Buying JR passes through jrpass.com
 

The plusses:

1. Very fast and efficient.

2. Competitive prices.

The minus:

There is no mention on the main part of the website that it is a British company, prices are in dollars, etc. However, that means that if you use a credit card with a foreign charge fee (the one I used was 3%), you get hit with that fee even given that they price and bill in USD.

I normally use my fee-free Amex Plat for foreign charges but they don't take Amex -- and anyway, I didn't know it was going to be a foreign charge!

I notice it does mention that it will be a transaction under English law in the small print of the T&C's, but there is no general, clear comment to that effect.

Again, they seem very reliable, but be beware of this gotcha before purchase!

Interesting. I usually use the TTA office right there in SF - or actually Belmont.

The http://www.japanrailpass.net/eng website should have a link to local agents in various countries. I was delighted to find that there is an authorized sales agent right here in MSP.

Yes, there are plenty of local agents not far from where I live, I just thought I'd try the new alternative. Their service was really great and extremely responsive, I was just surprised when I say they were Fedexing from London, and then a bit more surprised when I saw the 'foreign transaction' fee on my card bill.

I think they could fix the problem by just noting on their front page that the charge, although in USD, would originate in London.

I can wholeheartedly recommend NTA which operates as www.myjrpass.com ... they had the lowest prices I could find plus free 2-day shipping.

They also accept the standard spectrum of Credit Cards with no currency exchange or foreign transaction fees for US Cardholders since the charge comes from California.