Cheapest way to travel

Hi There,

Great plan to spend your new years holiday Skiing in Hakuba, Japan! (I hope to do something similar).
In your case, I would just buy normal tickets for this route because ticket prices would not match the price of the JR Pass. Here's why:

(I assume you would do the following route)

Narita Airport - Hakuba (via Tokyo) ¥ 10,970
Week Snowfun @ Hakuba Hakuba - Kyoto ¥ 11,140
Kyoto - Tokyo ¥ 13,420
Tokyo - Narita Airport ¥ 3,140

This would not add up to the cost of either the JR East/JR Pass. However you could consider a 7 day JR Pass for the last week as your travel Hakuba - Kyoto - Tokyo - Narita Airport adds up to ¥ 27,700. The 7 day JR Pass is ¥ 28,300 and you could start making savings with just a little more travel.

I hope this helps!
Daniel