Hi, welcome to this thread
Oh you lived there for your job too?

PS : Is it worth booking the 7 day JR Rail Pass?

I see, looks like you traveled a lot in your life, how nice

u study there in high school? for how long already? care to share with us ur experience studying in japanese high school?

owh. ok. politics in school eh? among teachers or students? even teacher also kena harass? u mean like bully?

JR Pass almost can say whole Japan.  In Japan Suica & JR Pass both also important...cannot survice without this 2

Come on girls....Suica not just for Traveling...it used for 7-11 , Yodobashi megastore & BIC Camera Megastore , Taxi and alot store. WHo want bring so much of Yen into wallet? all just store into 1 card izzit that easy?  I go Yodobashi everytime i sure sepnt more than 50-100k Yen ...WHo so idoit want bring so much cash to shopping? i can pay in 1 card like touch & go pay bill no even used me 10 sec.    Japan 99% Vending machine all got Suica ability.

There exist many criticisms of the Japanese educational system but above is pure generalization. There are good schools and bad schools everywhere. My kids' school is fine. My nephews'/nieces' schools are OK. All public schools.
Suica is very convenient, esp. for the reasons that matt85 states - you bypass lines at the machines. You won't save money but you won't lose money either with Suica - you can get a refund when you no longer need the card. JR charges a 210yen fee if there is balance and the 500yen deposit is fully refundable. If you deplete the card to a zero balance before refunding, there is no 210yen fee i.e. you lose exactly zero. Plus, you'll probably burn through the 1500yen Suica card easily over several days of travel. Also, it is secure, you can register the card so if you lose it, you can get its value back. What's not to like?

can't agree more on bypassing lines. another thing is, it is helpful if you are lost or salah turun station. no need to re-adjust fare ticket.
but for me, all my previous travelling, i did not bother using suica because i did not use JR as frequent as Metro. usually took metro 1 day pass if i have
a lot of travelling in a day. then of course, went back to hotel with swollen feet

111,
shops are open. no problem for shopping. hunt for fukubukuro deals!

guys,

I read that car rental in japan is about 6000 yen per day .. is it a good move to rent a car for 4-5 days instead of using public transport?

Offtopic: The guy friend you travelled with is Chin Eu?