I got a 14 day pass, $340. They always pay off.

I really liked Kyoto when I was there, but it was April and the weather was beautiful.

Found a 24 hour post office. Osaka just got +1.

Osaka<-> Kyoto is like a 10 buck train ride. No need for a train pass for that trip. But if you're going to travel a lot in the Kansai area, there are some awesome regional transportation passes that you can get. They've got info about them at KIX (Kansai International Airport) (and super friendly staff at the tourist info booth).

Kobe is an awesome day trip from Osaka.

Like Rog said, if you're just making the Tokyo -> Osaka -> Tokyo route, a 7 day "all Japan" JR pass is already worthwhile. Throw in a trip to another city (Hiroshima, Okinawa, etc) and the 7 or 14 day pass is an insane bargain.

There is info about the Mandarake exclusives somewhere on the Net. A buddy at a shop showed me on his laptop. Sorry I don't know the URL.

Matt looked at the flyer I got at that rally, and set me straight on what it was about:

"It's a Japan Communist Party flyer that advocates against changing the constitution so that Japan can have a military. If you got this at that rally, I doubt they were disparaging foreigners! These guys are left- rather than right-wingers."

So I guess instead of "American, go home," it was, "American, please continue to provide a military presence so we don't have to."

Pffft..Herpetology geek.

...oh they do have a military -
there´s even japanese troops in irak.
take care!

I know that, but there's currently a movement (spearheaded by Abe) for Japan to amend the constitution and develop its own full-scale military that would be able to do more than serve as a self-defense force.

I believe that Iraq is the first time Japanese military forces have been deployed overseas (officially). Even though it was Koizumi's call, that's probably the action that initially sparked this debate.