Our only job today was to get from Tokyo to the start of our walking tour.
Since the Tokyo underground has been so easy to navigate we thought the long distance trains would be a cinch. How wrong we were.
We got to Tokyo station easily enough, but then couldn’t find the platform we needed. Our phone apps told us what number the platform was but we couldn’t find it.
Eventually, after being offered help by random passers bye, we found the platform, but couldn’t get through the barriers using our phone train apps. There were many others having the same problem, mostly gaijin like us, being soundly berated by station attendants. Eventually we found a sign saying you couldn’t buy tickets with the phone apps, and we had to join a queue and buy tickets in person. This we did, and finally got on board with only a few minutes to spare, having arrived at the station nearly an hour before.
The high speed train trip was uneventful, but then we had to move to a regional train, and that involved even more stress.
We found our platform, only to find there was nearly an hour until the next train departed. We were hoping to use our phones to get on board, and were worried that we hadn’t officially swiped on at that station since we’d used our paper tickets from the first trip to reach our current location. So, we all found an exit, went out using our paper tickets (then swallowed up) and swiped back in with our phones.
When our train pulled up, we were dismayed to find that all seats were reserved. We didn’t want to waste any more time finding a ticket office, so we asked for guidance from the driver who was standing at the front of the train. He gestured for us to board, and then wrote something on his computer tablet that translated to “the conductor will meet you at the front of the train”.
So, we got onboard. Every seat we sat in while waiting for a conductor, very shortly turned out to have a legitimate occupant who arrived just after we settled in. One man approached me with a quite aggressive finger pointing straight at me, it was really rather alarming. Eventually we found seats that appeared free, and the conductor found us there. He sold us tickets and we continued in those seats for the rest of the trip with no further difficulty. When we arrived at our final stop, the train station attendant made us swipe out using our phones as well as taking our paper tickets off us, which we took to mean that we each needed both a ticket and a seat reservation, rather than we had stupidly paid for everything twice, but who knows?
It was a rainy and overcast day so there was no chance of seeing Mt Fuji, or any other interesting scenery en route.
We finally arrived at our destination, met up with the tour company representative, and walked the several blocks to our very uninspiring hotel.
We headed out shortly afterwards in search of predinner drinks, but for some reason everywhere was closed from 4 till 7. We finally found a hostel that was open a little earlier, and on the strength of some very good quality cocktails, we decided to stay there for dinner. The establishment really punched above its weight on the food front as well, so we had a very pleasant evening before heading back to our hotel for an early night.
Day one of the walk tomorrow.