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Tokyo - Kyoto - Osaka using JR pass ?

Hi, I am planning to go to Japan around June 2018 , with my wife and 2 daughters.
My itinerary as below :
day 1 . Arrive at Haneda
day 2. getting around tokyo
day 3. getting around tokyo
day 4. getting around tokyo
day 5. Tokyo - Kyoto
day 6. Kyoto
day 7. Kyoto
day 8. Kyoto - Osaka
day 9. Osaka
day 10. Osaka
day 11. Osaka - Haneda
day. 12. Take off from Haneda

My questions are :
1. Do I need JR pass ? If yes , which one better can pay off ?
2. If I am going home from Osaka , do I need JR pass ? which one ?
3. I will use shinkansen to travel from Tokyo - Kyoto, Kyoto- Osaka, or maybe back Osaka - Tokyo. Do I have to booking the tickets first before or just can directly get in ?
4. If I need JR pass, I have to buy again local pass in each city ? Or buy SUICA again ?
5. How many hours shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto ?
6. Children ages 6 - 9 , has special prices of JR pass ?


Many thanks before , hope I can get usefull information from you.

Cayadi

Comments

  • edited July 2017
    Hi,
    The question isn't if you "need" a pass - it's if you'd save money with one. Compared to buying regular tickets, you'd still come up a little short using a pass. So you have a couple choices. If you want to keep your itinerary as is, then the japanican tickets are much cheaper and you can take the Nozomi bullet train getting you there 30 minutes faster (which you can't take with the JR Pass).
    http://www.japanican.com/en/tour/detail/VJOPENTK1/
    http://www.japanican.com/en/tour/detail/VJOPENTO1/

    Or, if you are willing to expand your plans a bit, then you can get some good savings on a 7 day JR pass. You could for example take a day trip to Himeji, with Japan's finest castle (and the Kokoen Garden next to it is very good also).
    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 wonderful.
    On another evening, you could also go and see Kobe.

    You should definitely not miss Nara either. It's worth at least half a day and seeing the Todaiji Temple is a must.

    With the JR Pass, you can make free seat reservations at any JR office. For the japanican tickets, it is sitting in the unreserved cars only. With the JR Pass you can take nearly any JR train with it. You'd need to pay for the travel between cities with the japanican ticket, but fares are not high and you'd still end up savings more with your original plan.
    On the JR Pass the bullet train takes about 3 hours to get from Tokyo to the Kansai area. With the japanican ticket taking the Nozomi train it takes about 2½ hours.
    For both tickets, children's fare is about half the adult's.

    For Tokyo, a 2-3 day subway day pass can save you money.
    http://www.tokyometro.jp/en/ticket/value/travel/index.html#anc03

    You can see regular fares, routes and schedules on Hyperdia.
    http://www.hyperdia.com
    Under "More Options", be sure to uncheck the Nozomi box if using the JR Pass since you can't ride that train with it.

    You can see previews of some of the best places to see in Japan on:
    https://www.youtube.com/user/thejapanfaq/videos

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