JR pass or not

Hi there,

To see if a JR-Pass is worth the money., it is always a good idea to see how much things would cost otherwise.

Here's a little oversight of ticket costs without the JR-Pass.
Narita --> Jinbocho (Tokyo) ¥3,240 + ¥170 for metro
(Sun, Mon in Tokyo) Tokyo --> Kyoto ¥13,420
Kyoto Nara (return) ¥1,380
Kyoto --> Osaka ¥ 540
Osaka --> Kansai Airport ¥ 1,160 (not taken in total, as this would fall outside of the 7-Day use period)

For a total of ¥ 18580 the 7 day JR-Pass is ¥ 28300 so for this journey I would not recommend buying it.

For reference: The JR-Pass can only be used on local JR-Lines in Tokyo, unfortunately it does not cover the Metro in Tokyo or Kyoto.

Hope this answers your questions :)
-Daniel

Thank you for your answer.
I have sime more questions:
Shall we buy train tickets in advance?
Can the tickets be paid by master card which is not issued in Japan. I read, that credit cards can not be used everywhere.

With best regards,
Manca

Hi Manca,

You can use any major creditcard to buy tickets at the manned JR ticket offices.
Please note that you can not use your creditcard at ticket machines, so be sure to have some coin available too!
This is especially useful when traveling short distances or by local transport.

I don't think you will have to buy your tickets in advance but you could do so for the Shinkansen, in order to be sure of good seating.

Kind Regards,
Daniel

Thank you