My daughter studies in America. She’d procrastinated booking the Narita-Kumamoto leg of her お正月 (oshyougatsu, New Year) return journey (likely a genetic trait response) and was shocked to find the one-way ticket at some 40,000 yen. I suggested that she check out the JR free pass; for the same price, she could get two weeks of unlimited rides on the shinkansen and related vehicles. The rub is that the deal is limited to non-Japanese entering as tourists. To date, my daughter has always used her Japanese passport for Japan and her US passport for the US, but she would have to enter Japan on her US passport to get the deal. I instructed her to discuss with her local JTB branch to parse, and she responded that they gave their assurances all would be okay. I’ll let you know how it goes. For those Kumamoto-I’rs with dual-national kids abroad, this might be an economical option. Funny thing is that this will be the first time in my daughter’s 20 years of existence that she will be a non-Japanese in Japan. - William