Like the clappers
I've finally escaped the somewhat enchanting clutches of Tokyo and have headed a couple of hours further north to the city of Sendai, which is handy for some of the sights in the area, such a charming island-strewn bay which I took a obligatory boat trip across today.
The joys of the Japan Rail Pass are that it allows you to travel quite freely on the otherwise bankruptingly expensive Shinkansen bullet trains. It's not uncommon for the Shinkansen to cost more than a flight between two cities. However I have ticket in hand and it certainly makes Japan feel that much smaller, travelling great distances across Japan in an amount of time that makes the country feel more compact that it actually is in reality. Only towards Hokkaido do things slow up a bit and Shinkansen turns into express turns into stopping train, meaning that it's one of the relatively few areas where Sleeper trains are a viable option. However as I'm heading towards Hokkaido in several steps I'll have no need for the sleeper at least on the way up, although I did spot it in Sendai station yesterday sporting a fine blue paint-job and official looking crest of some description. In some ways I'd be tempted to take it just to see how different it is from all those Russian sleepers I spent so much time time.
However for now I'm in Sendai, the largest city of this area of northern Honshu where the local speciality is grilled calves tongue which I'm proud to say I enjoyed for dinner this evening, and very good it was too, making something of a change from the noodles that are otherwise a staple of the Japanese diet.
The accommodation in Sendai is a splendid old-fashioned youth hostel in the style of a Japanese farm so I'm told. On visiting the bathroom this morning I freaked out at seeing the Japanese "squatting" toilet, which seems to my Western eye to be little more than a ceramic hole in the ground. Happily though I found a "Western" loo with Japanese control panel located next door so I was saved!
Tomorrow I'm heading a little further northwards, this time staying at a hostel run by Buddhist monks with a chance to look in one their morning prayers and to take meditation classese to boot. Should be interesting!
The joys of the Japan Rail Pass are that it allows you to travel quite freely on the otherwise bankruptingly expensive Shinkansen bullet trains. It's not uncommon for the Shinkansen to cost more than a flight between two cities. However I have ticket in hand and it certainly makes Japan feel that much smaller, travelling great distances across Japan in an amount of time that makes the country feel more compact that it actually is in reality. Only towards Hokkaido do things slow up a bit and Shinkansen turns into express turns into stopping train, meaning that it's one of the relatively few areas where Sleeper trains are a viable option. However as I'm heading towards Hokkaido in several steps I'll have no need for the sleeper at least on the way up, although I did spot it in Sendai station yesterday sporting a fine blue paint-job and official looking crest of some description. In some ways I'd be tempted to take it just to see how different it is from all those Russian sleepers I spent so much time time.
However for now I'm in Sendai, the largest city of this area of northern Honshu where the local speciality is grilled calves tongue which I'm proud to say I enjoyed for dinner this evening, and very good it was too, making something of a change from the noodles that are otherwise a staple of the Japanese diet.
The accommodation in Sendai is a splendid old-fashioned youth hostel in the style of a Japanese farm so I'm told. On visiting the bathroom this morning I freaked out at seeing the Japanese "squatting" toilet, which seems to my Western eye to be little more than a ceramic hole in the ground. Happily though I found a "Western" loo with Japanese control panel located next door so I was saved!
Tomorrow I'm heading a little further northwards, this time staying at a hostel run by Buddhist monks with a chance to look in one their morning prayers and to take meditation classese to boot. Should be interesting!
posted by Daniel at 1:00 pm
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