Originally Posted by
Thunderroad
1. At this point, does one of us need to go into a ticket office in San Francisco to obtain rail passes for us?
That would seem the most reliable way. Some people have mentioned agencies that can courier a rail pass to you. Given the short timescale, you might prefer to go and pick up the pass yourself. Telephone ahead and verify the details of what they need. I think they'll want your passport numbers and some other details.
Originally Posted by
Thunderroad
2. Am I correct in assuming that the rail pass for the travel we have in mind is less expensive than buying tickets for individual trips?
For what you described (Tokyo-Kyoto return trip + Nara trip + one or two other trips) the individual fares will be at least as much as the pass. Depending on the nature of the "one or two other trips" the savings from the pass might be more significant. But if you're just talking about short distances, it doesn't sound like the pass will make a huge difference to the money you spend. If you plan a couple of Shinkansen trips - say a day trip to Hiroshima, then the individual fares will cost significantly more than the pass.
Originally Posted by
Thunderroad
3. Am I also correct in assuming that a seven day pass will only cover Nov. 2 to 8? I.e., we could not use it on Nov. 1 (for a day trip from Tokyo).
Correct.
Originally Posted by
Thunderroad
Thanks for whatever help and ideas anyone can provide.
In your situation, I might just decide to forget about the pass. Depends how much "other" travel you want to do and how much hassle you can tolerate immediately before your trip. It's worth noting that there is a small advantage to non-pass travel. With a pass, you can't ride Nozomi Shinkansen trains, which limits choice a little on the line to Kyoto. (With Nozomi trains you have a departure every six minutes or so - without, you're down to a couple per hour).