Originally Posted by
samoyeddillpickle
Good to know, thank you! I was already on the fence about the pass anyways. In the past, I felt like I had to go out of my way to use routes that accepted the JR Pass. Which mean that sometimes the trip took more time. It's definitely won't be worth it once they increase it to the new price.
I returned from Japan about 3 weeks ago. I priced out our travel plans using tickets and multiple different JR passes. It never made sense to buy a pass with the
current pricing. There are regional passes which can offer better pricing. Such as the JR Kansai Hiroshima Area Pass, which is a 5 day pass that includes Nozomi/Mizuho trains in that area. Current cost in USD, is about $110. The current RT ticket Osaka to Hiroshima is $98 USD. So one extra trip easily justifies buying that pass.
As others have commented, JR needs to overhaul the passes, and offer something closer to what Europe offers. The current week, 2 week, 3 week passes, force travelers into doing more travel in the timespan of their pass. Which causes people to only spend 1 to 2 nights at a particular city and then travelling to the next city. Tourism dollars spent in Japan would improve if people spent more time in each locale they visit.
The next question is: will JR increase individual tickets proportionately?