That’s the Hayabusa bullet train I boarded this morning and rode north to the city of Sendai. I was in a reservation-only ‘green car’ seat and as always the ride was very comfy.
Hayabusa Shinkansen are the fastest trains in Japan and it only took 80 minutes (with two stops) to travel the 300 km from Ueno to Sendai. I ate my hog cutlet sandwich and tried not to nap.
The train only had a single green car, and one benefit of riding in it (in addition to comfier seats) is that an attendant brings a cart through to sell snacks. This no longer exists on the western trains out of Tokyo – instead you order on an app and the food is delivered – so I’m glad I was able to get this photo of a dying service. She had all manner of items for sale including ice cream, and walked through three times during my portion of the trip. Naturally she stopped and bowed to the car every time she left.
I’m in Sendai two nights, although I don’t actually have any plans here! My hotel is comfy and well-located adjacent to the station, which is convenient because Sendai on this trip is a stopping point between two other destinations, one west and one northeast. You’ll learn about both the next two days.
So as it turns out after arriving I wandered around the CBD and somehow stumbled into an otaku area with game and hobby shops aplenty. Naturally this suited me fine 🙂
And yes, the above is an actual limited burger offered at Burger King here right now. I’ve always wanted to try one of their burgers with rice instead of a burger bun, but I’ll be giving this one a pass!
I spent a few hours in stores and game centers, somehow managing not to buy anything aside from stamps and postcards. I found an interesting building with a variety of shops in it including a good Volks store (they mostly sell model kits) which had an impressive display of painted models on display. The one shown above is only about 2 inches high; I wonder if the painter used a microscope? I’m not joking, they sell them at Volks to be used for fine detail painting and the teeth and fingernails were so tiny they seemed impossible to paint!
The same building had book stores, anime stores, a game center with retro candy shop and – a rare sight in Tokyo now – old Japanese-style toilets! I recall the first few times we visited these were occasionally unavoidable, but it seems Japan has mostly now transitioned to western style privies.
In one store I found this absolutely amazing hoodie that can be completely zipped closed so the wearer appears to be Alien Metron from Ultraman. At ¥16000 (~$110) it’s a considered purchase so I ask you to consider and leave me a comment: should I go back tomorrow and buy this? I may never see it again, so if you read this more than 24 hours from now it may be too late…
Sunset from my room was pretty, but now it’s dark and time for bed. I’ll get an early start tomorrow since my destination is about 90 minutes away by slow mountain train. It promises to be a memorable day.
Of course get the Metron hoodie. 😀
I remember the first time I went to India those squat toilets were common. The ones on the trains were just holes in the floor and you could see the track under the train whizzing by. The western toilet on the train was the same, no flush mechanism, just a seat over a hole to the tracks below. 😀
In India on the train in first class we also had food service. It was a young boy, perhaps ten, with a scalding urn strapped to his back full of soup. He’d walk through the carriage shouting “Soup, soup, tomato soup”. If stopped he’d produce a bowl and fill it with soup from the urn. I believe it was complimentary. He also came though with another super heated urn containing milk tea. Another child did the rounds with a cart giving out dosa and idly.
I believe these children lived in the train as when we got to our destination I saw one emerge from a storage locker half asleep and open the carriage door for us as we stopped at the station.
This was not a bullet train, we traveled 370 km in 7.5 hours. 😐
Hoodie is a must-buy. If hardcore “Football Manager” players can dress in a suit for big matches, you can surely wear that splendid garment for relevant episodes of “Ultraman”.