Itinerary TYO-KYO-OSA-TYO Rail Pass?

Hi, my son and I are travelling to Japan in March/April 2024. We have 4 nights in TOKYO, 3 nights in KYO and 4 nights in OSA. We want to be able to travel TYO-KYO-OSA-TYO by train and also be able to use the metro train systems. Can anyone tell me which rail passes we should purchase? The JR Rail Pass seems very expensive? Thanks, Donna

There is no rail pass for your trip that would be cheaper than buying tickets individually.

As the above poster mentioned, buy individual JR Shinkansen train tickets for the real long-distance legs (TOkyo - Kyoto, Osaka - Tokyo), or including Kyoto - Osaka too (you can take JR rapid trains between Kyoto and Osaka; it takes one hour or so on a rapid train vs. 15 minutes on Shinkansen).

When you arrive at Tokyo, at whichever airport you arrive at, buy prepaid cards (can be topped up) for temporary visitors so that you can use it for local transport within cities (including Tokyo Metro subways and local JR trains).