Hi everyone,
I am planning a 22 day trip to Japan from Oct. 25 to Nov. 15, 2015 for me and my fiance. I have looked up the prices for all the trains that we will be using and it appears to me that neither the 7, 14 or 21 day national JR passes will save us money. The only two passes that I see saving us money are the JR Hiroshima Yamaguchi pass or the JR Sanyo Sanin Area Pass.
Since it seems so widely accepted that JR passes save money, I was wondering if some of you could look at my analysis and let me know if you think it makes sense. It seems a bit weird to me that the JR Pass does not seem advantageous.
Furthermore, for the 14 day pass, the difference between the total price for individual tickets and the price for the pass is around ¥3,730 yen. I was wondering what the non-financial benefits of the JR pass are and whether they might be worth the extra ¥3,730 per person. For example, is there more flexibility or less of an administrative hassle?
The overall itinerary is Tokyo -> Nikko -> Kamimochi -> Takayama -> Shirakawago -> Kanazawa -> Kyoto -> Nara -> Koyasan -> Himeji -> Miyajima -> Hiroshima -> Kurokawa Onsen -> Fukuoka -> Yakushima (flying) -> Tokyo (flying)
Expected trains:
Day 1 - Narita to Tokyo - ¥1,320 (not for JR option, but I need to be looking at the cheapest option available when comparing. JR option is about ¥3,000)
Day 3 - Tokyo to Nikko - ¥1,360
Day 4 - Nikko to Matsumoto - ¥10,690
Day 9 - Kanazawa to Kyoto - ¥6,380
Day 12 - Kyoto to Nara and back - ¥1,460
Day 13 - Kyoto to Osaka - ¥2,010
Day 14 - Osaka to Himeji to Hiroshima to Miyajima - ¥11,750
Day 15 - Miyajima to Hiroshima - ¥590
Day 16 - Hiroshima to Fukuoka - ¥8,420
Day 21 - Haneda to Tokyo - ¥490
Day 22 - Tokyo to Narita - ¥1,320
Based on the above, my cost for 21 days is ¥46,150, which is less than the cost of ¥59,350 for a 21 day pass. My cost for the most expensive 14 days (days 3 to 16) is ¥42,660, which is less than the cost of ¥46,390 for a 14 day pass. My cost for the most expensive 7 days (days 12 to 16, just 5 days actually) is ¥24,230, which is less than the cost of ¥29,110 for a 7 day pass.
I do think that the JR Hiroshima Yamaguchi pass could save me about ¥6,370 when used for Himeji -> Hiroshima -> Miyaima -> Hiroshima -> Fukuoka. It costs ¥11,000 and my cost for that route is ¥17,370.
Thanks so much for your help!