Day 9 - The Tōkaidō Shinkansen
I woke up at 11am and slowly crawled out of bed. I was hungover and feeling groggy. I eventually got up, took a shower, and went downstairs to grab a quick bite to eat.
I checked out of my hotel and and followed the now sort of familiar route to the walkway that would take me underground. From there you could just sort of stumble around and eventually you would find a subway station. Usually I would walk in the general direction of the main transit hub, which had subway stations attached at different points underground.. I was usually following google maps directions, and so headed for specific subway stations.. but occasionally you'd get lost in a tunnel, say "screw it", and just jump on another line.
It was usually really easy to get to wherever I wanted to go in the city.. For example.. This time I was headed to Tokyo station, which is the high speed rail station.. There are at least 3 different subway lines I could have used to get there from my hotel . I could have used the Yamanote Line, the Ginza Line, or the Honzomon Line.. So even if you're hungover and you get lost in the tunnels, you can still make it to your destination no problem
Tokyo station is also a crazy busy place.. It was easy enough to follow the google map directions to get there.. but then I had to find a place where I could activate my high speed rail pass. Imagine a busy train station with a sea of people, and there's all sorts of corridors and other connections to subway stations and various rail lines and stairways.. I think it took me about a half an hour to find the office where I could wait in line for 5 minutes in order to activate my rail pass..
The way the rail pass works is you buy it
before you fly to Japan. At the time at least it was only possible to purchase it outside of Japan. They mail you a package, and you have to bring it with you to Japan, and bring it to this office to activate your pass at a time of your choosing. When "activated", you get a card with an expiry date on it. I went with the 2 week long rail pass option, with the plan to return to Tokyo a couple days before my flight home.
The rail pass is not unlimited. It allows you to use most rail lines in the country... but not all companies. It also gives you access to the 300 km/h Shinkansen (bullet train), but not the 330 km/h ones.. The system is really easy to navigate though..
I was directed to nearby office, with a slightly longer line, where people were buying tickets.. After a short wait in line it was my turn to go up to one of the agents. I sat down in the chair and showed him my rail pass. I then told him that I wanted to take the fastest possible train to Kyoto departing as soon as possible. Not 10 seconds later I have a ticket in my hand and am being told that my train departs in 15 minutes. I ask if that's enough time, and he says yes.. just go to platform such and such.
I scurry over to the platform and easily find it.. Took me a minute to get there. I look at my ticket and it has a train number, a car number, and a seat number. I look down on the ground. There's lines for every single type of train and car number. So easy to figure out, even for a hungover tourist.
My train arrived about 90 seconds before the time shown on the ticket. It's a futuristic looking white beast, and you will see some pictures later, but I'm doing this chronologically and so far there aren't any.. I get on my train and easily find my seat. I sit down and set my stuff down and look at my watch. I open up the second by second stopwatch feature on my smartphone and I look at it. It sounds impossible, but the train started to move within 2 seconds of the indicated time on my ticket.
I ordered a beer and it came in a glass. I set down the glass on this flimsy looking table in front of me, which was attached diagonally to my seat. At that point the train was moving at near 300 km/h and turning occasional corners. There were no train sounds that I was used to and always associated with train rides.. It sounded more like I was on a plane. Instead of a clunk-clunk-kachunk, there was this .. buzzing hum. Out the window everything was zooming by, and there stood my beer, amost full, and it just would not spill..
Overall the Shinkansen train ride to Kyoto was an incredible experience. Everyone in my car was super quiet and courteous. The seat was comfortable, the food delicious, and the ride super smooth and silky. And if I did my math right, a Shinkansen ride from Tokyo to Kyoto would usually cost me just under half of what I paid for my rail pass... So I was getting great value for my money already
Another thing worth noting is how ready you have to be to get off at your station. The train was only stopped for about a minute and a half.. It will leave punctually whether you've gotten off or not. And it's not easy to miss your station or anything, they are all announced ahead of time fairly well.. But if you happen to fall asleep, or start grabbing your 5 bags late.. you might not have a fun time getting off..
I got off the train and walked towards a hostel I looked up on my phone on the train. I had nothing booked beyond my hotel in Tokyo, from now on everything was touch and go. I had the rail pass, and I would go wherever it takes me.
I mentioned early on in the story that I woke up at 11am. Consider that I then had lunch, checked out of the hotel, then had to make my way through 2 of the world's busiest transit hubs.. then had to find that office.. then activate my rail pass.. then buy my ticket.. Consider that it takes anywhere from 5 and a half to 8 hours to drive from Tokyo to Kyoto, if you were to use a car.. Consider how lazy of an approach to this day I had, and how casually I ended up at my destination.. Now consider that I was checked in and in my room in Kyoto by 4:30pm.
There's a map of the lines that the rail pass covers. Tokyo and Kyoto both lie on the same Shinkansen line - the Tōkaidō Shinkansen line. It runs from Tokyo to Osaka and is the oldest high speed rail line in the world.
