3 Island Trip
Today was a VERY busy day. I woke up around 8am like usual and started getting ready for a trip onto 3 different Islands of Japan, all of which by Train. From Hiroshima Station on the island of Honshu, I left around 10am to go to Hakata station in Fukuoka city on the Island of Kyushuu. I arrived around noonish and then started walking to Hakata Canal city.
Hakata is the biggest area of Fukuoka which is the biggest city on the island. At first nothing seemed so different. It was of course, hot and this time I was carrying all my crap with me. The walk was about 20 minutes because I was on my own to find it, but I did so successfully. It's a nice area, but it's just a big shopping complex. It's different because it's next to a canal, and offered a different feel than most other shopping places that I've been to. It had a big place advertising Universal Studios in Osaka. It had many levels, but I didn't have the time to explore all of them. Since it was around lunchtime, I went to find lunch. I should have gotten something traditional and special for Hakata, but instead I parked my ass at Wendy's. How's that for traditional Japan. It was good, I ordered it to go since I had to catch a train, but they made it for a sit-in. .... That must have been lost in translation. Anyways, I enjoyed the food, and I didn't get sick afterwards which was a really big plus for me.
But like I said, I needed to catch the train, but I missed it by one minute. I walked to the platform right when it left so I had to catch the one right after it. It wasn't the fault of the worker at Wendy's though. The person at the platform checking tickets took forever and that's why I missed my train. That's only the second time the whole trip I missed my train. But no one was waiting for me, so I had plenty of time, since I was doing everything today alone. The next destination was Takamatsu city on the island of Shikoku. I arrived at Okayama just in time to transfer to the JR Shikoku going to Takamatsu. At least that's what I thought.
When I jumped on the Limited Express train, I didn't even know where it was going. So I asked a person if they spoke English, but it was a clear indication that he did since he was white. I asked him if it was the train going to Shikoku, and he said yes. So I sat down, then another guy, Japanese said this is a Reserved Section. And we were like, we'll sit here until they kick us out.
The conductor was walking down the aisle and instead we decide to go stand up instead of getting kicked out. We were all trapped in a little compartment in between trains, that's where people had to go if they didn't have a seat reservation. So we all got to know each other. Ruary, the white guy, was from San Francisco and works at ECC language school in Tokyo. He was on his way to Kochii, which was at the bottom part of the island. He was an artist as well and was into Alchemy. A lot of his work is displayed in Shibuya at a famous bar place. So I'm thinking he's pretty good at it. He was planning on camping out there and go to the onsen- hot spring. The other guy that was Japanese, Yu, was on his way to meet his aunt, also in Kochii. He goes to Keio University, which is pretty famous in Japan and learned English at Berlitz language school. He lives by the Tokyo dome. So lucky me, I made two friends on the train that actually live somewhat close to me. I was planning to go to Takamatsu because they had a little known garden that tourists usually go see, but I decided to change my plan on the train. I was going to travel with them, until I absolutely needed to switch trains to go back to the main Island. I decided that would be around 5pm since that would be the half way point.
My friend Ruary got off around 5pm to try to get a bus or hitchhike to his campground, it was pouring and of all the things that he was carrying, he didn't have an umbrella. So I gave him mine since I didn't need it. That's Two good deeds for the year. I was going to get off the train when he did so I could go back, but he recommended that I go a little bit more so I could get a really good view of the mountains and hot springs and river. So Yu and I started talking a little more until the next stop, which wasn't until another 35 minutes and I was really getting worried that I would miss my last train to get to my final destination. Not to mention that when I got off, it was like a ghost town, there wasn't anyone there, and the train was REALLY old fashion. It had that old smell to it. The train itself had only 3 cars and only carried a total of 7 people, including me. Since I got a little worried I asked the conductor if there was a faster train to get back to Okayama. I also wanted to see the castle there, but that was a little impossible since it was already closed at that point. He spoke the funniest Japanligsh. But I owe him sooo much because the information he gave me was sooo helpful. He had told me that I should "changji-changji" tracks at the "Nexto Nexto" station. But I at least understood and my Japanese was worse so I can't really say anything.
Although he'll probably tell his friends how horrible my Japanese was. I jumped the train where he told me to switch to and it was an Okayama Express train. It was actually even faster than the Limited Express, which I didn't know they had. I arrived Just in the nick of time. Actually our train was late, I think because of an accident, but that meant that my shinkansen was waiting for us. How thoughtful of them. So I got on and then was on my way to the last city, Nagoya. I arrived at 9:30pm which is what I planned for and then went around looking for my hotel. It wasn't the nicest looking place in town, but I didn't really care either. The neighborhood looked tough, but this is Japan. Everywhere is generally safe. I took a stop at a Lawson to get some dinner and then back to my room to get some sleep. Today was a busy day.
