Hello All,

Please forgive my question in advance. I have been spending time in hyperdia, and think I understand things, but wanted to run my impressions by the people that know.

My family and I will be in Japan for 12-days this August. I'll be buying a 1-week JR rail pass for the first week, as our plans involve landing at NRT, trips to Kyoto and Hiroshima, and then a return to Tokyo.

I'm debating whether to buy a 2nd week JR rail pass. For the most part, we'll be in Tokyo and trekking around the city, and what I'm getting on hyperdia is that the JR pass will be of limited use for this. We'll be visiting friends in Tochigi prefecture and then heading back to NRT, but overall it is looking to me like it is more economical to NOT buy a 2nd week on the JR rail pass and to just pay out-of-pocket for the second 5 days.

That's what it is looking like to me. Off the top of your head, does that sound correct?

Thanks - you all have been very patient with me the last few months as I've asked question after question......

dcman2

JR has a rail (or something) system that runs in Tokyo. When I've visited Japan, I've always gotten a rail pass. When we're in Tokyo, we use the JR trains to get around the city. I think I've used another system once in four or five trips.

I don't know about the financial side (how much it costs to travel in Tokyo without the pass). Hopefully someone else who knows the local costs for getting around might be helpful on that.

Your trip totals twelve days. If you rearrange your itinerary so that you can spend the first few days in Tokyo, validate your rail pass voucher, then take your trips to Kyoto and Hiroshima, return to Tokyo, and use the still-valid pass to visit your friends in Tochigi. This is especially recommended if your friends in Tochigi live near a Shinkansen route.

For your time in Tokyo, get a Suica+N'EX roundtrip ticket. (This will work for you, since your trip is less than 14 days.) You will receive roundtrip fare on the Narita Express and a Suica debit card loaded with 1500 yen, which is good for about seven rides on any of the local transit options you are likely to need: JR train, subway, buses, private rail lines.

The JR Pass is NOT valid on the subways, buses, or private rail lines, and I've found that the subways are actually more convenient for getting to the famous sites than the JR lines are.

If your Suica runs out, you can add value to it at any train or subway stations, and it's good for ten years.

Going from 7 day to 14 day adult regular pass, the price goes up by 16800 yen. If you take the tohoku shinkansen to Utsunomiya, Tochigi, the walk-up ticket price is less than 5000 yen. You would incur about 10,000 yen for the round trip, plus the 3000 yen for the N'EX to the Airport, you are at 3800 yen from breaking even.

Plus, if you take a rapid train (even if you pay Y950 extra for green car), the trip to Utsunomiya would be much cheaper still.

Thank you everyone. Again, I have appreciated the forum members here a great deal as you all have been patient with my questions.

Best - dcman2