Takadanobaba Station in Alameda

  Our trip to Yamagata required two train rides. The first was from Kyoto to Tokyo. At Tokyo, we took another train north to our final destination. We arrived in Tokyo at 11 am, hungry. Japan’s train stations are good places to eat. They often have food courts as well as stores selling ekiben — the bento boxes for consuming on the train.  We found an organic food shop in Tokyo and bought some sandwiches, drinks and fruit.  Having fed ourselves, we passed through the next set of fare gates and headed up the escalator to the platform for the train to take us to Yamagata. It was 10 minutes before the 12 noon scheduled departure.  Our train was at the platform, also being cleaned. Yellow caution tape prevented us from boarding. The cleaning crew worked in a frenzy. They polished the windows, vacuumed the floors and wiped down the seats and arms.  Then, they took down the yellow tape. To give you an idea of what a precision operation they have in Japan, the crew...

Today, September 2, we said goodbye to Kyoto. We saw a lot, but there’s still more left unexplored. Good reason to return. 😉 Our agenda: traveling by train north and east to a ryokan near Mt. Zao. A ryokan is a traditional Japanese inn. We took two trains to Yamagata, the closest station to Mt. Zao. This was the third and fourth ride on the Shinkansen. The adventure started when we grabbed the Nozomi Shinkansen in Kyoto, destined for Tokyo. This train ran on the Tokaido line, the first bullet train line in Japan. Our train. Nozomi 306, departing Kyoto at 8:36 AM  We got seats in the green car. That’s first class. Very nice. The Shinkansen provides free Wi-Fi. It’s good quality. Screenshot from connecting to the train wi-fi. The service was good, not great. As luck would have it, our seats were on the left side of the car, as we headed toward Tokyo.  That meant we would get a view of Japan’s famous Mt. Fujiyama. According to Wikipedia , Mt. Fuji is one of Japan’s three sacred ...