Stefanie Jaax

Hi Stefanie!

I've taken the ferry to Okinawa twice myself and it's a great experience!

As to what JR Pass to use, there's only one that covers all your travel which is the normal nation wide JR Pass. The only questions is: will it help you make savings. I'd say yes from looking at your itinerary but let's have a look at hard numbers.

First the travel for your sons with consists of two main parts.
Tokyo - Kyoto ¥ 13,020
Kyoto - Kagoshima ¥ 22,140

For a total of ¥ 35,160 or ¥ 6,860 as the 7 day JR Pass is ¥ 28,300. This is excluding any side trips or local travel you may do, so the savings would end up higher.

Now for your husband, younger son (and you?) it is a little harder. Ideally you'd use a 7 day JR Pass and return to Tokyo before it runs out, however in your case April 13th - 20th is 8 days. Let's look at numbers for this part too.

Tokyo - Kyoto ¥ 13,020
Kyoto - Kanazawa ¥ 6,510
Kanazawa - Nagano ¥ 7,030
Nagano - Tokyo ¥ 7,770

If you add up travel from Tokyo all the way up to Nagano it adds up to ¥ 26,560 which is a little below the price of a 7 day JR Pass. With a little local travel you'd probably still end up making some small savings (for instance a visit to Osaka or Nara). Depending on your bookings so far you could also consider taking a late train back to Tokyo on the 19th savings you the complete fare for this part.

Hope this helps!
Daniel

Thank you Daniel,
The rail passes for 7 days are on flexible dates or do they have to be used on 7 subsequent days?
Stephanie

Hi Stephanie,

The pass is valid for 7 subsequent days, be sure to plan carefully!
-Daniel