3 weeks in japan. what to do?

so the second week of may, i will be flying to osaka. my friend is going to school and kansai gaidai. my rough sketch for the 3 weeks that i'll be in japan is as follows:

may 11:arrive in osaka
may 11-16: spend time in or around osaka(kyoto, kobe, nara, etc)
i might end up staying in osaka until the 18th though.
may 18-23:arrive in nagoya; stay at friend's apartment for the week...making that my homebase allowing me for further travel
may 23-29:swing back to osaka, meet back up with kansai friend and travel around with no real set plan.
may 30:fly out of kansai airport

i guess the real big questions i'm looking to have answered are:
1)which rail pass should i get? i was thinking the 2 week one but since JR is kind of prominent in osaka(with the JR loop and all but also with kyoto, kobe and nara being so close) i've been considering getting the 3 week pass so i can have some cushion.
2)should i get money exchanged before i leave, get traveller's cheques, or will i be fine with my visa debit/credit card? i guess i'm looking for a combination of answers on that one.

other than that, if anyone has advice, suggestions or places of interest to check out; i'm open to anything.

i went to japan when i was 15 with sister cities and never really had much of a chance to explore. this trip should be the redemption trip. and with the rail pass granting me such freedoms, i will take them.

thanks
t-

If you plan to do a lot of traveling while in Nagoya (like day trips to Tokyo or Mt. Fuji) then I would suggest getting the 1 wk pass, start it on the 17th. Then you can use it between Osaka to Nagoya and back.

What kind of traveling do you plan on doing while in Osaka with your friends? Are you planning to go far? If so, you may want to consider getting a 2 wk pass instead and use it from May 17 - 30.

You should decide, beforehand, which cities you want to visit before deciding which pass you should get.

for the questions on #2 (money) enter your questions in the search window just above the list o questions to get the numerous posts on these subjects.
a 3 weeks pass is much too expensive if you only stay in the Kansai. it cost you about yen 2750 per day. A return trip from Osaka to Nara or Kyoto is only around yen 1000. you could get a 7 pass only and do some long distance trips during the time you are in Nagoya or the week after. a 14 days pass is OK too, for the last 2 weeks, even if you don't get your money worth. You should also check the JR passes for the Kansai and the Nagoya area (check Japan A-Z at the top of this page. under transportation/ railways there is a train passes page)

Tyler,

Consider getting the Kintetsu pass. For 3500Y you get 5 days of travel on Kintetsu. This will more than pay for itself on a single trip from Osaka to Nagoya. Unfortunately your Nagoya stay will be 6 days but you can combine 1 trip with Nara and Kyoto, both covered by the pass

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2357_006.html

Whatever you do, do not get a 7 day or 14 day JR pass unless you plan to go somewhere else like Tokyo or Hiroshima.

Even without the pass the 1 way fare from Nagoya to Osaka is only 4150Y on Kintetsu.


Cheers,

George

I believe that is better to buy a one week JR pass starting from the day that you will go to Nagoya. On your third week when you will be at Osaka again, if you plan to visit Hiroshima, Himeji and other places which are far from Osaka you should buy a 2 week JR pass. If you plan to go only to Kansai area, consider the JR West Rail Pass Kansai Area witch is available for one day (2.000 Yen) to 4 consecutive days (6.000 Yen).
You can check here: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2361_03.html

In my opinion is better to stay in Kyoto than Osaka your first or your third week. I found it more interesting and it has many places to see. In that way you will have one week in Kyoto and one week in Osaka.

I can also suggest you to go to Takayama from Nagoya. It is on the mountain and it takes about 140 minutes to go there. I really enjoyed the trip as the train follows the Hida river and the landscape is really nice.
You can check here http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5900.html

Concerning the money issue, I had exchanged money from my country before going there and I think it was better that way.
If you want to use credit or cash cards, I can tell you that you will find many ATM in the banks and the mini markets BUT if you donft have a Japanese card or a Citibank card you wonft be able to use them. I had Greek Visa cards (cash and credit cards) with me and I couldnft use any ATM. I was really surprised because I didnft have any problem to withdraw money when I was in Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore etc.
The only places that you can take money having a foreign card are the POST OFFICESf ATM. Take into consideration that if you want to use them you should do that until 8 or 9 p.m if I am not mistaken.
So please be sure that you wonft search the last minute to withdraw money.

I hope I helped you

All the best

Maria

If your bank card (a debit card allowing you to access your checking or savings account and get cash, NOT a credit card)has the logos of either Cirrus or Maestro you can use the ATM in the 7-11 convenience stores. There are over 12000 of them in Japan and they stay open late, some 24 hrs a day. They are so convenient!

Citi Bank takes a lot of foreign cards too, and in some cities has machines with 24 hour access in the foyer.