Tokyo > Nagoya > Kyoto > Hiroshima > Osaka > Tokyo

Hi Paul,

A 14 day pass is ¥45,100, so your JR legs will have to cost more than this for a rail pass to be worthwhile. Lets take a look at your costs:

1. Tokyo > Nagoya: ¥10580, (126mins, 366km)
2. Nagoya > Kyoto: ¥5440, (37mins, 147km)
3. Kyoto > Hiroshima: ¥10790, (112mins, 380km)
4. Hiroshima > Osaka: ¥10520, (109mins, 345km)
5. Osaka > Tokyo: ¥13750, (194mins, 556km)
   TOTAL: ¥51080 for 5 legs

As you can see you'll make a base saving of ¥5980 with a 14 day JR Pass with the added bonus that all further JR travel (eg return to Nikko) is free.

When you are in Tokyo & Osaka you can get good use out of the JR Pass as both cities have a good internal JR network (map of JR lines in Tokyo). However Nagoya, Kyoto & Hiroshima don't have great internal JR and all will need you to use non-JR forms of transport at some point. It does depend on how much travel you want to do in these areas but I recommend you either purchase standard tickets/prepaid cards or a municipal pass.

Hope this helps!