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Sendai
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Saturday was travelling day - we left Kyoto for Tokyo late morning,
and the trip was reasonably uneventful, seemed quicker than on the way down, but I'm assured it wasn't. When we arrived at Tokyo Station, the crowds were amazing - we think that it was because of the New Year period, but it may just be that they're like that all the time. Unfortunately, we'd booked unreserved seats on the Shinkansen, which worked out fine for the trip up from Kyoto, but the queues were 100s deep for the 3 cars (out of 15!)
with unreserved seating. Anyway, we eventually found the right line to wait in, and it soon became obvious that it would be standing room only for at least part of the trip to Sendai. Sooooo, the 3 gaijin made their way slowly, with big bags, onto the first train, and were some of the last squeezed on board - we ended up standing in a small area between carriages, and people just kept coming. I was starting to feel a LITTLE hemmed in, and knew I had to make an instant decision on whether I could do this for the following hour or so, and the answer, most definitely, was no!! With the sound of Tom saying "you can't get off" ringing in my ears, I picked up the first person in my way (a 7 year old child), and trampled over the next 4, before I found the closing door, a quick "see you there" to Col and Tom, and I was alone on the platform, with no Japanese and the wrong ticket! Anyway, a few deep breaths, and I joined the next queue, hoping for a seat when the train eventualy arrived. No such luck - this time I was last on board, stuck in the same area of the train,
but this time right by the door, so I kidded myself that I could get off at any station I wanted if the going got tough - that was all good until the train's doors opened on the other side at the first 4 stations, and not only did I have 29 people to climb over this time, more people kept getting on! Anyway, we all got here, everybody standing all the 2 hour journey.
We were taken out for dinner last night by Tom's host family, who were very friendly and funny. We met all the family when we went back to their house, and we can see that Tom feels very much at home there. It was great to hear him speak so well with everyone - his Japanese seems to be really quite good. This morning Tom arrived at the hotel around 10, and we made our way to have a quick look at his school, which of course was all closed up for the Winter break, but we did manage a quick look around the grounds.
Lauren, the teacher at school looking after all of the foreign students, came by and picked us up, and we headed off for lunch, which was very nice of her. We've just arrived back at the hotel for a little rest before a karaoke session at one of Tom's haunts (we DID say we want to see him in his natural environment), and then god knows what tonight - last night there was talk of Tom's host brother, who's 25 I think, coming in and us all going to some drinking hole, which appeals for a very short time, but the rather elegant lounge bar on the 14th floor of this hotel appeals a little more - it has a great view of the city, and the nights are clear and cold, so should be a good sight. It snowed a little here this morning, but stayed quite sunny - it doesn't turn cloudy, windy, rainy, then snowy, it just seems to get very cold, snow a little, and move on - I like it here, and I can see what Tom likes about it.
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