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| Tokyo Metro |
Train travel in Japan is phenomenally easy. The network of rail extends over 27,000 kilometers but where Japan really stands out is in the population's utilization of the system. Each year Japan Rail handles 22.7 billion passengers far exceeding India - the next busiest rail system - which serves 8.9 billion passengers. And that doesn't even include metros. Tokyo's metro is the busiest in the world with 3.1 billion passengers annually. To give you a sense of what that looks like on a daily basis, the subway/train station near our guesthouse in Tokyo is the busiest transportation hub in the world with an average of 3.7 million passengers passing through the station a day. OK, enough passenger counts; let's get to speed.
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| A Shinkansen Train |
For our journey from Kyoto to Tokyo we jumped on the Shinkansen (or Bullet Train). The line between Kyoto and Tokyo runs a shinkansen train about every three minutes during the day reaching speeds up to 320 kilometers/hour (experimental trains have reached speeds exceeding 500 kilometers/hour!) These trains look slick with a smooth, pointy nose and tail. But the look isn't to make the trains look sexy but rather to, among other reasons, help reduce the occurence of sonic booms that can occur as a result of the build up of air pressure as these trains enter and exit tunnels (tunnel boom). In fact, the train cars are air sealed to ensure stable cabin pressure for passenger comfort when entering tunnels. OK, one more fact for you to demonstrate Japanese precision. On average, the shinkansen trains are on time within thirty-six seconds! Although the speed made it a bit dizzying to look out the window, it was a fun ride. Dawn thinks I'm a train geek and perhaps now you do as well.
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| Tokyo Metro System |
After our quick rail journey we were presented with the puzzle of finding our way to our guesthouse via the aforementioned Tokyo rail and metro network. We found that perhaps the most challenging part of navigating the rails of Japan is the almost complete void of any English in signage in the stations or on the trains. Asking for help was a necessity to find the right platform and ensure that, once there, we were getting on the right train. Although we spent quite a bit of time scratching our heads and wandering around stations I think we managed pretty well.
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| Takayama |
In between metro rides we saw a few of the major sights while in Tokyo and spent our spare time trying to figure out where we were going next. Our original plan was to fly out of Tokyo but like we've been doing lately we switched up our plans and decided to explore a bit more of Japan. So from Tokyo we headed southwest to Takayama a small, mountain town reached by a very scenic railway journey. We spent our time here wandering the old streets and temples and soaking in rural Japan.
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| Lost |
After nearly five months, we finally put Dawn's international driver's license to use by renting a little Toyota to make the journey through the Japanese Alps. Although it really shouldn't have come as much of a surprise to me at this point in our time in Japan, navigating turned out to be rather challenging. You know, no detailed maps available in English, Japanese character road signs, that sort of thing. Consequently, we ended up heading pretty far off our intended course which happily resulted in a journey down a long, windy, mountain road on which we saw hardly any other traffic for hours. Both during that little detour and throughout the day we passed through some nice mountain scenery and made a stop at the historic town of Shirakawa-go (see pics below). This valley settlement is full of large, three to four storey, a-frame structures with roofs built to withstand the heavy snowfall the region experiences in the winter.
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| Our Kanazawa Neighbourhood |
After making our way to the coast, we stayed a couple of nights in the city of Kanazawa. We wandered around to see the sights but one Kanazawa tourist destination stands out as particularly awesome. Myoryuji, or The Ninja Temple, appears from the outside to be a two-storey building but is, in fact, a four storey temple with seven layers of internal structure. All the layers were acheived through a variety of secret passageways, trap doors, and 29 sets of stairs all intended to protect occupants from intruders. The 16th century temple was a security outpost housing samurais (not ninjas) charged with protecting Kanazawa Castle. The mandatory tour is in Japanese leaving plenty of room for our imaginations to conjure up images of samurais as we joined in with our Japanese tour mates oohing and aahing at all the building's little secrets.
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| Our Kanazawa Ryokan |
Perhaps our favourite aspect of our visit to Kanazawa was the old geisha district neighbourhood where our accommodation was located. The ryokan (Japanese-style inn) we stayed at had the requisite tatami mat flooring, sliding rice paper doors, and adjoining tea room. On top of that, the ryokan had the historical allure of being a former geisha house. A very neat experience, albeit a bit noisy the second night due to the house full of sake-drinking business men. Although we couldn't communicate that well with our hosts they were super sweet greeting us each night as we arrived and wishing us well (I think) each morning.
From Kanazawa we again hit the rails back to Kyoto for a couple more days in our favourite Japanese spot before our flight out of the country.
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| The Village Of Shirakawa-go |
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| Nail Free Construction |
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| Our Favourite Restaurant In Takayama |
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| Kanazawa |
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| Kenroku-en Gardens, Kanazawa |
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| Goofing Around At Kanazawa's Modern Art Museum |
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| Guesses Anyone? |
