Taking the Bullet Train -From Shibuya to Kyoto

Shibuya

Shibuya, Tokyo - a Popular Place for Tourists & Japanese alike

We made arrangement to meet with Er. At 5 pm  at his office and go together to Kyoto for the weekend.

It is a  challenge getting around  Japan using  the subway if one does not know a word of Japanese.

Thankfully, I have my husband with me and he is gifted in languages. He could learn and decipher the basic words in a new language pretty quickly.

 We got to the district of Shibuya and located Er.’s office in plenty of time.

Some of the sculptures in the Shibuya District

Shibuya  is a very busy commercial area with many office buildings, shops and restaurants serving many different foods.

On a Friday afternoon, it was very busy, fast paced, hectic and crowded; it actually reminded me of the Broadway area in New York City a little.

It was also an area listed in the tourist brochure.

Er's Office Building in Shibuya

We got up to the 11^th floor of Er. office building and looked around. You just could not simply go up to the office floors as there was security people around checking peopel going in and out. We just waited in the waiting area.

 Stan was able to Skye text Er. and communicated with him. Er came and met us right at 5pm. ready to go!

Shinkansen - The Bulletin Train

We boarded the 5:30pm Shinkansen –The Bullet Train, to Kyoto. The cost for the Bullet Train was around Can. $ 120.00 one way, from Tokyo to Kyoto.

 Unfortunately, the train was full to its capacity and since we had unreserved tickets, we did not have seats. It  looked like we had to stand for the two and half hour train ride all the way.

Passengers could buy refreshments from the hostess on the tain

Er. was not very happy about that because he planned to do some writing on the train. The Bullet Train stopped at a number of smaller cities and around 7pm, we did get a seat for each one of us.

The Bullet Train was very comfortable. Though it did not have a dining car, a hostess came around with a refreshment cart and we could  buy sandwiches, rice rolls and beverages from her at a reasonable price.


However, I wished we had bought the reserved tickets so that we could have seats and sat together. Well, we live and learn for the next time!

A Japanese set dinner served beautifully on a platter

We got to Kyoto at around 8:45pm and by the time we unloaded our luggage in our room, it was well past 9:30pm. The hotel restaurant was closed.

Fortunately we found a restaurant next door that was still open. It had a pretty good menu.

Er, ordered a set dinner with all the little pieces served on a platter with nine divisions in one plate. ( Can. $ 28, not bad)The food was beautifully presented!

Japanese Baked Salmon & Macaroni

 Stan ordered mackerel, salad, rice set.  I had salmon baked with macaroni. All the food was quite good but the servings were rather small.


Er. was in a better mood to talk after he filled his stomach and shared with us what he learned about the culture and customs of his Japanese colleagues. He even managed to learn a few words in Japanese during the past month working in Tokyo. 

Er  apparently likes his new job better than the one he had in Manhattan. and we are glad and happy for him!

R,T.
Kyoto, Japan