Buying individual rail tickets

We used the calculator and find we are just cheaper to buy individual tickets for rail cost compared to buying a JR pass. My question is- how easy is it to buy the tickets at the station?
We start at Osaka, travel to Tokyo for 4 nights, then to Kyoto for 3 nights, Nara for 2 nights than back to Osaka to depart. Can I buy all tickets at once, or at each departing station? Is it difficult to buy them in english? long queues?

Very easy. You just tell them your start and finish stations, the date and time you wanna travel. They do the rest. You only need to do this for your Osaka to Tokyo shinkansen travel. All the other travels should be using a IC card. No need for tickets.

Depending on where you live, you may be able to book your Shinkansen trips in advance (and not use tickets at all, since then you can use an IC card).

https://smart-ex.jp/en/

We actually never used IC card in Japan, just bought tickets in stations - using machine or from cashier. Specially easy is when you show screenprint from Hyperdia to cashier, othewice language may be an issue in remote places.

thanks for the responses. do tickets often sell out at end Nov/ early december?

Not likely to sell out as it is not a period of vacation in Japan. However they might sell out for some special trains ( eg old steam train or specially scenic ride due to koyo).

You can buy all your train tickets in one go when you arrive in Japan. Well, kind of depends if it is jr or not, but if it is jr you should be able to buy upon arrival. Other private train lines you can buy once you are in that region. Some special trains you can also buy on the internet.

Enjoy your trip to Japan!

Individual rail ticket is terribly expensive. If you go invalid area,you will pay double fare.From valid area to invalid+From invalid area to your real destination.so I always Buy transportation pass. This permits me unlimited travel. You can buy Japan bus pass 7day=15000 yen.This cover Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka etc prefecture unlimited travel.

The above is incorrect. You never pay double if you make a mistake and travel further than you ticket allows. You just do a fare adjustment.

But those smart adult just come prepared and dont put themselves in that situation in the first place.

The reply by "Rahat" is so wrong in so many places his comment should be deleted.

Not likely to sell out as it is not a period of vacation in Japan. However they might sell out for some special trains ( eg old steam train or specially scenic ride due to koyo).

For the schedule you have listed, I agree that most trains are unlikely to sell out or to pose a problem. However, I have noticed with my regular travel that more trains are "selling-out" and requiring adjustments to schedules. My current two-week tour struck one sold-out train (Omiya to Nagano!) and certainly not on a busy line or day. I am finding 5-10% of first choice trains/routes need some adjustment - certainly higher than a year or two years ago.