7 day JR railpass valuable for my trip?

I will spend 12 days in Japan. From Kansai airport to Osaka and stay there 4 7 days.We plan to travel 2 days in Osaka, 3 days in Kyoto,1 day in Himeji and Kobe, Nara, and then will go to Tokyo.

I would suggest that a JR rail pass would be very worthwhile as it can be used on JR lines within the cities as well as between cities. I found that this sitehttp://www.japanrail.com/JR_hyperdia.html was fantastic as it gives you many options to choose from as well as the cost. We used it constantly on a 3 week trip. It was invaluable. Glenda

Check the train fares on train schedule sites - a 7-day Japan Rail Pass makes sense (in terms of price) when you do the round trip between Tokyo - Osaka/Kyoto on Shinkansen trains within the 7-days. Looking at your itinerary, it looks like you will be making only one long-haul trip (from Kyoto/Osaka to Tokyo), and the rest are relatively short distances between cities or within a city. So while having the pass of course does save you the trouble of buying individual tickets at train stations, it might not make sense in terms of saving money.

please note that visiting Kobe and Himeji will take all of one day (1/2 day is a bare minimum for Kobe). Kobe is west of Osaka and Nara is east of Osaka. Nara deserve a full day at best, 6 hrs is a minimum, so you need 2 days for these 3 towns.

I just been to Japan, and spent 5 days in Kansai using Osaka as the base.

All the places you have mentioned can be reached from Osaka either by JR line or by Shinkansen (bullet train) of which you are allowed to use Hikari service.

Typically, it took us 1 hr to get to Nara, Kyoto and Himeji on Rapid service JR line. (Although for Nara, the Hanshin station is more convenient as closer to Nara park than JR station). Only problem is if you get the train between 8:00 - 9:30, there is very little chance of getting seats on JR line as it is rush hour.

On one day we did Himeji in morning/lunch and Kobe in late afternoon/evening. You should take Shinkansen from Himeji to Shin-Kobe station, then you can explore Kobe by simply walking down the hill through interesting area. If you go to JR Kobe or San-nomiya station, you'll have to go up hill then back down again.

I also recommend getting around Kyoto by City Bus, of which you can buy 1 day pass for 500 yen - single trip is 210 yen so you make profit after 3rd ride and it is definitely efficient. All buses has announcement to let you know which stop is coming up, and mentions temple/shrine names you should get off for.