Snow monkeys and winter

Hello All especially Uji, We will be arriving in Tokyo on 31st January and spending 2nd and 3rd February with the monkeys in Nagano. We then return to Tokyo on 4th Feb and stay in Tokyo until 6th, spending a day in Nikko on the 5th. We will then travel to Kyoto arriving on the evening of the 6th and staying until 10th. Is there any other way of taking this trip and what rail card please.

before anyone can answer your question about a pass one needs to know if you are going back to Tokyo after Kyoto or flying out of Kansai? or?

You say 2 days with the monkeys...why so long ? I visited in February of this year and spent a couple of hours taking some photos and video. It was very cold and whilst a wonderful experience a couple of hours was probably enough time. We went by bus from Nagano and returned by bus to Yudanaka and then train to Nagano.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTLSXVt9zpY

We have not decided definately but will probably fly out of Kansai.

The best way to know whether or not to buy a pass--and which one-- is to check the price of all your major trips on www.hyperdia.com (put a check mark on except Nozomi and remove the check mark by airline). Roughly speaking a JR pass doesn't pay if you stay in Tokyo or if you go straight from Tokyo to Osaka one way. However because you go to a couple of other places it might work but you should try to arrange your schedule to use a 7 days pass only. for example stay in Tokyo for a couple of days then start you pass the day you go to Nikko and the day after leave Tokyo for Nagano and the monkeys. the day after go from Nagano to Kyoto with a few hours stop at Matsumoto. For the few days left on the pass try to use the pass for a long trip like Kyoto to Hiroshima and back then around the Kansai.

Thanks for your reply RodW. The reason for this trip is to fulfill my husbands life long ambition to see the snow monkeys in the snow. We have managed to reserve rooms at the Korakukan which is only 5 minutes from the hot spring and will mean that we can visit the monkeys several times each day for short periods and hopefully take photos at various times of the day. The two days there will also mean that should the weather prevent obtaining good photos on one of the days we will have a spare one. The Korakukan will provide us with a warm base to return to when we get cold.

Thank you for your comments Monkey see. At the moment the only thing we have booked is the 2nd & 3rd February at the Korakukan Ryokan. We will try and plan the rest of the holiday to get the best use of the 7 day rail pass.