Looks like I'm visiting Japan again
 

2nd time this year, and this time I don't plan on staying 2 months! I am going to see my travel agent and see what the deals are after New years. I wanna stay at least 3 weeks and be home on U.S. soil in time for my college classes on January 30th. I hope there's some great deals.

gonna be visiting Girlfriends family in Saitama again. this time i think i should get a rail pass, but not sure if they have a one month period (gonna ask my travel agent, or you can chime in). During January will there be any festivals or any other celebration that will fancy me?

That sounds so nice. I visited Japan for a week once a few years ago, which still impresses me.

Wishing you a great trip and great time with your GF's family~:D

You can get a 21 day pass, then a 7 day pass.. or if you plan it out accordingly, maybe you can mix the JR passes so that you save some money, for example, make the first 20 days cross japan, on the 21st day, go back to Tokyo area, get a 7 day JR east pass for those 7 days.. or something like that

If you aren't going to be spending every day traveling long distances by train, you might want a ju-hachi kippu instead...