Japan tour.

Hi there,

1.) Yes, you can exchange the pass at any time when you are in Japan and select a first day of use. In other words, you don't have to start using it right away.

2.) Your itinerary looks good to me, with a nice variety of options.

3.) Yes, a 7 day JR Pass would be enough if you can travel to Kyoto, Osaka and Hiroshima with it and make the return to Tokyo.

4.) The cheapest way would be to use an express bus. Details are here:http://accessnarita.jp/en/home/

Kind regards,
Daniel

Hello,

Your plans look good but please be aware that from Kyoto to Hiroshima is, with the best connections, about 2 hours one way - you should get an early morning start. With all your time in Kansai, I highly recommend at least half a day to see Nara. It was also a former capital and has some of Japan's best sights. Missing the Todaiji Great Buddha would be a tragedy. Nara Park has a lot of other great places, such as the Kasuga Grand Shrine, Kofukuji Temple, and feeding the many deer in the area.
Since you are already seeing Tokyo, you can largely skip Osaka during the day. After the temples of Kyoto close down around 5 PM, you can zip over to Osaka for the evening. At night the city comes alive and has some great places to see, such as Dotonbori, plus the night views from the Umeda Sky Bldg, and Abeno Harukas Bldg are exquisite.
On another evening, if you still have some energy you could also go and see Kobe.

For Tokyo, if you want to use a subway, you might consider a 2 or 3 day subway pass.

Hakone has a number of good sights to see, and if you haven't planned it elsewhere, visiting a hot spring at least once in Japan is a great idea. Hakone has some famous ones, but you can find them all over. Using a Hakone Free Pass is a good way to save some money. The Loop Course is a common way to see all the sights and takes a full day.

Best of luck.