Travelling as a tourist in japan?

Question:

going to japan for a few days next month (around tokyo, hakone, kyoto, hiroshima). main question is: how do i travel around japan?

my first choice was car due to the flexibility of going around and timing. They're 3 of us and with a car, (we think) it may be easier to get to/from stations, hotels and sighseeing sights.

then after reading many forums, the JR pass was another option. apparently in japan, the public transport systen is extremely efficient and the trains would be great. but now, what i'm worried about: getting from station to hotel, without any car how would you get to the sightseeing sights?, and generally it isn't that flexible.

and i again read that apparently, some cities in japan have horrendous traffic, expensive tolls, lack of parking, and japanese signs.

so car or train?

Answer:

As for renting a car to drive I strongly discourage this--they are expensive (often 10,000 yen a day),
gasoline costs more than double that of the US, parking is hard to find and very costly, and unless you know Japanese the traffic signs will be often hard to figure out. Renting a car only makes sense if you're going to some isolated place where public transportation doesn't go. Besides, it takes hours and hours to get where you're driving--time better spent in your destinations by traveling on something faster.
Moreover, finding many Japanese places when you don't know where it is can be a real pain. City layout in Japan is a total mess.
I suggest you get a Japan Rail Pass for a week, which allows you to travel anywhere in the country for an unlimited amount on virtually all JR trains.
You must get the pass before you go to Japan though.
See
http://www.jtbusa.com/en/jr/j-jr.asp and
http://www.japanrailpass.net/
for complete info. You can also get regional JR Passes for a given area, and you can get a day pass for the subway in many major cities for about 1000 yen.
Another alternative is to fly; you can get a JAL Yokoso Airpass or Welcome to Japan Pass and get over 50% off each domestic flight. ANA has something like it as well. See
http://www.jal.co.jp/yokosojapan/
http://www.staralliance.com/en/fares/reg…
http://www.ana.co.jp/wws/us/e/wws_common…