We're off to Japan at Christmas, planning to spend some time riding the rails, and from a back-of-the-spreadsheet calculation, it seems like it'll be worth picking up a JR Pass for our trip...
It's not a trivial amount of money, and there are different ways to get one - from a local agent, or from elsewhere and get it posted - and I'm wondering if anyone has any advice, if it's worth shopping around, or just bite the bullet and grab a couple from a local agent? Just looking for the 7-day ordinary-class pass, nothing long or green!