[rgovostes]

100%. Most first-time visitors don’t expect that their pass is useless on days you remain within a city, and that they’re burning money on an unused pass day. And a trip like Osaka-Kyoto is what, $10 normally?

I priced out a complicated multi-city itinerary for a family visit and even with a lot of long distance trains it basically broke even.

[kurthr]

Unless you use Chuo and Yamanote to get around in Tokyo or need to take Narita Express or Monorail to the airport. Or you want to get from central Osaka to Namba by Kansai or out to Nara, or all the way to Kyoto, or take a ferry to an island.

There's lots of things that the JR Pass works for that aren't Shinkansen and they used to add up even if it was just $10/day, and you didn't have to worry about it. Just the Narita Express was $30-40 one way.

With the new pricing... not so much. Just get SUICA unless you're going all the way from Sapporo to Fukuoka and back.