JR Pass for rail, bus etc or not?

We are spending 14 days in Japan, travelling from Tokyo to Okinawa then leaving from Tokyo to home. The JR pass calculator suggests itfs not worth getting a pass. Just wondering if it would be worthwhile if we were able to use it on buses etc to get around Tokyo,Kyoto,kamakura, Hakone, Osaka and Okinawa. Can someone help us please?

I assume youfd be flying between Tokyo - Okinawa or Osaka - Okinawa.

Nationwide JR Pass only pays off if you do long-distance rail travel on Japan Rail trains, so Shinkansen trains. If you only do Tokyo - Osaka one-way on a JR Shinkansen train, then maybe fly from Osaka to Okinawa, then fly back from Okinawa to Tokyo, it does not pay off at all.

With the price up until October of this year, a guideline has been that a 7-day JR Pass pays off if you do gat leasth Tokyo - Osaka/Kyoto round trip within a 7-day period, and a 14-day JR Pass pays off if you do at least Tokyo - Osaka/Kyoto - HIroshima round trip within a 14-day period, all on JR Shinkansen trains.

TheJRP generally is not usable on busses. There are a few exceptions but itfs not going to make you break even and there are disadvantages to the JRP Susanne ch as being stuck with the slower , less frequent Shinkansen.

If it doesnft pay off it simply doesnft. Depending on what is your longest train trip over multiple days (!!!!) you could get one long distaNce ticket and interrupt your trip for a few days in betweeen. Thatfs cheaper than getting separate tickets as long as it is all within a few days wefd need to know more about your trip to judge if that works

Thanks AK, thatfs very helpful. Yes, we are flying between those bigger cities. We have lots of day trips out to various places so was wondering if the JR pass might be worth it for buses and local trains.

A lot of the places mentioned are not JR areas. Hakone, for example, is Odakyu Railways and their subsidiaries or Kyoto with buses run by the city - a JRP wouldn't help. Plus, if you are scratching for savings, the extra hassle of the pass to save a few bucks - skip it.

Thanks so much - that is very helpful 😊