Advise whether to buy a Japan Rail Pass or one-way tickets

Hi Mira,

If you're not doing a round trip back to Tokyo it's a close call as a 7 day rail pass is ¥28,300. Lets take a look at your costs:

1. Tokyo > Odawara: ¥3640, (35mins, 83km)
2. Odawara > Ito: ¥2840, (42mins, 37km)
3. Ito > Kyoto: ¥12250, (161mins, 425km)
4. Kyoto > Nara: ¥690, (45mins, 41km)
5. Nara > Kyoto: ¥690, (44mins, 41km)
6. Kyoto > Osaka: ¥540, (28mins, 42km)
7. Osaka > Kobe(hyogo): ¥390, (24mins, 33km)
8. Kobe(hyogo) > Osaka: ¥390, (25mins, 33km)

TOTAL: ¥21430 for 8 legs

As you can see based on your itinerary you will be better off purchasing individual tickets. If you include travel to and from airports the cost would be closer to ¥25,000, but even then unless you do more travel single tickets are your best choice.

You can look up precise train timetables and costs at the Hyperdia travel planning website and learn how to use Hyperdia through our video blog.

Hope this helps!