Japan Rail Pass question
 

Does anyone know if I can purchase a JR pass for my son if I have have his passport w/me, or does he have to go in person w/me to purchase the pass? I have been trying for days to get through on the phone to places nearby that sell the pass, and no answer. He'll have to take some time off from school if he has to go in person w/me, so I'd appreciate any info you might know on this.

No problem. I bought JR passes for myself and my husband by bringing his passport with me.

I am assuming what you need to do while still outside Japan, because when he is in Japan, he'd better have his passport with him.

If you read thru the Japan rail site,

http://www.japanrailpass.net/eng/en04.html

you will understand that what you "buy" is an EXCHANGE ORDER. For us, this required no identification of any sort, I emailed the travel agent the names that should appear on the exchange order, faxed a CC authorization and got the exchange order in return.

but converting an EXCHANGER ORDER into a JR-PASS requires a passport.

AFTER arriving in Japan he needs to go to a ticket office or other JR office that takes your EXCHANGE ORDER + PASSPORT and give you a JR-PASS. He needs to fill out YET ANOTHER FORM at this time. The process took about 15 minutes for us.

Thanks to you both. I didn't realize I could get a JR Exchange order without going in person. And I thought erroneously that I would need our passports to buy the exchange orders. This issue is not addressed on the JR site. Thanks for the clarification. I understood the exchange process already and have a plan for that.

Actually, I see now that Elainee says she did have her husband's passport w/her when she bought his exchange order. So perhaps some places do require it...

I also needed his passport with me when I did the exchange in Japan for the JR Railpass. It was not necessary for both of us to be there.
Getting reservations and tickets with the JR railpass was a pleasure. Very easy. Since we do not speak Japanese, I brought with me the names of the places I wanted tickets written in Japanese. I had the hotel staff write these out for me. Very helpful. I just showed the name to the railroad reservation/ticket person and had no problem. Few of the railroad staff spoke English that we met in Kobe, Kanazawa, Takayama, Matsomoto. Do get reserved cars whenever possible. Our friends had the First class pass, we had the regular. The regular cars turned out to be less crowded than the first class...might be unusual, but it happened to us.