Shinkansen
I woke up at 7:30 for a traditional Japanese breakfast made lovingly by the youth hostel kitchen. It was pretty crap – a bowl of gohan (rice) with seasoning, some miso soup (which was nice), and 4 segments of mandarin (Mikan) and a few biscuits. After we packed up all of our stuff we departed on our trek to Tokyo.
We lugged our luggage around the subway then finally got to shin-Osaka station where you can catch the shinkansen from. The ticket cost 14,500 yen which hurt quite a lot, although we got seats which were bigger than the ones on the airplane. Simon introduced Jo and I to these little bamboo shoot biscuits with chocolate and praline in them and we ate those whilst we watched the countryside whistle by. The japanese countryside looks pretty cool – there’s loads of little farms around the place, nestled in between bamboo forested hillsides. The urban sprawl is pretty bad though – you could see East Perth-esque houses that filled the horizon. The only difference is the roofs are a hell of a lot cooler – they have those asian curves and parquetry on them. It was nice to watch all the fields and things go past – each a glimpse then gone forever.
