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Leaving Tokyo
After breakfast we said "goodbye" to Kimiyo and her family at the Keio Plaza Hotel. They were going back to Sapporo and wouldn’t be coming with us to our last destination in Japan, Osaka. Accessible vans picked us up at the hotel and took us to Tokyo Central Station, that’s where Japan’s world famous "Bullet Train" stops in Tokyo.
Saying "Goodbye" to Kimiyo & her family at the Keio Plaza Hotel
The gateway to the Imperial Palace of the Emperor of Japan
The Emperor’s Palace
On the way we drove alongside the moat surrounding the Emperor’s Palace. We never saw the Emperor, but imagine our surprise when as soon as we got out of the van, policemen blew their whistles, all traffic stopped and two horse-drawn carriages pulled up to the Station! Some important looking men got out and servants bowed and opened doors for them to go inside the Station through a private entrance. They must have been VERY important people! I wonder who they were? Perhaps ambassadors or royalty from another country?
A horse-drawn carriage pulls up at Tokyo Central Station
The coachmen bow to the dignitaries as they enter the Station
Tokyo Central Station
At the station an attendant took us down elevators and through some long dark tunnels. We passed by lots of interesting things in those tunnels – even a kitchen where I think chefs were preparing box lunches (EKI BENTO) for the SHINKANSEN.
The tunnel under the station was long and dark
We passed a kitchen. Were they making EKI BENTO?
The tunnel showed you the wheelchair accessible way to go
After a while we came up another elevator and there we were, exactly at the right platform for taking the SHINKANSEN to Osaka.
The last tunnel, on the way to the elevator to go back up again!
At last, the right platform and the Bullet Train is waiting for us
The SHINKANSEN
These are the fastest trains in the world. They streak by so quickly in the countryside that you’d miss them if you blink! Their fastest speed is over 300 kilometers per hour. WOW! That’s fast! That’s three times faster than a car on Highway 401 and six times faster than driving through a town. It only took us 2 hours and 50 minutes to go from Tokyo to Osaka, a distance of 550 kilometers.
The Bullet Train has a round nose!
The SHINKANSEN streaking by Mount Fuji, Japan’s famous mountain
The funny thing was, although the countryside and towns were passing by very quickly, it didn’t feel fast at all. It just felt like being gently rocked. Our wheelchairs didn’t even need to be tied down!
Japanese houses in the rain
Rice needs lots of water to grow in these rice paddies
The countryside
It was a good day for being on the train because it was raining pretty hard outside. We passed by lots of rice paddies in people’s back yards and tiny streets and houses with tile roofs. On the hillsides we saw cemeteries with gravestone markers that stick up close together like thin pencils. Maybe that’s because Japanese writing goes up and down, not left to right like English.
An EKI BENTO box. Looks much too pretty to throw away!
Lunch inside the box looks much too pretty to eat!
Keeping busy on the train
A food and drink cart came through the train so we bought some EKI BENTO for lunch. Martha just kept on knitting some amazingly colourful socks she’d started on the plane. She’s making them for Georgie-san (which means “The Honorable Gentleman, George” in Japanese.) I looked through some Osaka tourist books to get some ideas about what to do and see in Osaka. As for Georgie-san, he just ate and slept and watched his colorful socks grow longer and longer and longer! (Just wait till you see them – you’ll be blinded by the amazing technicolour patterns that Martha is knitting into them!)
Arriving in Osaka
When we got to Osaka it was wet and dark, but we were greeted warmly by our new Osaka goodwill ambassador guide, “Hiro” and taken by van to man-made Maishima island in Osaka bay. We’ll be staying on this island at the Amity Maishima sports hotel, until we go back home to Canada in a few days. Osaka is where JVUN’s third and last international conference will be.
We’re looking forward to seeing the sights and sounds of this important ancient maritime city. And Hiro will be with us every day to explain and help us get around.
