Making sure it's worth it.

Hi Jeds, lets take a look at your costs from the 9th onwards:

1. Tokyo > Nagano: ¥8,170 (108mins, 222km)
2. Nagano > Takayama: ¥9,290 (309mins, 282km)
3. Kanazawa > Hiroshima: ¥15,550 (267mins, 605km)
4. Hiroshima > Miyajimaguchi: ¥400 (26mins, 21km)
5. Miyajimaguchi > Kyoto: ¥11,110 (165mins, 402km)
6. Kyoto > Nara: ¥690 (45mins, 41km)
7. Nara > Kyoto: ¥690 (45mins, 41km)
8. Kyoto > Odawara: ¥11,550 (160mins, 429km)

JR ticket cost: ¥57,450 for 8 legs

• 14 day Japan Rail Pass (¥45,100) saving: ¥12,260

As you can see you'll make a decent saving with the 14 day pass over this period, so I can certainly recommend this option (it's also pretty stress free).

If you wanted to save a little more money, you could move your final tokyo leg to within the 14 day pass period and you'll be able to get that for free, but it's not a huge extra expense (¥3440).

On arrival in Japan I recommend you also purchase a return deal from Narita > Tokyo that includes some free internal Tokyo travel, such as the [Narita Express + SUICA].

Hope this helps!

Thank you, final question is if we opt for the Green pass to try and get a little bit less crowded/relaxed travel are their Green cars on these routes. Reading online I see some people speaking about the lack of Green cars on certain routes, but with a lot of information 2+ years old I don't know what is current.

Thanks again,

Hi there!

For your travel you should get decent use from a green pass, but you will find reduced green car service on the Hiroshima > Kyoto > Tokyo bullet trains.

I hope this helps!