Hello,
I'm planning a 3 month trip to Japan, from end of this month to end of Sept, most of which will be spent in Sapporo studying. I will have time to travel during the first week of August and the last three weeks of Sept. It's likely I'll want to buy two JR Passes for my trip - assuming this is possible - and I've a few questions about how this will work:
Firstly, can I buy two JR Passes for one trip?
From what I've read, JR Passes have to be activated up to one month from purchase, but they also have to be purchased before you enter Japan. The 3-week pass I plan to use from Sept 7th, but I'll be travelling to Japan on June 28th. Can I buy a pass now and still activate it for travel in Sept when I arrive in Japan? Will there be any complications I should be aware of?
In the first week of August, I hope to travel from Sapporo to northern Tohoku region to see the summer festivals in Aomori, Sendai, Morioka, etc. Would a standard JR pass be the most cost effective way to do this or would one of the regional passes like the new East-South Hokkaido Pass or the JR East Pass be a better option?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.