JR Pass

I'll be with a friend in Tokyo/Kyoto for 13 days next April, and I'm not sure whether or not a JR pass will be necessary.

We're going to start in Tokyo, and then head down to Hakone for a day on the way to Kyoto, and from there we'll depart through Osaka.

Also, does the JR pass work on trains, or just the Shinkansen?

Sorry if I sound really ignorant, last time this trip was planned for me. Thanks.

JR Pass is for all JR trains with the exception of one type of shinkansen ( nozomi ) and some specific JR night trains. Narita airport -Tokyo - Odawara ( for Hakone ) - Kyoto - Osaka KIX airport by single tickets is cheaper than JR Rail Pass.

I would suggest that you check out the hyperdia section of the JR website. It allows you to enter the towns you wish to travel between and gives you several options to choose from and the cost. We found it to be invaluable
http://www.japanrail.com/JR_hyperdia.html.

as other people have said before...it would be nice if people looked at the whole site, not just at the forum. the pages on travel, transportation, living etc .are especially informative.
even just entering a question in the small window right about the forum's questions gives lots of answers to any question...

Note- To those of you who replied with an actual answer: Thank you.

Everyone else-

I would really appreciate constructive replies, instead of just telling me to go look up some other part of the site. A) If that's all you have to offer, why bother posting? B) I'm asking a question about specific locations, and specific modes of travel. Therefore, I'm looking for a SPECIFIC response, not the cast-off reply to someone else's question that may or may not contain relevant information.

Going to a site and posting on a Q&A forum with hundreds if not thousands of posts that the answer is probably somewhere else is about as useful as telling me there are probably fish somewhere else in the ocean. Your time could be better wasted elsewhere.