Please help to see if i should buy JR Pass for my itinerary?

Hi Ken!

Looking at your itinerary, I do think that at least a 7 day JR Pass would be a great addition for two reasons.
The first is that there's no night bus connection between Takayama and Kagoshima, the trip is rather long (1264.5 km by rail). The price for a one way ticket is ¥ 28,130 which is almost the same as a 7 day JR Pass ¥ 28,300 you could than use the JR Pass to travel to Nagasaki, Hiroshima and Kyoto saving a ton over normal tickets.

This will also avoid the over use of night buses, this is of course personal but I can rarely sleep in a night bus and get really tired the next day.

Some other things I would like to add:
Kyoto - Osaka (on nov 7) are located closely and you can take a local train connection between them which just takes 30min / 540yen, so there's no need for a night bus here :) Than from Kyoto - Nagoya, look into taking a local train too, the connection takes a little over 2 hours but is just ¥ 2,520. You can find the full route information here.

I hope this helps!
Daniel

Daniel-san, Arigato!

Thanks for the insightful suggestions. I'll amend my plans accordingly.

Yes, the long legs of travels has been a bit of a concern for my girlfriend coz she
is not really such a hardcore backpacker. She's more used to following organized
tour groups!! hahaha

So if i already have a 7 day JR pass so i dont have to use the Willer passes anymore ya.

If that's the case then perhaps i can bypass Hiroshima and go straight from Nagasaki to
Kyoto and spend an extra day in Kyoto? I've been advised that there's not much to
see and do in Hiroshima?

So my JR pass will be usable on all lines connecting Takayama - Kagoshima - Nagasaki - Kyoto? I've read
quite a lot on JR passes and it's a bit confusing as there's JR East, JR West etc etc and apparently JR passes cant be used on the Sanyo line? Do i have to buy another ticket to pass thru that line on the way from Takayama to Kagoshima and when travelling back to Kyoto?

It's our first time in japan so my apologies if my questions sound rather silly....but thanks in advance for sharing
your info with me.

Ken777

Oh ya, sorry i forgot to ask. I saw somewhere in one of the travel forums that effective 01 June 2013 there's a 5 days flexi JR pass available? but i cant find this on the JR website? Is this a hoax or is there a special arrangement to purchase this flexi pass?

Apparently this pass is like the Willer bus pass where the day is deducted only on those days when u use the pass and is not like the 7 day pass which once activated will start ticking continuously even if it is not used....

Ken777

Hi Ken!

You could skip Hiroshima although I personally love that city, the peace museum is not to be missed and you can also visit the iconic Miyajima from there too!

All lines Takayama - Kagoshima - Nagasaki - Kyoto - Hiroshima (and if you make a stop there) are covered so no need to worry about additional budgeting. The JR Pass I am referring too is the nationwide pass and valid everywhere in the country so you don't have to worry about regional restriction. You won't have to worry about further budgeting either because no additional costs are needed.

As for the 5 day flexi pass, I think that you are confused with the JR EAST Pass which is only valid north of Tokyo and would not benefit your travel at all. The 7 JR Pass is valid for 7 consecutive days and will expire after 7 days even if you don't use it. However it does allow for unlimited travel during this period, so make the most of it! (which you already do by making a trip to Kagoshima).

I hope this helps too!
Daniel