Bullet Trains and Things: The Journey to Osaka

Parents, you can start reading again. I'm writing this from the Bullet Train. We are more on track with our plans now.

My alarm went off at 0430 and I get up and shower and get dressed. As I finish our phone rings. They've (Shannon, Sam, JD) decided that they want to sleep in and catch a later train. Which was what we wanted to do to begin with. So pleased I woke up at 0430 to get ready. I go back to sleep on the couch with my wet hair wrapped up in a towel with my extra clothes as blankets.

I set my alarm for 0600. No one moved. So I went back to sleep. At 0730 the phone rang, and they asked if we wanted to go or sleep in more. I said let's go. I was ready at 0500 to go. We get dressed and pack up and head out, stopping by the convience store one last time. I snag a water. The subway is right next to the hotel. Literally right out the door of the convience store. Shannon's got basic instructions as to what to do. We ask the ticket window for basic confirmation. We get our tickets and take the train a few stops to Shin-Yokohama. We get off and buy our Bullet Train tickets. Slightly expensive. Sorry dad it's on the Miami card.

We got there just in time to catch our 0919 to Shin-Osaka. Obviously everything continues to be in Japanese. Duh, Steff. But we got onto a Reserved car and just sat down. When the ticket man came through he told us we were in the wrong car, which we figured but didn't know where to go. We walked up a few cars to the non reserved. I was thinking they were gonna be bad, but they weren't significantly different from the reserved seats. But getting seats together in the non reserved was not an option.

I sat on an aisle seat with an older man. I ate my croissant and played on my phone. I think everyone had to separate except for Becca and Nic. Tania and I bbmed back and forth for amusement.

At the first stop a ton of people got off. Including the mother with small children across the aisle. They were so cute, probably about 4 and running around. There aren't nearly as many children around, at least from what I've seen. Although this morning on the subway there was a family with a bunch of 8 to 14 year old kids and they were loud and lively. That made me feel better about speaking in public and smiling. Smiling's not very common here either.

As people gathered their stuff to go, Tania stuck her head out in the aisle and summoned me to sit in row with her. Sam moved back with us. And here we are. That keeps you all up-to-date with where I am right now and it's only a little after 1100. We're headed to the Osaka Aquarium to see the whale sharks and check out this "revolutionary" aquarium. I'm stoked. Everyone else seems to be too. I think after that we'll get food. Osaka is supposed to be the food capital of Japan. Tokyo's fashion. I forget what Yokohama is. But they're the 3 biggest cities in Japan. I'm thrilled we get to go to all 3.

After fooding we'll head to Kobe to find a hotel for the night and figure out transportation to the pier. We've got an early morning tomorrow with an SAS trip to Hiroshima. We all signed up to do it together. Although I can't remember if Shannon's going too. Anyways, we need to be there for 0745. Told you, I'm not wasting time sleeping in Japan. There's too much to do and see.

This Bulley Train is crazy. The only thing I remember hearing about it was awhile ago when one epically crashed. But it's super fast. We're traveling about 600 miles down Japan. Southwest I believe. The scenery is CRAZY. We've been passing huge snow covered mountains and then through cities and then into tunnels. I'm so glad we get to experience the Bullet Train. It's called Shinkansen (I may have spelled that slightly wrong, but I'm still learning)

The weather is overcast and cloudy/misty. And cold. Again. It's supposed to be the same in Osaka with rain tonight. I brought my rain coat, so I'm prepared.

I don't think I've written about this yet: tipping. I read this before we got here and it was explained at our Pre-Port meeting the night before we got into Yokohama. Tipping is considered rude and offensive. You're not supposed to tip anyone with the exception of English speaking tour guides. Aka Americanization. No tipping at meals, nothing. It's so weird to me, because these waitresses, concierges, and information booth men have gone above and beyond with speaking English and helping with every question. They don't even appear frustrated with our lack of Japanese or knowledge of Japan. I want to be tipping left and right. Because honestly, I'd be nowhere without these people, or epically epically lost. It's hard to get used to. We're more used to the currency now: the yen.

It will be strange to feel like you know a good deal after a few days in one country (Japan) then go to another (China) and know nothing again.

It's humbling and fascinating. I'm glad we're doing some independent traveling early on before our big trips to gain some confidence. It's a cool feeling. I like traveling with little plans. It's hard to believe this plan to Osaka is actually working out.

That's all I got for now. I'll post later about the rest of the day. Traveling far on the buses and trains gives me a good amount of time to catch up on writing without missing out on anything.

Love and miss.
From the BT somewhere in Japan.
S