Travelling to Japan and using a Japan Rail Pass?

IMHO the ONLY place to buy the pass is at:As this is the only booking channel that allows you to make seat reservations online. Happy to be corrected if this has changed…

Trains can get full during busy travel periods and buying a pass any other way means you cannot book seats until you are in Japan and have collected your pass.

As someone who can potentially make money selling Japan Rail Passes as an agent which means having to exchange your purchase confirmation for the pass when in Japan I cannot in good faith recommend it to be bought any way than using the official Japan Rail Pass site - financial penalty for me as no commission or affiliate deals withbut I want people to have a simplified experience and have the ability to prebook seats prior to arrival!

On another note when you book seats online you need to collect them from a ticket machine. ONLY print off the reservations needed for travel that day or day after as once printed you cannot cancel or change nor book other seats in time frame of the printed ticket. Once printed changes can only be made at ticket offices which can have VERY lengthy queues.

Any questions let me know…