Just Back - thoughts on Japan

[Pumpkin Pie]

Originally Posted by martha

Thank you - that�s really helpful. Where did you pick up your JR passes from? Did you make seat reservations? Love the idea of the stamps. Is it obvious where you get them?

Many thanks

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You have to get the JR pass before going as it�s not available in Japan. You can order online but we got ours from Sta travel. Once you receive the voucher you take this to Japan. We exchanged our voucher at the airport - we asked at the information desk where to go. You then receive the actual pass. We used it straight away to take the NEX train into Tokyo (they reserve a seat for you on the next train for you). I believe if you don�t want to do this at the airport you can exchange at the bigger rail stations.

There are JR reservation offices in the stations to reserve seats on the Shinkansen but you don�t need to do anything when using the Yamanote line within Tokyo as the trains come every 4 minutes! You just flash the pass at the manned gates.

The stamps were not obvious to us at the start and we had to ask someone (usually at the manned gate at a station). Even in the temples etc. They could be at odd places but they always knew what we were talking about when we asked. They use the word stamp also. Here is an example of one of my stamps taken at Nara station. A couple of times we were taken into an office behind a blank door - we would never have found it in a million years. We did see quite a few others collecting stamps also - lots of Japanese collect them.