Day 18 - Nagoya to Tokyo

[Warning - All photos in today's Blog, except two have something to do with trains.]

Check out what the skies looked like on the day we are leaving Nagoya. If you want awesome weather, just invite us over and it will happen on the day we leave.

The view from the balcony of our apartment in Nagoya...Not a cloud to be seen.

After getting ourselves ready and packing up all of our gear, we headed out the door for the regular walk to Joshin Station. On the way there we stopped at 7-Eleven to grab some breakfast snacks for onboard the Shinkansen. We caught the two Subway train with an interchange in between, eventually arriving at Nagoya Station.  

I mentioned when we arrived that Nagoya Station is huge, but then again, so are Tokyo, Osaka, Hiroshima, Kyoto, Kobe and Fukuoka. That's because Japan has adapted to a heavy reliance on using the train system, largely because of the regularity and reliability of the Japan Rail system. As a result, Japan has 44 of the top 50 busiest train stations in the world. But interestingly, the idea of a super-fast rail system was strongly opposed before the Bullet train came into service way back in 1964, but that changed when these trains proved their worth and reliability. Accordingly, Japan has developed a strong train culture, and is super-proud of its rail system. 

Which brings me to a point where I think that I am becoming a densha otaku, you got it, a train nerd. However, in Japan, even that's not good enough because there are apparently 36 different types of densha otaku which range from ori-tetsu, someone who likes to walk around the station, to ekiben-tetsu, someone who likes the lunchboxes sold on the train.

So, we meandered through Nagoya Station following the signs to the Shinkansen Tracks and waited a less than ten minutes for our Shinkansen 700A, a Hikari, to arrive. The journey comprised four stops and it took us a whopping one hour and 40-ish minutes to cover the 340 kilometre journey. Our planned viewing of Mount Fuji was thwarted by low clouds, but I recall last year when we managed to get picture-perfect views twice, and apparently, that's very rare.

You may notice the hill rising from half-way up the left edge of the photo, and a similar hill rising slightly higher and in a bit from the right edge, that's Mt Fuji obscured by clouds.

More vista from the Shinkansen.

On arrival at Tokyo Station, we made our way to the Yamanote Line and caught the train to Okachimachi Station. 

Our N700A Shinkansen.

Another N700 on the tracks.

The Yamanote Line at Tokyo Station.

Unfortunately, we still had a few hours to kill before we could check in so we established shifts to watch over the bags, whilst others explored. Maureen and Sky did some shopping while Kyle and I had other plans.

When it was our time to be released from bag-minding duties, Kyle and I hopped on the Tamanote line and caught the train to Ueno Station which is the Shinkansen Station for Japan Rail East. As I have mentioned, different types of Shinkansen operate on different lines, so we wanted to see and photograph some of the Shinkansen that we don't normally get to see.

Escalating our hi-jinx.

The various Shinkansen models that visit Ueno Station.

An E-5 (Left) and E-4 (Right) are joined together.

An E-4 Model.

An E-5 Model. 

The cleaners line up for the next E-5 Shinkansen, they work with Military precision.

An E-4 Model.

An E-7 Model.

Not only did we do that, but Kyle hatched a cunning plan where we caught a E5 Shinkansen to Tokyo Station (a massive 12 minute ride) and then we caught a E7 Shinkansen model back to Ueno Station...Brilliant! Did someone say densha otaku?

Our Shinkansen arrives at Ueno Station.

Selfie onboard.

Our Shinkansen to take us back to Ueno Station.

Selfie onboard.

After catching the train back to Okachimachi Station, we met up with Sky and Maureen and walked around 10 minutes to our next apartment. The apartment is large, which will be handy, because Josh will be joining us tomorrow. He flew out of Canberra to Sydney today and presently flying on Qantas flight QF117 to Hong Kong, followed by Dragonair Flight KA396 to Haneda, and will arrive in Tokyo at around 0450h tomorrow morning.

Downtown Okachimachi.

Well that's it for today, we will be staying put until we depart for home on Christmas Day, so I think that the tempo of the Blogs might slow down a bit.