Kir0, where you are staying is outside Tokyo. its in Saitama (probably similar to New York and New Jersey). a JR Pass is advised if you are going to be doing several inter city trips on JR Lines. You should really work it out before you leave as you cant purchase a JR Pass in Japan. it costs 28,000+ yen. Thats like a return fare to Kyoto from Tokyo.
You can check on some of the train scheduling websites for prices of travelling between places on trains from point A to B. heres a very good one
Enter the station name