For those of you who want more details on our trip, read on…
The rest of the world should model itself after Japan when it comes to toilets. Not only do they have wonderful gadgets, they are easy to find, plentiful and impeccably clean. Even toilets in bus and train stations and on the trains are sparkling. And public restrooms abound. They have buttons which heat the seats, and also that spray various jets of water on you if you want. But my favorite is the toilet that has a little spigot on top with fresh water that streams down when you flush so you can was your hands right away. The water goes into the toilet and adds to the flush. In any case, the best, cleanest toilets anywhere.
Throughout Japan, public transit is impressive, especailly the network of trains, crowned by the bullet trains, the Shinkansen. They go everywhere and are clean and orderly. When you get off, a bus or subway can take you most places, and a taxi waiting at the station is also an option. One thing I find odd, though. With multiple trains leaving frequently, you don’t seem to be able to buy an open ticket. For example, in NY, I can buy a Metro-Rail ticket to a destination and get on any train that’s convenient. In Japan, I have to choose a specific train. Even if I have a rail pass, or buy the ticket online, I need to get a paper ticket (or two) for that specific train. Lines to pick up tickets or to purchase them can be long. I don’t know what happens if you miss your specific train—so far I haven’t. In contrast, you can get on any bus or subway and pay with a Suica card, which you can have on your phone. Perhaps this has to do with reserved seating, which I always buy, but I think even for regular trains you need to choose before hand.
Train stations in Japanese cities (especially Kyoto) seem to me to have been designed by devotees of Kafka with a Capitalist twist. They are vast, labyrinthine, and filled with shops of all kinds from cheap trinkets to luxury items. I have yet to enter a station that wasn’t swarming with people rushing around. I spent over an in Kyoto trying to discover where we would catch a specific train from Kyoto to Kinosaki Onsen. I wasn’t successful, and came home to research and got a multipage guide to the station that included this map:
I discovered on my return to the station for our trip (an hour and a half early to be safe), that if I’d just entered from the central entrance, it would have been simple, with the Information booth in English and the trains right there.
Finally. from a Westerner’s point of view, the Japanese seem obsessed with tickets. Not only do you need multiple paper tickets for the train, often you need to get a flimsy paper ticket to buy something. The oddest example of this was in the tiny rural town of Tsumago. To buy soba, I pointed to the soba I wanted and was directed to a sort of vending machine and told to select that soba and add money. This produced a tiny ticket which I handed to the waitress which she handed to the cook, all standing right there. In some places, the ticket machine eliminates the waitress altogether, and you just hand your ticket in to get your food or drink. This isn’t omnipresent, but there do seem to be a lot of tickets.
Nonetheless, we are having a grand time, and appreciate the infinite patience, courtesy, and helpfulness of the average citizen as we bumble along.