Is there any way to get a JR Pass exchange order, without it being physically delivered to me?
Ideally in electronic form (like a simple email). But if not, could I perhaps pick it up somewhere (ideally at a major airport I'll be passing through)?
Briefly googling it seems that electronic vouchers are possible for Australians buying specifically the JR East pass. But that seems to be about it.
It seems astonishing that in this day and age, the Japanese don't have an electronic way to do this.
Indeed the JR East Pass is now issued as an e-ticket, but the countrywide JR Pass is not. What you can do if you want to minimise the risk of losing your exchange order is to send it to the post office of the airport where you will land in Japan. Japanese post offices accept incoming mail and will keep it for you to pick up later (this is for example how b-mobile ships its SIM cards). It's explained here in Japanese, but for example if you want your exchange order to be shipped to the post office in T1 of Narita airport, something like this should do
Narita Post Office, Airport Terminal 1 Annex
For [your name]
Narita City, Chiba Prefecture, 282-8799
Japan
Of course, your JR Pass seller must be willing to ship your exchange order to Japan. All the ones I know do, but YMMV. Also, this is assuming you want to obtain your JR Pass right after landing. Otherwise, just ship to your hotel.
You've probably had your trip by now, but for any potential viewers - some travel agencies and sales offices are licensed to print the exchange orders. I went into a local JAL airlines office and got it printed and given to me on the spot.
Here's a list of places that are able to print the tickets - although you might want to check beforehand if you can visit them in person.
