I'm home

...let's see, I left my hotel in Tokushima at 7am and I got to my house in Tokyo around 11:30pm.

Not planning to leave the city for the next, oh, two weeks at least (thinking to go to Nagano's Olympic Stadium around the 18th)

I'm also really tired, let's see if I can sum up the day quickly and add details tomorrow:

7:20-7:45 - bus to Tokushima port
8:15-10:10 - ferry from Tokushima to Wakayama
10:23-11:45 trains from Wakayama port to Osaka

(lunch at Sakura, the okonomiyaki place by Osaka station that I love the food even if I don't love the people so I go there every time I'm in town)

12:30->13:51, shinkaisoku from Osaka->Maibara
13:59->14:33, Maibara->Ogaki
14:41->16:07, Ogaki->Toyohashi (shinkaisoku again, I emailed Jeff while I was sailing past Gifu and Nagoya of course. These three trains involved comfy seats, though sunny hot trains.
16:23->16:57, Toyohashi->Hamamatsu -- regular benches, crowded, and still hot train :P
17:00->18:11, Hamamatsu->Shizuoka -- also regular benches and crowded train, but this time I fell asleep for so much of the ride that I really barely remember this leg at all except waking up to make sure I hadn't slept past Shizuoka (the train was really to Atami but I had a plan)

In Shizuoka I wanted to go back to the omurice place I went to when I came through town over the winter, so I did, and I had omurice, and it was once more really good! (This time I had the "recommended" beef stew sauce omurice.) I have come to the conclusion that the best bite of omurice is always, always the first bite.

Then,

19:30->22:43, Shizuoka->Tokyo

This train ROCKS. It's basically a train that runs once a day between the two cities, it IS a local train and can be used by Seishun 18, but it is essentially as comfortable as the shinkansen, with cushy seats that lean back, footrests, and a tray table and all, as well as cafe-like compartments and also bathrooms and all the amenities of a fast expensive train. I discovered it by accident over the winter, and this time rode it on purpose, and I'm really glad I did, it was a nice way to finish out the day.

There was an accident on the Keihin-Tohoku line, so it took quite a while to get home, it shoulda been like 22:45->23:09 but ended up getting me in more like 23:20-something, and then I walked home with all my crap.

Photopost: Hiroshima-Matsuyama Ferry

This was the boat I took on Saturday morning, that I was struck by how nice it was all things considered, especially that this was the "cheap slow option", 3 hours at 3200 yen rather than the "fast classy option", 1 hour at 7000 yen.


At Hiroshima port.


In front of the ferry ship Ishitegawa.




The ship lounge, where I spent about half my time. You just picked a seat, threw your stuff down, made yourself comfortable, and there it went.


The room with the massage chairs. I spent 20 minutes in the foot one.


A small "amusement" room; it also had slot machines.




I'm not making it up, I really was watching the Mariners-Twins game. In the top picture you can see the TV is basically poised at the front of the boat, so if the game gets boring you can look out at the water instead.


The ship's little food-and-stuff store area, where you could buy hot food like ramen or udon, as well as snacks, and there was also ice cream and whatnot, AND they sold Hiroshima and ferry souvenirs and travel games and all this other stuff there.


Cars entering the ferry at Kure port (about 40 minutes in we stopped there)


A big bridge we went under; notice the spiral on the right that the cars have to drive to get to the bridge.


Another ferry boat that passed us.


Looking backwards at the trail of water the boat makes.


And from the side.


The outside seats on the deck -- a fine place to sit for a bit but since it was so hot out, most people were inside. I'm betting the opposite happens in winter.


I haven't even taken the Tokushima ferry pictures off my camera yet, so I'll try to post them soon if people want to see the total difference in quality of the two.