Help please!! Is the Japan Rail Pass worth it?

[JoeySG]

I am currently in the process of organising a trip for myself to Japan and I am looking in to transportation around. I am planing on staying in Tokyo for a fortnight and taking the trains/walking/other public transport to explore the city and other local places. The Japan Rail Pass seems pretty good but at £250 (45100 Yen) it seems very expensive and I would have to pay over £18 per day to make any sort of saving!! Would I be better off trying to just buy tickets while I am there?

Also I am a student, what is the best way to prove this to gety discounts? I have a form for a "ISICcard" which seems like a general student card, but does anyone have anything that may be more specific?

[Belton]

The rail pass is worth it if you plan to travel further afield, or use the shinkansen.
I doubt you can use it that much in the tokyo metropoltan area.
A commuter day pass is about 700 yen / £5 and should be all you need in the city.
You may find fares to nearby places are less than the cost of a Rail pass.

http://www.tokyometro.jp/global/en/tick ... icket.html

you can check fares at
http://www.hyperdia.com/
to see if getting a pass is good value

--edit--
The JR pass is only valid on JR trains. Not all train lines are JR. Especially the local services in cities.
Kansai is also easier to travel on non-JR trains depending on where you want to go.

PS it's well worth travelling outside Tokyo.
You can get to Kagoshima in under a day by Shinkansen and limited express ditto Sapporo if you go north. Kyoto is only a few hours away. All your other costs (food, hotels etc.) will be the same, maybe even a bit less.
You don't need a JR Pass for your whole stay. You could start and finish your stay in Tokyo and use a 7 day pass to tour to Kyoto/Nara/Kyoto or further to Hiroshima Nagasaki Kagoshima.
Nor do you have to fly into Tokyo. Centrair in Nagoya is a great airport, KIX near Osaka is also good. then you could use your pass to get to Tokyo for 5 days or so in the middle of your trip.
(booking with Air France via Paris from the UK gets you on JAL for the Paris - Nagoya leg of the journey with really good service)

[JoeySG]

For other people looking for information on the same thing I did get the rail pass and it was really worth it. Just taking the Shinkansen a good distance a couple of times made up the most part of the fair! Also it is awesome for when you just feel like exploring for the hell of it! I ended up at Inuyama castle because I got bored while in Nagoya!

Rail pass was worth it.