JRPass

Hi Sam!

Based on your itinerary I'd say you could make good savings with a 7 day rail pass for use starting as soon as you arrive in Tokyo on the 29th until the 5th of July where you return from Hakone. For a 7 day rail pass to start making savings for you, you need to spend over ¥28,300 on individual JR tickets. To confirm your savings, lets take a look at your projected costs (note that for Hakone, the JR Pass will take you as far as Odawara. From Odawara you should use the Odakyu lines to get up to the Hakone area, perhaps using a Hakone Free Pass):

1. Narita airport terminal 1 > Tokyo: ¥2940, (62mins, 79km)
2. Tokyo > Kyoto: ¥13220, (164mins, 513km)
3. Kyoto > Odawara: ¥11750, (177mins, 429km)
4. Odawara > Tokyo: ¥1450, (36mins, 83km)

TOTAL: ¥29360 for 4 legs

As you can see you'll make a basic saving of ¥1060 using the 7 day pass, with the added bonus that any further JR travel during this period will be totally free (such as JR travel around Tokyo, or day trips to Hiroshima, Nara or Nikko).

Here are some thoughts on your other questions:

1. For Green Car you should purchase a Green Car class JR Pass. Please note that you will be unable to upgrade to green seats once in Japan with a standard JR Pass. We have a blog post on the benefits of Green Car seats here. It is true that the cars themselves are very spacious however I have found normal class to be more than adequate, and have always managed to get a non-smoking seat. Don't forget that all seat reservations are free for JR Pass holders, so you can make seat reservations for your entire trip in advance if you are concerned about this.

2. For Hakone from Kyoto, you should aim for Odawara via the shinkansen, and then transfer to the Odakyu lines I mention above.

3. Here's a sample itinerary to Tachikawa from Hakone/Odawara. If you were to use a 7 day JR Pass, this extra leg of ¥4080 would be free.

4. 14 year olds are subject to the full adult pricing (any child over 11 is considered a full adult fare, with no 'youth' fare available for the JR Pass).

5. You can use the Japan Rail Pass on all JR lines around Tokyo (map of JR lines in Tokyo for reference), however you will be unable to use it on the non-JR Metro service and non-JR buses (most buses in Tokyo are non-JR). In general you can travel very freely around Tokyo with a Japan Rail Pass using the JR train lines accompanied with a Pasmo prepaid metro card for use on journey's that JR does not cover.

Hope this helps!

Hi Sam,

It is true that JR-West doesn't run it's Hikari with Green Cars, however the JR-East operated Hikari service does have green car available - approx. one per hour. This will affect your ability to always use green car seats as not all Hikari services will have them.

Green Car seats always require a reservation, so you would always need to make one regardless of how busy the carriage is. Making a seat reservation is a simple process and you can make one just before you board. We also have a blog post on making seat reservations.

The Hikari service on the Kyoto-Tokyo route are all the latest N700 class bullet trains so I don't think you'll miss out in this regard. Valid Hikari Tokyo to Kyoto Shinkansen services run approximately twice per hour, but you can look up exact train timetables and costs for your legs at the Hyperdia travel planning website and learn how to use Hyperdia for Japan Rail Pass holders through our video blog.

Delivery to Seattle US will take 2 working days (1 day process + 1 day delivery). This means that if you were to order today you should receive it by Tuesday, or Wednesday at the latest.

Hope this helps!

Not a problem Sam - have a great trip!