I will be in Japan for 32 days.I have been agonizing over whether to go from 21 days and add another week ,as I will be doing a number of long distance rides including to Takayama from Kyoto, local from Kyoto to Nara/Uji and Wazuka ... etc and using local busses. I will let people know here if it was worth it when I return. I see one direction from Takayama to Kyoto was going to be $100 so just one round trip there will cost $200. But even shorter rides will not be cheap like from Osaka airport to Kyoto and back when I leave(I wont be able to use the pass both ways as I will only have 28 days of rail use)..I have been on the shinkansens before and I really prefer the comfort and service of the green car. Plus I can guarantee my sea as it is by reservation I did not want to risk not getting a seat since it will be high tourist season with cherry blossom/sakura watching .There is some risk if you get the regular pass and I may do a trip to Tokyo fo ra meetup, from Kyoto so again a costly trip.. Never mind if I wish to go back to Otaru , Hokkaido LOL
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It costs only 4200 yen from Takayama to Kyoto by a direct bus. The seat is guaranteed. But it shoots up to 14890 yen with a Green Car on a Shinkansen Nozomi. In this case, you need to transfer trains and Nozomi is not covered by Japan Rail Pass.
https://world.jorudan.co.jp/mln/en/?p=0&xpd=1&from=Takayama&to=Kyoto&date=04/04/2018&time=15:01&ft=1&ic=0&us=2&up=0&ut=0&nzm=0&sub_lang=nosub&estf=Takayama&estt=Kyoto
It is similar in the part from Kyoto to Kansai Airport. It costs only 1880 yen with JR local trains, but 5100 yen with a Green seat on Nozomi.
https://world.jorudan.co.jp/mln/en/?p=0&xpd=1&from=Kyoto&to=Kansai-Airport&date=04/04/2018&time=15:03&ft=0&ic=0&us=2&up=0&ut=0&nzm=0&sub_lang=nosub&estf=Kyoto&estt=Kansai-Airport
In each of these cases, the ratio between the lowest and the highest prices are roughly three. That is interesting to me.