Need quick help with Japan Rail Pass please
 

I'd been floating along somehow assuming that I simply could buy the Japan Rail Pass online. But I now find that, if I understand the situation correctly, it must be physically obtained in the United States. So I need some advice on how and whether to obtain it. Did a search for relevant information, but still could use some guidance here.

The background is that my wife and I leave SFO for Japan late Friday morning on United (so we can't buy the pass at the airport from JAL or ANA). We'll be in Tokyo from Sat., Oct. 29 to Nov. 2 and then in Kyoto until Nov. 8, when we will take the train back up to Narita to go home. In addition to Tokyo and Kyoto, we'll take at least one day trip to Nara and perhaps one or two other day trips.

So, my questions:

1. At this point, does one of us need to go into a ticket office in San Francisco to obtain rail passes for us?
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?
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).

Thanks for whatever help and ideas anyone can provide.

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.
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.
Correct.
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).

Unless something has changed in the last year, this is incorrect. I always buy my Passes online and have them mailed to me. Unfortunately, that won't work for your short time frame. Any large travel agency in the Bay Area should be able to issue you passes if you walk in. Make a few phone calls to save time.

You can find the fare @ http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/charge/index.asp
For Tokyo ~ Kyoto:
Tokaido Shinkansen (Hikari and Kodama trains) is 13,220 yen per person
Tokaido Shinkansen (Nozomi trains) is 13,520 yen per person

While 7 day ordinary pass is 28,300 yen per person.

As jib71 already points out, JR pass won't save you much unless your day trip is long. If you don't plan to take any long day trips, then I will probably just buy Nozomi trains instead (not valid with JR pass) since it is newer, more frequent, and less stops usually.

Hope you have the exchange order by now because if not, your only hope is to go RIGHT NOW to Japan Travel Bureau, 685 Market St, Suite 200, SF, to get the exchange order. A lot of places which claim to have it (like STA travel) actually don't have an exchange order in stock and it takes a day or two. If you are flying JAL, maybe they can do an MCO for you at the airport.

... or not bother.

Thanks very much for the quick and useful replies, folks. Nara and our other day trips (if any) won't be too long and in any event today's been too busy to scramble to get the pass, so I guess we'll just pay for the individual tickets as we go along.

If you don't have the rail pass, take the Kintetsu line between Kyoto and Nara. Slightly cheaper and generally faster (if you get an express) than JR.

You can also save money with one of the Suica+NEX deals, especially since your trip is less than two weeks long.

You'll get a roundtrip on the Narita Express to Tokyo and a rechargeable debit card (Suica) preloaded with ¥1500 for public transport (JR and private trains, subways, buses) within the Tokyo-Yokohama area. (It's not good in western Japan, i.e. Kyoto and vicinity, but you can save money on local travel there by traveling on private rail lines instead of JR).

Details are here:

http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/suica-nex/