Travelling with JR Nationwide Pass

we will be in Japn Dec 01 - 11. Plan is to arrive in Osaka, then to Hakone, Tokyo, Naeba and back to Tokyo for departure. Am wondering if a JR Nationwide Pass cover all the abovementioned region. Would appreciate some helpful advice and tips from the experts. Thanks.

Transportation inside the Hakone region is not covered.
Transportation between Echigo-Yuzawa Station and Naeba is not covered (a 30-45 minute bus ride)
non-JR trains, subways and buses in Osaka and Tokyo are not covered
All the major trips (intercity travel) and JR urban travel is covered.

Thanks Uji,
so is it still worthwhile for us to buy JR Pass from Singapore, then buy those individual passes where the JR Pass is not inclusive?

Hi again Uji, I forgot to mention that we will be travelling with 1 teenager and 1 child. $$ versus convenience, will JR passes still be better or not necessary ? Thanks !

Riza,
from ShinOsaka to Odawara is Yen 12500,
Odawara to Tokyo is Yen 3840.
Tokyo - Echigo-Yuzawa - Tokyo is Yen 13500. So a 7 day JR Rail Pass is cheaper if you can put above mentioned travel in the 7 days.

Thanks Peter. Will definitely buy the JR Pass now. We are also thinking it would be good to buy the Fuji Hakone Pass. The problem is, we will be arriving from Osaka and the Fuji Hakone Pass can only be bought from Shinjuku. Would really appreciate if anybody can advise the best way for us to enjoy Mt Fuji, Lake Kawaguchi and Hakone in December. We plan to stay at The Prince Hakone for 2 nights.

On the Odakyu Railroad site, it says free passes can be purchased at any Odakyu station. For example, I know the Hakone Free Pass can be purchased at Odawara, the gateway to the Hakone area. So, you can use JR from anywhere you want to Odawara, and then get the free pass at Odawara to cover Odawara into the inside area of Hakone, and all the transportation in the Hakone area (bus, train, boat, cable car, etc.).

I appears the same is true for Fuji Hakone Free Pass.

From the Odakyu home page in English, click "Odakyu Sightseeing Service Center." At the very bottokm of that page, click the "Free Pass" link. That will bring you to the page that indicates that all the Odakyu Free Passes can be purchased at any of their stations.

Thanks Ginny. the link you mentioned is really helpful. We now have more confident travelling from Osaka-Hakone-Tokyo-Naeba-Tokyo with our two kids tagging along.

Hi Riza, we're from Singapore too! We'll be in Japan 17th-29th Nov with our 3 kids. We'll be flying into Narita. Our rough plan is to spend 8-9 days Tokyo and the rest spill over Kyoto and Osaka.

We plan to get the 7-day JRPass and will go Hakone & a ski resort on 1 of those 7 days-- Side trips from Tokyo.

Hello Isee. Nice to hear from you. We have confirmed flights SIN-OSAKA & NRT-SIN.

We are still looking for a nice Ryokan in Hakone/ Kawaguchi area for 2 nights.
Have you already found a good family-friendly accommodation there ? We are thinking of The Prince Hakone....

From there we will proceed to Niigata and plan to stay at Naeba Prince for 2 nights before heading for Tokyo.

I found some interesting stuff on skiing holiday at http://www.snowjapan.com/e/index.php.

We are going to do all those travelling within 7 Days using the JR Pass. I just hope that our plan is workable. Our boys are 9 and 13 so we thought of being a bit adventurous.

Would be happy to share thoughts and research......

Would certainly love to share thoughts! I'm very thankful to the people in this webpage cos they're so helpful in answering my questions. Thanks!

Sorry can't help you on the Ryokan and Niigata. T
We're reserving K's House Hostel's private rooms cos of it's location & price. http://kshouse.jp/tokyo-e/index.html

We didn't want to lug luggages between hotels so just set base at Tokyo & Kyoto.

We'll be in Tokyo for 8 nights. We'll buy the Suica card from airport and use this for Tokyo and Greater Tokyo.

Our 7day JRP'll start with trip to Hakone and Karuizawa Ski Resort. Then off to Kyoto & Osaka.

There's a outlet mall in Osaka which you may be interested: http://www.premiumoutlets.co.jp/en/rinku/index.php

Did you go to the recent NATAS? I got lots of maps & info from there. The staff at the JNTO Booth were so helpful.

I use these 2 sites to check Tokyo's subway connections & Shinkansen timings. Hope you find them helpful:
http://www.jorudan.co.jp/english/norikae/e-norikeyin.html

http://grace.hyperdia.com/cgi-english/hyperWeb.cgi

What kinds of programs have you planned for Tokyo? Do you know where I can get Ghibli Museum tickets? Seems there's some promotion at the JTB office in Taka on JRPass-- 5%. I've yet to go ask.

Hi Isee,
thanks for sharing........

My kids would love to visit the Gibhli museum so that will definitely be on our list.

I have checkd at JTB but they will only sell us the tickets if we buy a package from them.. There's really no other choice but to buy inside Japan.

I found this info in another part of this forum :

"Hey- just a note...we are in Japan now and went to get tickets at Lawsons last minute. The clerk was very helpful and spoke enough english to get us through.
It did help, however, when we mentioned Totoro. A light went on as I think she might not have known the name Ghibli. She proceeded to call it the "Totoro" museum and we got our tickets."

As Uji said "I think this kind of feedback is extremely practical for other readers."

We dont have much time in Tokyo actually so we'll just do the normal touristy stuff like Disney, Tsujiki and Imperial Palace.

We might go to Nikko though, since my teenager is really into the old Edo days and I heard that Nikko Edo-mura is a good place to learn about the old days of pre-Meiji Japan.

After getting to know u guys in this forum, Now i wish we can extend our stay in Japan !!! There's so much interesting stuff to do and see....... sigh..

I had to remove a few activities and sights due to time constraints too.

It seems you'll be travelling on the train quite a bit if going Niigata. At least you've snow! Karuizawa seems to be the only resort close to Tokyo to open in Nov so only have man-made snow! sign...

In Tokyo, Odaiba Island & Museum of Innovation & Science and National Museum of Nature & Science seem to be good places to visit. My 3 boys are looking forward to Pokemon Centre & Hakuhinkan Toy Park. I guess Ginza & Akihabara would be good places to check out the electronic gadgets..

I'm hoping we've time for hotspring in Hakone after the sightseeing, but I'm not sure if kids are allowed??

I have made an enquiry at this family-oriented Inn Fujitomita, very near the foot of Mt. Fuji.

They have bath specially for family use and they seem to definitely welcome children.

You can check it out at
www.tim.hi-ho.ne.jp/innfuji

Hi all, I will be travelling to Japan from 15 to 22 Nov 08. Will be going to Tokyo Disneyland/Sea, Tokyo Sightseeing, Hakone then procced to Osaka Universal Studio / Nara and Kyoto. Have read some note from internet as well and hope to share in the group.

Sounds like your destinations are quite similar to mine, Friend. Except we don't plan to go Universal Studio. Are you still working on your itinerary?

I wonder is it meaningful to see Mt Fuji from Hakone or should experience it from its foot? Is that what you're doing, Riza?

There's a Himeshara Hot Springs at Hakone that we plan to visit. But we're keeping our fingers crossed cos we'll be visiting Hakone on their Thanksgiving PH.

Yes Isee. Infact we have confirmed staying at Inn Fujitomita for 2 nights. the Inn is located right at foot of Mt Fuji.... so it says...

We tot of getting the Fuji Hakone Pass to explore the area but since we will be arriving on the night bus from Osaka direct to Fujiyoshida, I still have no idea where to buy the pass from.

The owner of the Inn Fujitomita is so accommodating, from our special food request to offering their home address so that we can send our big luggage to them a day earlier and .... they do have a private hotspring bath for family use.

Finally decided to travel by Shinkansen Kodama from ShinOsaka to Mishima (3 hrs) then will buy the Fuji Hakone Pass there and hop on a local bus (2 hrs). Total approx. 5 hrs and best of all... no train transfer.

Does my plan above sound right? And I wonder if JR Pass is valid for Shinkansen Kodama .... emmm ?

JR Pass is valid for Shinkansen Kodama?

Yes, it is :) You can also get on faster ''Hikari'', some of which stop at Nagoya or Shizuoka and change to Kodama there.