Saturday, October 27, 2012
Half way
through my stay at Fukushima, I got the news that my travel companion for my
travel through Japan had cancelled his trip. I then mentally prepared to
undertake the journey alone.
I had
analysed the terrain, the trains and the schedule of my travel well in advance.
Although I had a written dictionary of Japanese words in my rucksack, I
preferred not to use it.
I left for
Fukushima railway station at noon 27th October 2012, Maeda dropped
me in his “Subaru” on time and accompanied me to the shinkansen platform
. There
was much excitement at the rear end of the train where the green car was
located. The shinkansen from shin-aomori was scheduled to arrive in a short
while and piggyback with the train from Fukushima to Tokyo. Kids (and me too)
were excited to see the nose of the shinkansen open up to clamp on to the
arriving train.
A few
seconds elapsed in which everyone including me scrambled on to the train and I
waved goodbye to Maeda and I settled into my seat and watched the countryside
of Fukushima prefecture slide by through the wide window. I was worried about the
early sunset and my entry into Tokyo city with absolutely no idea of how to
reach my hotel. I got down at Tokyo central and made my way through the unending
crowd of people to what looked like a help desk
. I showed the hotel address from the booking sheet and
out came a paper from the desk…. A maze of Tokyo suburban railway. No verbal
exchange was made. He marked three stations and showed me a flight of stairs. I
hauled my luggage to the ticket counter, couldn't make anything out from the
artistic Japanese writings. I went to
the checking counter and asked for help. I showed him the station name and he
helped me with the ticket vending machine. Not a word in English written
anywhere on the ticket vending machine.
I made my
way to the platform. I noticed short queues and went to the shortest one and
showed the ticket to a gentleman who looked like he knew English and I pointed
my hand to either side of the track questioningly. He showed four fingers
indicating that I had to get down at the fourth stop
. I did that and at the
next two legs of the subway journey too I tried the same trick and succeeded. In
the last leg I met Naomi who was waiting for the train and she spoke only two
English words: “Japanese” and “Good”. But she read the address of the hotel in
Japanese out of my booking receipt and helped me find the closest exit from the
subway station to the hotel and walked me to the hotel and ensured that I had a
booking there before she left. I thanked her profusely.
Soon after
checking into the hotel at Chuo, Tokyo,
I decided to explore what best I could in the evening. After checking with the
hotel reception regarding a direct subway train to Tokyo tower, I went to the
subway station. This time I was better off; I asked for the fare and took my
own ticket. I strolled around Tokyo tower for a few hours, tried unsuccessfully
to take a trip up the tower. On the way back I realized why Naomi had taken
care that I reached the hotel. I got out of the same subway station near the
hotel and was totally lost in the concrete jungle. With a light drizzle and
chilling cold, I tried finding my way back to the hotel. Asked a few
passers-by, none of them knew. A few looked very apprehensive about my foreign
look. Finally one person directed me to a police station close by, saying they could help me. I walked and
suddenly realized I was in familiar territory close to the hotel and made my way back to my room.
Whew!
I realised
that Tokyo with its skyscrapers was not my kind of place and searched online for day tours out of Tokyo. Found out about Nikko, a few hours away. I was a
little worried about the rainy weather but decided to risk it.
Half way
through my stay at Fukushima, I got the news that my travel companion for my
travel through Japan had cancelled his trip. I then mentally prepared to
undertake the journey alone.
I had
analysed the terrain, the trains and the schedule of my travel well in advance.
Although I had a written dictionary of Japanese words in my rucksack, I
preferred not to use it.
I left for
Fukushima railway station at noon 27th October 2012, Maeda dropped
me in his “Subaru” on time and accompanied me to the shinkansen platform
. There
was much excitement at the rear end of the train where the green car was
located. The shinkansen from shin-aomori was scheduled to arrive in a short
while and piggyback with the train from Fukushima to Tokyo. Kids (and me too)
were excited to see the nose of the shinkansen open up to clamp on to the
arriving train.
A few
seconds elapsed in which everyone including me scrambled on to the train and I
waved goodbye to Maeda and I settled into my seat and watched the countryside
of Fukushima prefecture slide by through the wide window. I was worried about the
early sunset and my entry into Tokyo city with absolutely no idea of how to
reach my hotel. I got down at Tokyo central and made my way through the unending
crowd of people to what looked like a help desk
. I showed the hotel address from the booking sheet and
out came a paper from the desk…. A maze of Tokyo suburban railway. No verbal
exchange was made. He marked three stations and showed me a flight of stairs. I
hauled my luggage to the ticket counter, couldn't make anything out from the
artistic Japanese writings. I went to
the checking counter and asked for help. I showed him the station name and he
helped me with the ticket vending machine. Not a word in English written
anywhere on the ticket vending machine.
I made my
way to the platform. I noticed short queues and went to the shortest one and
showed the ticket to a gentleman who looked like he knew English and I pointed
my hand to either side of the track questioningly. He showed four fingers
indicating that I had to get down at the fourth stop
. I did that and at the
next two legs of the subway journey too I tried the same trick and succeeded. In
the last leg I met Naomi who was waiting for the train and she spoke only two
English words: “Japanese” and “Good”. But she read the address of the hotel in
Japanese out of my booking receipt and helped me find the closest exit from the
subway station to the hotel and walked me to the hotel and ensured that I had a
booking there before she left. I thanked her profusely.
Soon after
checking into the hotel at Chuo, Tokyo,
I decided to explore what best I could in the evening. After checking with the
hotel reception regarding a direct subway train to Tokyo tower, I went to the
subway station. This time I was better off; I asked for the fare and took my
own ticket. I strolled around Tokyo tower for a few hours, tried unsuccessfully
to take a trip up the tower. On the way back I realized why Naomi had taken
care that I reached the hotel. I got out of the same subway station near the
hotel and was totally lost in the concrete jungle. With a light drizzle and
chilling cold, I tried finding my way back to the hotel. Asked a few
passers-by, none of them knew. A few looked very apprehensive about my foreign
look. Finally one person directed me to a police station close by, saying they could help me. I walked and
suddenly realized I was in familiar territory close to the hotel and made my way back to my room.
Whew!
I realised
that Tokyo with its skyscrapers was not my kind of place and searched online for day tours out of Tokyo. Found out about Nikko, a few hours away. I was a
little worried about the rainy weather but decided to risk it.
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