the tall blond guy goes to japan

Train facts

Shinkansen

The Shinkansen (bullet train) is expensive, and the base price does not include a seat. In order to be assured that you'll get a seat, you must reserve one, for even more money. I didn't really figure this one out until this morning, when I bought my tickets. Oh well. I'd rather have a reservation than have to stand all the way. Those trains get crowded sometimes...

There are different kinds of Shinkansen around, depending on the line you're travelling. They've been around since the 60s or 70s, and some of the trains from that decade are still running, along with brand-new ultra-modern ones. The old ones do a funny jerky motion sometimes, and the tracks are not nearly as smooth as the newer ones. The seats are very sugoi- they rotate, so that they're always facing the direction of travel. Oooohhh...

One of the old ones

There are little trays that come down like in airplanes... in fact, the modern shinkansen are very airplane-like, except that they have far more legroom and the chairs actually recline confortably. So this is what British Airlines must be like.

Every so often, the bento-girls show up. Bento, if you don't remember (or didn't read that bit) is a kind of lunch-in-a-box deal. Generally cold. After surviving on them for a month at the Yomiuri, I'm trying to avoid anything even vaguely bento-like in nature. They also sell tea, pop, juice and vanilla ice cream.

There is no room for luggage. None. When there are people in the seats next to me, I've had to sit with my bags piled directly in front of me. There is a shelf-like thing to put small bags on, but all of mine are too big to fit up there. It's not meant for heavy things.

Being an alone obviously-not-from-around-here person, I tend to get talked to alot. Sometimes in English (eigo) or sometimes in Japanese and picture diagrams. I've met lots of interesting people this way. Just now, I had a conversation in English wish a student who is about to take a big English exam.

Oh, and when you're on the shinkansen, don't expect to see much scenery. Most of the time, the bloody thing's underground, making seeing anyting aside from the inside of a tunnel completely impossible.