To JR Pass or not?

Do I get a JR PASS?

This is a debate I have every time I go to Japan. I'll make another post about JR Pass for those that don't know what it is. For the first time, I decided not to get a JR Pass. This takes a lot of thought and planning to know if it's worth buying the JR Pass and only you will know if it's worth the costs. Let's look at my situation for example.

For simplicity sake, I will only refer to https://www.jrailpass.com/ and the rates that I found here since it was one of the cheaper options. The current rates are:

7-day $229 for each Adults
14-day $364 for each Adults
21-day $465 for each Adults

There's no way for me to know how many small trips I'll be taking so I'm only going to be looking at my main train fares. It's hard to get an accurate cost of things so everything is just an estimate at this point.

Trip for 2 adults Google Estimate
N'EX $50
Tokyo to Osaka $220
Osaka to Nara $14
Nara to Kyoto $14
Kyoto to Tokyo $220
N'EX $50 (read note below)
TOTAL $518

Note: We're actually going to be in Japan for 16 days so if I get the 14-day JR Pass, I can't use it for 2 of those days. Meaning I will need to pay for one of those N'EX (Narita Express) rides myself anyway at 3,250 yen each adult (I crossed it off on the Google estimate for this reason). 

For two adults, the JR Pass would cost us $728 dollars. From the Google estimate, we would need to spend another $210 within those 14 days to break even with the JR Pass. Looking at Google, a train trip from Shinjuku to Ueno is about 180 yen or about $1.50 each adult. Between my husband and I, that means we need to take 140 trips to break even with the JR Pass. It's just not likely that we'll do so many trips during those 14 days, especially with our kids.

Reminder: with the JR Pass, you are restricted to the JR trains and buses. Anything outside of that would not be covered and you would need to pay out of pocket anyway. Those trips would not count towards trying to break even with JR Pass. You can probably use JR for most places in Tokyo but maybe not so much in other cities. 

Save money!

To complicate the decision... there are numerous ways to save more money! If we were staying less than 14 days, you can actually book your N'EX roundtrip for extra savings (4,070 yen round trip vs the 3,250 yen each way). 

There's also smartEX! I just discovered this and this is the reason why I'm not using JR Pass. This allows you to pre-book Shinkansen (bullet train) tickets! It's also super helpful to gauge ticket prices. If you book early, there are numerous discounts that can be applied. For example, weekday travel, early booking, or family discounts. For example, 2 adults from Kyoto to Tokyo costs $220. On smartEX (while purchasing early), it cost $176. 

If you want to learn more about smartEX, read my post about it here.

Conclusion:

To know if JR Pass is worth your time, you really need to plan out your trip. In my opinion, it's only worth your money if you plan on taking MULTIPLE trips around Japan. It's not worth it if you're only staying in one area (like Tokyo). Honestly, I feel like you need to take at least three large trips on the bullet train to make it worth your while. 

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