Is the JR Pass worth it? The maths on my Japan route

Few decisions on a Japan trip cause as much doubt as this one. My answer, after 17 days in the country: I didn't buy the Japan Rail Pass and I recommend skipping it if your route looks like mine. This isn't a general rule, it's a calculation you have to do with your own route in front of you. Here is mine.

What it is and what it costs

The Japan Rail Pass, or JR Pass, is a train pass for foreign tourists only that lets you use almost all Japan Railways (JR) trains for 7, 14 or 21 consecutive days. Since 1 October 2026 the national pass in standard class costs ¥53,000 (7 days), ¥84,000 (14 days) and ¥105,000 (21 days). According to the Japan National Tourism Organization, the official pass website will keep selling at the previous prices (¥50,000, ¥80,000 and ¥100,000) for a limited time. Prices and conditions change, so confirm them on the official website before you decide.

My route, journey by journey

These are the long journeys on my 17-day route and what each costs on its own. They are indicative reference prices (I don't remember what I paid ticket by ticket) and it's worth checking them before you travel:

On top of that come a few short JR trains the pass would cover: Kyoto to Nara (¥720 each way), Hiroshima to Miyajimaguchi (¥420) and the JR ferry to Miyajima (¥200). Together, a couple of thousand yen more. And the buses (Shinjuku to Kawaguchiko, Kanazawa to Shirakawa-go and on to Takayama) are not covered by the pass in any case; the ones I took weren't expensive, about €15-20 as far as I remember.

The maths

• Individual tickets: about ¥60,000 in total, so around €330 (at an approximate rate of ¥180 per euro).
• 14-day JR Pass: ¥84,000, about €465.

The pass would have cost me over €100 more. And that's before two other things. First, the pass doesn't work on the fastest shinkansen (Nozomi and Mizuho): to use it from Hiroshima to Tokyo you'd have to take a slower Hikari or Sakura. I took the usual fast shinkansen. Second, my long journeys are spread over more than 10 days, so the 7-day pass (¥53,000) doesn't fit either.

Inside the cities, you don't use the pass

For getting around inside cities the pass isn't what you need either: it doesn't work as a standalone subway ticket. I used a Suica card: I topped it up with small amounts every few days and tapped it like a bus card, on the subway, local trains and buses. In total I spent about €70 or more on the Suica over the whole trip. We didn't take Ubers or taxis because they were very expensive, so we used the subway a lot. It's the most convenient option, and the Kansai area (Osaka and Kyoto) has its equivalent, ICOCA.

When it could pay off

If your route chains many long journeys into a few days (for example, going back and forth several times between Tokyo and Kyoto or Hiroshima), the sum of tickets can exceed ¥84,000. The practical rule is the same: write down every long journey with its price, add them up and compare with the pass. If they don't clearly go over that figure, buy individual tickets.

If you want to see the full route with the journeys day by day, it's in our 17-day Japan itinerary, and the cost breakdown is in how much it costs to travel to Japan.