Advice for JR Pass

Trying to find out if a JR Pass would work best for my trip to Japan. I will arrive in Japan on August 20th and head to Nagoya on the 24th. I am considering heading to Osaka for the 25th and 26th and than back to Nagoya unil the 30th, when I will be heading back to Tokyo.

In short, it will be, Tokyo-Nagoya-Osaka-Nagoya-Tokyo.

The major train travelling will be done in just over 7 days, so I am considering purchasing a 14 day pass. Just wanted to see if that will be suitable or not. If I get the 7 day pass, I will have to pay for individual trains within and around Tokyo (planning trips to Mount Fuji, Saitama, and Nerima-ku) before the 24th, the train ride back from Nagoya to Tokyo on the 31st, and than the travelling within Tokyo once again before we leave on September 3rd (trips to Shibuya, Akiribara, and maybe some other places). I will be staying in Taito-ku while in Tokyo.

Any advice on whether to get a 7 or 14 day pass would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Do you return from Nagoya to Tokyo on the 30th or 31st? If on the 30th, then a 7-day Japan Rail Pass plus regular tickets would be my choice. If on the 31st, I think it will come cheapest if you just travel by regular tickets.

If you value the convenience of having a rail pass over additional expenses of a few thousand yen for a pass, then a 14-day pass would be an option, too.

Thank for the response Uji. I would be heading back to Tokyo from Nagoya on the 31st. I tried to organize it on the 30th, but it unfortunately didn't work out - would of been perfect for the 7 day pass.

From what I read, the 7 day pass will be JPY 28,300, so I am looking at the additional JPY 10,600 for the ticket back to Tokyo from Nagoya and the additional travelling within Tokyo. Do you feel that this additional travelling within Tokyo would be more than if I were to just by the 14 day JPY 45,100 rail pass? It seems that it would be best to get the 7 day from the looks of it though. Thanks for all of the help too!

If going from Tokyo-Nagoya-Osaka-Nagoya-Tokyo outside of a 7 day period then paying with regular fare train tickets will come out cheaper.

A 14 day rail pass would not pay off in this case, even if you included local transport in Tokyo (which isn't expensive to justify a railpass in itself).

If returning from Nagoya to Tokyo, look into discount tickets such as a the Purutto Kodama Economy plan, which you can go from Nagoya to Tokyo via Kodama Shinkansen for only 7900yen :
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3302.html

Hey John, thanks for the response. You think it would be best to purchase all of the train tickets rather than purchase either a 7 or 14 day pass?

Or would it be best to get a 7 day pass and than pay the other trains individually?

If you add the price of the ticket from Tokyo-Nagoya-Osaka-Nagoya

The price is cheaper than a 7 day JR pass.

Even cheaper if you utilize some of the discount tickets out there.
Either case even if you paid full price the price is cheaper than a JR pass. Plus if you paid on your own you can ride the more frequent and slightly faster Nozomi Shinkansens, something you can't do with a JR Pass.

I can see how it would be cheaper to pay them individually. Would it be better to purchase the 7day pass when I arrive in Tokyo so that I can use the rail pass to get to and from to Saitama, to and from Mount Fuji, go from Tokyo to Nagoya, and possibly Nagoya to Osaka and back (I may not go to Osaka) within the 7 days? And than pay the rest of the trains individually.

If you buy train tickets individually, must they be booked in advance? If not, can you just go to the train station and pay with a VISA?

Thanks!

You cannot purchase a 7 day JR Pass in japan. It has to be purchased overseas from a travel agency.

If you are traveling to Saitama (Saitama City?) from Tokyo the price is pretty cheap and you can do it with regular trains.

If you are going from Tokyo-Nagoya-Tokyo (without going to Osaka) in 7 days then NO JR pass is required, it is cheap by regular train. If you go to Tokyo-Nagoya-Osaka-Tokyo then yes a JR pass is good.

Trains have both reserved and unreserved seating, you can book anything from a few minutes before the train leaves to 1 month before you travel. Yes the JR ticket offices take Visa cards and most other major credit cards.

Note, you can get to Osaka from Nagoya using something like a Kintetsu railpass that might save you even more money if you wanted to go to by Kintetsu Railways instead of Japan Railways.

The JR Pass cannot be purchased in japan and it must be purchased only overseas from a travel agency, also you have to decide, when you buy it overseas, if you want it for 7 or 14 days, but it is when you are in Japan that you can decide at the last moment at what date you want to start it

Dominic,
A 14 day JR Pass gives you JR train ride between 20 Aug and 02 Sep. When you pay for this locally expext following costs compared to JR Pass:
Narita airport - JR Tokyo station Yen 3000
Tokyo - Saitama area -Tokyo Yen 400
Tokyo - Nerima ku - Tokyo Yen 800
( Tokyo - Fuji 5 lakes or Hakone are non-JR areas )
Tokyo - Nagoya Yen 10100 shinkansen
Nagoya - Osaka Yen 7000 shinkansen
Osaka - Nagoya Yen 7000 shinkansen
Nagoya - Tokyo Yen 10100 shinkansen
some extra travel till 02 Sept within Tokyo Yen 2000
roughly Yen 42000 compared to Yen 45100 for the 14 day Pass.
As soon as you make an extra longer excursion during your Tokyo days ( let's say Nikko ) or during your Osaka days ( let's say Himeji ) the 14 day Pass is cheaper.
On day 3 Sept you will need transport to airport, 14 day Pass no longer valid, or you take Limousine Bus arrival day ( comfort after flight? ) and 03 Sept last day JR Pass for Narita airport.

The price from Osaka to Nagoya (vice versa is) 6300yen and as cheap as 4200yen if he purchases a Kodama plan a day early, the Kodama train between Nagoya and Osaka is only 15 minutes slower.

If he gets a Kintetsu Railpass he can do it as low as 3500 totally from Nagoya.

Narita Airport has lots of available options and can be done for as low as 1000 yen.

There are also discount tickets to Nagoya from Tokyo if he opts for that too.

But lets say he paid full price for Tokyo-Nagoya then a discount ticket from Nagoya to osaka and back. Add it up it comes out to about 30600 compared to 45100 for a JR pass. A savings of 14500, even a trip out to Himeji or Nikko would still cost less, and OP can still utitlize Nozomi trains between Tokyo and Nagoya if he wished. He can save even more money if he wanted to go to Osaka from Nagoya using Kintetsu trains, and even more money if he utilize a Kodama plan or Hikari plan from Tokyo to Nagoya and back.

John is 100% right as far as $$$ are concerned. However for tourists not familiar with Japan and/or railways and also considering that there are several possible options with several different railway companies involved , some tourists may prefer the convenience of a pass. I know that I do. I had rather stay in a cheaper hotel and eat simple meals if I want to save $. Another factor is that the $ difference between a bunch of individual tickets and the JR pass isn't that much as a percentage of the total travel expenses. It's your call Dominic!

Even if he took all JR it can still come out cheaper then a 14 day JR pass. The same JR Tokai offices in Shinagawa Station and Tokyo Station are next to JR Tokai offices that can sell discount JR tickets.

Would you spend 14,000+ more yen just for the convience of a JR pass? We're talking about a 14 day JR pass not a 7 day JR pass here.
Thats added to 2 extra nights at a business hotel, good dinner food, or extra shopping money.

Thanks for all of the advice! From all of the numbers you have provided, it does seem that it would make much more sense to purchase individually rather than the 7 or 14 day passes. I don't mind having to pay for them individually, especially if it saves me money which could be put towards something else as John said.

I guess now I will just have to try and figure out what trains I should be on the look out too book. With all of the train companies and rail lines mentioned in this thread, do they all congregate at one large station, or does each rail line have their own station? I do apologize for the lack of knowledge with the trains in Japan. I have never been anywhere where the train system is this extensive.

With all of the train companies and rail lines mentioned in this thread, do they all congregate at one large station

Some do and some don't.

For the sake of explaining it all, you really don't have to worry about it much.

Most of your long distance trips (Tokyo-Nagoya-Osaka) will be done using the Shinkansen, all Shinkansen are operated by JR companies.

So if you want to go from Tokyo to Nagoya you go from Tokyo Station to Nagoya Station, and from Nagoya Station, the Shinkansen gets off at Shin-Osaka Station.

If you browse the Japan guide pages on Transportation for each city it is explained in those pages with all your options.

What I recommend for Nagoya - Osaka if you decide to go is purchase a discount ticket, it is known as the Puratto Kodama Economy Plan

Normally a ticket from Nagoya to Osaka would cost 5670-6300yen, however with this discount ticket it will only cost you 4300yen, the ticket has to be purchased one day in advance and the train is only 10-15 minutes slower then the fastest train between the two stations, so its certainly a deal to get:

Here is the page in Japanese:
http://www.jrtours.co.jp/kodama/nagoya.html
That page is the prices if departing from Nagoya Station

名古屋 Means Nagoya
新大阪 Means Shin-Osaka

You can see the schedule at the bottom of the train, I think that part is pretty much self-explainatory. Just print out that page and show it to the ticket seller at any JR Tokai Tours office in Shinagawa Station (in tokyo) or Tokyo Station, or inside Nagoya Station, remember you have to purchase it a day before.

You can also use the same plan from Tokyo-Nagoya if you wanted to save more money, however note the trip is 3 hours between Tokyo and Nagoya instead of 1hr 45minutes by Shinkansen or 1:30minutes by Nozomi. If you don't mind the extra hour and a half travel time, it can save you about 5400yen round trip.
http://www.jrtours.co.jp/kodama/tokyo.html
東京 Means TOKYO
名古屋 means NAGOYA

So lets say you did all your long distance trips by discount JR tickets, you end up saving some 9400!. And the time difference isn't too bad, especially between Osaka and Nagoya. Remember the Kodama tickets have to be purchased 1 day in advance before you travel.

From Tokyo to Saitama (not sure where in Saitama you want to visit, so I'm using Omiya Station in Saitama as a fare base. There are many train lines from Tokyo to Omiya Station. The cost is 540yen. The trip takes about 40-50 minutes by regular JR trains. There are faster Shinkansen trains that do it in 25 minutes but they are more expensive. So taking regular JR trains is your best bet.

Hope that helps.

That is some great and very useful informaiton John. I am trying to keep train costs as low as possible, so I will take the slower trains - which isn't bad since I would love to see the landscape rather than have it wizz by as I am sure it will be amazing.

Just to verify, the cheaper tickets to and from Tokyo and Nagoya will be with the Kodema Line which must be bought in advance?

And one more question, what train should I take from Tokyo to get to and from Mount Fuji since I plan on leaving early in the morning to make a day trip for the climb and back in Tokyo that same evening? I plan on taking the Fujinomiya route to the top from the shin 5th station. From what I have read, I can access the shin 5th station via JR Tokaido line, fromt here I would take the JR Minobu Line to Fujinomiya? Also, what would be the least expensive ticket, would they need to be bought in advance, and how long does the train usually take? I am sooo sorry for these questions.

It is by Kodama Shinkansen, you need to purchase it at least a day in advace at JR TOKAI TOURS offices (you can't purchase it at any JR ticket office, so it has to be JR TOKAI TOURS), you can find JR TOKAI "JR Central" offices inside JR Tokyo and Shinagawa Stations in Tokyo. and JR Nagoya Station.


For Mt. Fuji, best way is by direct bus:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e6905.html

My plan is as follow:
Sept 26 Tokyo-Hakone
Sept 27 Hakone-Tokyo
Sept 28 Tokyo-Kusatsu
Sept 29 Kusatsu - Tokyo
Sept 30 Tokyo - Nagoya
Oct 1 Nagoya - Kiikatsuua
Oct 2 Kiikatsuua - SHIRAHAMA
Oct 3 SHIRAHAMA - WAKAYAMA
Oct 4 WAKAYAMA - Osaka
With the above plan, am I better to purchase 7 JR Pass or individual tickets.

Thanks.

A 7-day pass from September 28 to October 4 will pay off.