Is JP National Passes and JP Regional passes compatible in the region the pass is issued for

Is JP National Passes and JP Regional passes compatible in the region the pass is issued for? For my wife and I a 14day pass is hard to justify as with the 14days we are there at least 8 days when we dont need one. Is it better when working thru itinerary to think of regional passes. Hoping we can better utilise the rail system at a cheaper cost. Any assistance gratefully accepted.

I guess you mean JR?

The short answer...it depends where you are going ;-) As well as what kind of transport,and how fast you want to travel.

National JR pass is generally useful for fast trains,long distance in brief periods of time.

Local passes can be useful if you are travelling a lot in one part of the country.

There is also of course the option to buy as you go,which is often the best option.....

What do you mean by "compatible"?

As pointed out by lucapal, the national passes and (to a lesser extend) the regional passes are only useful for long distance fast transportation in a short amount of time. They are not useful for local transport or short day trips from cities.

To give you an idea, the 7 / 14 day nationwide JR passes cost 4150 / 3300 yen per day, while a typical day trip from a city costs somewhere in the 1000 to 3000 yen range at most and local travel in cities around 1000 yen per day or less.

Whether you need a pass or not depends on your itinerary which is not clear from your post. Chances are that you want to spend around a week in Tokyo+Kyoto and for the time you spend in or around these cities you don't want a JR pass.

• Where else are you going?

• Can you get an open-jaw flight Tokyo/Osaka (which would save you on ground transportation?

• If trains are too expensive, (overnight) buses tend to be the cheapest form of transport in Japan for most itineraries (but are of course less comfortable than the train).

• Can you rearrange your trip such that all long distance transport is together (e.g. within a one week period)?

Is it better when working thru itinerary to think of regional passes.

Figure out where you want to go first and don't let a rail pass influence this decision.

It is best to travel in Japan without any form of JR pass, just use individual tickets. They usually cost more than they are worth.

Nationwide passes and the Regional passes often do not pair together particularly well. Many of the regional passes are private railways. There are JR regional passes too, but there too you run into restrictions. Many regional JR passes do not include seat reservations, you have to sit in the unreserved cars. The nationwide passes cannot be used on the fastest trains but do include the price of seat reservations. So if 2 people have 2 different passes they might not be able to take the same train, and if they do they might not sit in the same car. I suppose someone on a regional pass can take a slower train, and someone on a nationwide pass can sit in the unreserved car, but you arent getting value out of the passes.

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