JR West all area for Imabari to Kanazawa?

HI, trying to decide between general JR and 7 day JR West All areas pass so:

Trips:
1. Kyoto to Osaka and back to Kyoto
2.Kyoto to Hiroshima return and
3. Kyoto to Onomichi; and lastly
4. Imabari to Kanazawa

Preferring the JR West All area pass because of Nozomi but concerned because I can't see Imabari on their detailed map so not sure it's covered by the Jr West All area pass.

Second question also please if you know, if I buy the Klook ticket now when my daughter is 11 (in February) and only exchange Klook's voucher in Kyoto when we travel in April (when she's 12), can I buy the child, half price ticket? Klooks wording is confusing and I'm not confident.
Thank you very much.

Imabari is in Shikoku and I think that pass only gets you to Takamatsu.

If you daughter is 12 at the time of exchange. See needs an adult ticket. They will look at her passport when you exchange.

IMABARI in Shikoku is not covered by that pass.

HI, trying to decide between general JR and 7 day JR West All areas pass so:
Trips:
1. Kyoto to Osaka and back to Kyoto
2.Kyoto to Hiroshima return and
3. Kyoto to Onomichi; and lastly
4. Imabari to Kanazawa

For your listed trips, depending on your timeline,
neither seems to be best cost-wise.

Combination of
JR-West Kansai-Hiroshima Area Pass ((5-day)) and
JR-West Hokuriku Area Pass ((4-Day))
can cover Nos. 1 to 3.

Imabari Station (in Ehime Pref.)
belongs to JR-Shikoku.
JR-Shikoku sections from or to Imabari
are not covered by JR-West passes.

JR-West Kansai-Hiroshima Area Pass covers
JR-Shikoku section
Takamatsu (in Kagawa Pref.)
-- Utazu (in Kagawa Pref.)
-- Kojima (in Okayama Pref.).

You can pay separately
for Imabari -- Utazu,
about 4500 yen with your Ltd. Express seat reserved.
Utazu -- Kojima -- Okayama -- Shin-Osaka -- Kanazawa
can be covered by the combination of the above two passes.

Compared to JR-West All Area Pass,
the cost of the above two passes
is lower by about 3000 yen.
After the JR regular fees for Imabari -- Utazu is added,
the total cost is still lower by about 5000 yen
compared to 7-Day Japan Rail Pass.

----

How is your timeline?

In a case where you take six or seven days
for Kyoto -- Hiroshima -- Onomichi -- Imabari
(except No. 1: Kyoto -- Osaka round trip),
JR-West Kansai-Hiroshima Area Pass ((5-day)) is not enough,
and JR-West All Area Pass ((7-day)) sounds worth considering.

----

Do you fly into and fly out from KIX [Kansai Airport]?

Why do you return from Hiroshima to Kyoto then head to Onomichi?
Do you have something to do in Kyoto on a specific day?
Hiroshima is much closer to Onomichi.
If Shin-Onomichi Station is good for your purpose,
also traveling time is much shorter.

From Onomichi to Imabari,
do you go on the Shimanami Kaidō?
By bicycle or maybe on foot?

After visiting Kanazawa, where do you travel?

Not in that pass area, see the maps again.
https://goo.gl/maps/9wKFr5csR2ErNZ9g8
https://www.westjr.co.jp/global/en/ticket/pass/all/

can I buy the child, half price ticket?

For Japan Rail Pass,
it seems you can, according to the website of the link,
because she is 11 when her Exchange Order is issued.

- About JAPAN RAIL PASS
https://japanrailpass.net/en/about_jrp.html
: "The child PASS prices are applicable to children who are age 6 through 11 as of the purchase date in the case of purchasing online, as of the issue date of the Exchange Order, or as of the date of purchase at a ticket office in Japan."

Regarding IC transportation cards of Japanese major brands (Suica, ICOCA, etc.)
and JR regular tickets,
unless her birthday is April the 1st, this time child-rate fees should apply to her.
(There is a rule
which lets the 6th-year elementary school pupils travel at the same price.)

2.Kyoto to Hiroshima return and
3. Kyoto to Onomichi; and lastly

Is there a reason for doing the trip as above?
A more logical route =
Kyoto- Hiroshima- Onomichi-Kyoto : overnight in Hiroshima.

Kyoto- Osaka fares = 570\ each way

Have you checked to see if the pass pays?

Use the app to calculate & Google map to see locations
https://www.japan-guide.com/news/0057.html

Switching from Osaka to Kyoto is a minor amount of cost, so I would not bother activating a pass for a fare of 570 yen (estimated from Osaka Station to Kyoto Station). If you have extra days, then use a pass to cover the cost between Osaka and Kyoto.

If you are going to Hiroshima AND Onomichi, why are you returning back to Kyoto?

From the inclusion of both Onomichi and Imabari, I am assuming that you are planning to rent a bicycle and do the Shimanami Kaido. Here is the link:

https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3478.html

If you examine the link, you will find that there is a bus that goes back to the other side for 2300 yen. You could cycle one way, and use the bus on the other direction.

You might be able to use the JR Kansai Hiroshima Area Pass at the beginning (5 days), and complete the travel to Kanazawa with a second JR Hokuriku Area Pass:

https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2361_kansai_hiroshima.html
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2361_hokuriku.html

The two passes include Tsuruga Station, so if both area active, you should be able to switch coverage at that station. The Hokuriku pass also covers busses to Shirakawa-go if you are going there. There is an additional benefit if the Hokuriku pass starts on the final day of the Hiroshima pass, in that you have eight days of coverage, instead of the seven days on the other JR pass. If you stay in Tsuruga on the final day of the Hiroshima Pass, and activate the Hokuriku pass on the next day, you can stretch it to nine days of coverage.

The problem is getting back at the end, because the Hokuriku Pass stops at Tsuruga. A rapid service train from Tsuruga to Kyoto takes 83 minutes, and cost 1690 yen, so just pay it. A second option would be to get a one-day JR Kansai Area pass for 2400 yen, which would get you from Tsuruga all the way to Kansai Airport. I am going to include this in the estimate.

https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2361_03.html

Cost breakdown:
JR Kansai Hiroshima pass- 15000 yen
Return Bus on Shimanami Kaido - 2300 yen
JR Hokuriku Pass - 5090 yen
1 Day JR Kansai area pass - 2400 yen

Total - 24790 yen.

This might work for you.

Good Luck, in planning your trip.

Wow, first time user of this forum and how awesome you are. (Especially the detailed responses. Double wow!!)

Thank you.

Just a quick one, doing Kyoto, Hiroshima, Kyoto, Onomichi because I am meeting up with my brother and his family who I haven't seen in 5 years so accommodating their travel plans. I was just going to do a general Jr Pass (also doing a bit more in the trip but didn't want to put too much detail) but he wants to do the Nozomi which is why I started looking at the JR West.

but he wants to do the Nozomi

The Nozomi is faster because it stops at less stations, but the trains itself are the same between Nozomi, Hikari and Kodama. And I think in between stations both trains race through the landscape at the same high speed.

Yes, there are undoubtedly advantages of Nozomi (faster, more frequent, service on board). But it�fs not a vastly different train ride experience.

As a resident in Japan I don�ft qualify for JR pass so I normally take Nozomi and only if I want to go to a smaller station I take Hikari/Kodama, so I do know both.
And I normally suggest to people if their JR pass is not really going to pay off to just go with single tickets. Which are easy enough to buy from a vending machine.

@Glenda: The Hiroshima pass that I mentioned does allow for using the faster Nozomi trains, if that is what your brother wants. Sometimes the journey IS the reward so one leg (or even a partial leg) might be served by going on the Kodama, which stops at every station. Since you are going with a family:

https://www.japan-guide.com/blog/raina/180819.html

Did I give you enough detail to consider getting the smaller passes? Too much? Without more detail, it is hard the mail down a recommendation, but it does seem that you were trying to do fill your trip with side trips, and just staying in Kyoto.

Good Luck, in planning your trip.

The Nozomi is 10 minute quicker to Hiroshima. Dont worry if you have a pass that prevents you using the Nozomi. The Sakura services have much better interiors and only 10 minutes slower.