As the title of this post suggests, my time in Tokyo had come to a close, and it was time for my to take the Bullet Train to Shizuoka. I had gone to the train station a day before to get a ticket. This step was unnecessary, but since I had never been on this kind of train before, it put me at ease.
I arrived at the station the day after, lugging my monster of a suitcase along. This train line's name is Shinkansen, and is known for holding the world record of "fastest rail vehicle." I'm guessing most of you have hear of it. It looks a little like this:
By little, I mean this is the actual train. I did not, however, take this photo. Yes, it was taken from Google Images.
My cousin drove with my to the station to see me off and make sure I didn't head in the wrong direction. I soon left the comfort of his presence and began to wonder towards the correct platform. After accidentally entering the handicapped waiting room, I found the correct path to the platform and train. My train soon arrived, but I noticed that no one was entering. Not wanting to get into any sort of "situation," I decided to sit and watch what others did (which I have learned, when traveling, saves loads of embarrassment). Instead of immediately entering the open doors, people were lining up in front of them. I followed suit and stood in front of the empty train. A short while later, a large crew of ladies in pink uniforms entered the train and began cleaning, and flipping the directions of the seats. I realized that this was the end of line, and were "resetting" the train for the next go. Now I just had to wait until they were done.
Another foreigner soon walked up, looking very confused. He kept looking around, and I'm guessing he was wondering why no one getting on, too. Instead of waiting it out, he chose to try and enter. Those station conductors are quite vigilant, and as this man tried to enter, he was whistled and yelled at. Blushing very hard, and still looking very confused, he stepped back. I accidentally let out a little snort and chuckle, making the kid blush even harder. Poor guy...
One thing that I have learned about travel is that you must be willing to embarrass yourself. If your not, you will most likely have a miserable time. With the language barrier, differences in customs, and generally unknown territory, there is no way to be fully prepared. The best thing to do is suck it up and push forward. I have never been one to shy away from embarrassing herself, but even so, I need to keep in mind that this is just a slice of the cake.
After the train was reset and cleaned, people began to board and I wondered to my seat. I had to travel to the back of my car to stick my suitcase behind the last row, as it was too large to fit in the overhead rack. It always feels uncomfortable leaving things unattended, but this is the way things are done here. People will just leave their purses and backpacks on a bench while they are grabbing a drink from the vending machine at the train station. It is weird being in such a trusting place, and it is probably pretty sad that I feel that way.
As I headed back up the aisle, two nice Australian fellows stopped me to ask if I needed help putting my bag away. Looking back now, it was a rather odd question, seeing that I no longer had a suitcase with me. I gave a raised eyebrow and politely rejected. I settled into my seat and the train soon began to move.
I stuck my earbuds in and turned on some Frank Sinatra, Somewhere Beyond the Sea to be exact, which I felt was very fitting. I watched the scenery speed past me. The high-rises soon turned into small houses which turned into farmland and mountains. Everything is so green in this country. I appreciate that there is always something strikingly beautiful, wherever you are in Japan, at least in my experience and mind.
With an entrance into a tunnel and, subsequently, my view being blocked, I pulled my computer out to write a post in this very blog.
About an hour later, I arrived in the town of Shizuoka. This is were I met the family that I will be staying with for the next two months. Angela, the matron of the family, found and led me to the car. I was rather excited about this, as the parking garage was an Automated Car Parking System. This means that a mechanical, multi-story system was used to transport cars to and from parking spaces to eliminate wasted space. I had never seen one of these before. It was pretty cool.
After a while of driving, we arrived in a little town part of the Shizuoka area called Shimada. This was my new home for the next couple of months, and I couldn't be happier.
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