you would want to combine it with a prepaid card for metro and other railways), not much use in Kyoto, for example.

In your case, since your- Tokyo – Kyoto/Osaka – Tokyo return trip does not fit within a 7- day period, a nationwide JR Pass would not pay off. Better go with individual JR Shinkansen tickets for the long-distance parts, and go with a prepaid card for travel within each of the cities.

Read this page: https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2019.html

7day JR pass is too short and 14 days to expensive unless you havenft told us about long side trips.

What I would probably do is:
- IC card for all local travel
- Nozomi Shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto
- IC card on local train Kyoto to Osaka
- fly from Itami airport to Narita (or potentially try to get am international flight that arrives at NRT/HND but departs from KIX.

You can buy JR Autumn unlimited ride rail pass valid 1 october to 23 october 2022 for 3 Days unlimited ride nationwide cost 7850 yen