Need to buy JR Pass? Accessibility

It will be our first time to travel to Japan. We are a family of four and we will be arriving on April 3 and departs on 9th April. Our entire accommodation is in APA Hotel and Resort Tokyo Bay Makuhari, Chiba. We would like to visit the following places, Universal Studio in Osaka, Mt. Fuji, Shibuya Crossing and Kyoto. I would like to ask if we should buy the JR pass with this itinerary? appreciate also if you can advise us whether we need to change our hotel to a more accessible location to places we want to visit any suggestion will be much appreciated.
Thank you very very much. :)

Um? Osaka and Kyoto are no where near any Tokyo hotel.

And shibuya and and mt Fuji are both western side of Tokyo. You hotel is on the east side.

Assuming you know the long distance of your planned itinerary, yes a 7-day pass would pay off going down to Kansai and back, plus to Mt Fuji (I presume you mean the Fuji 5 Lakes area). But the pass would not pay for the whole trip to Fuji, only up to Otsuki Stn. From there, you'd need to pay for the Fujikyu train the rest of the way (1170 yen, about 55 min one way). If you want accommodation closer to your long distance travel, then it would be better to stay near Tokyo or Shinagawa Stn. Though it may be a fair bit more expensive.

APA hotels are known to be the smallest/cheapest budget chain in Japan and derided as such with their tiny rooms, yet you are planning a trip to the Kansai region. If you are travelling such distances, staying in one spot in Tokyo seems crazy. Look at splitting your trip three days in Tokyo and three in either Osaka or Kyoto. In either case, a JR pass is marginal in terms of benefits.

I�fd like to describe the journey from your hotel to Universal Studios.

The closest rail station to your hotel is Maihimmakuhari Station, and it does appear to be very close.

From here, you will need to take a train to Tokyo Station. That�fs going to take about 30 minutes.

You are then going to take a Shinkansen Bullet train to Shin-Osaka Station. With a JR Pass, you are looking at the faster Hikari train, which will take 168 minutes. The time may differ, depending on which stops it makes.

From here, there will be three local lines you will have to take. One to get some station on the Osaka Loop Line, then travel around the loop line to Nishikujo Station, and then out to UniversalCity Station. Each of these local lines is only about 5-8 minutes, but then you will need to change platforms to get to the next local train. Each platform usually has two different trains (one on either side), so you may get lucky, and just need to wait. In all, this is probably a half hour process.

In all, you should expect this to take about 4 hours each direction. If this is a day trip, that means your Universal Studios trip will have 8 hours of travel. Is this what you have in mind?

My suggestion would be to get a hotel in the Kyoto/Osaka area, and spend at least one night there.

Your initial location is reasonable if you are planning to go to one of the Disney theme parks near Tokyo. Maihama Station, the closest JR station to Disney, is only a 17 minute ride away.

The JR pass does not pay off with just a trip and back from the Kyoto/Osaka area, but requires a little more. Since you are going to be in Japan 7 days, I think your trip to the Fuji five lakes, and to and from the airport will make it cost effective, especially if you are flying into Tokyo Narita. Just remember that the JR pass will not cover every mode of transport under the sun.

Good Luck, in planning your trip.