Yesterday started out nice and sunny and so I started my trip to Kyoto after the unplanned break in Morioka.
In the station I found those interesting vending machines:
This one has all sorts of cocoa and coffee both in cold and hot variants.
This one has high quality ice cream. I hadn't seen either of them before, but in Tokyo they had the same. Must be a new hype.
First part to Tokyo had me doze off a few times. And since I didn't have a window seat there were no good pics to take, anyways.
But there was one shock moment. In the west there were really dark clouds and suddenly the info board in the train car showed and alert that the Yamagata line Shinkansen service was suspended. Oh no... Not another night extra. But I was lucky. The Yamagata line branches off in Sendai and only the trains coming from Tokyo had delays because the Yamagata bound trains had to stop and be moved elsewhere.
After Sendai it became sunny again. What happened was that a low pressure system comparable to the one that flooded Austria, Hungary and Poland had developed over Siberia and gathered a shitload of water and that rained down over the northwest from Akita to Yamagata. Akita was also hit by torrential rain, so lucky I wasn't still there. Since the hills and mountains in Japan are quite steep, rain in such amounts has a high risk of landslides. There was also heavy rain on July 25th and 2 local train lines are still not operable, since they have to move half mountains of the the rails.
In Tokyo station I had ample time to change the platform and witness the Japanese Cleaning Army:
The trains are completely cleaned and all seats turned around in each terminal station. With the JR rail pass you cannot take the Nozomi Shinkansen on the Tokaido line, you take the Hikari, which has a few stops more and takes around 15 minutes longer to Osaka. So nothing important. On the picture you see the crew for ONE train car. They have around 10 minutes to turn the seats, clean everything, exchange headrest covers, gather garbage and make every seat and the magazines in the net in front of you neat and tidy. The function like an elite special operations unit with triller whistle, hand signs and all. Quite the spectacle.
South of Tokyo both the landscape and the cities and houses along the rails become more picture book Japanese and oriental. But still no window seat, so I have only one presentable picture.
Arriving in Kyoto. Searching for my hotel. I booked one with "easy access directly from the Station". Sounds nice. But where IS the damn thing?! No signs, nothing. Only for another hotel, the "Granvia", but mine is the "Miyako City Kintetsu Kyoto station." I ran around sweating like hell with all my luggage for one and a half hours. Google Map was less than helpful and showed the entrance somewhere on the Shinkansen line. I asked in shops and cafes, but nobody knew the thing... Does it really exist? Is it a scam? Finally I just followed the signs for the Kintetsu line (run by another railway company and not JR) and lo and behold, 10 m. before the entrance was a sign for the hotel at last! Yay! The embarrassing thing is that I was there in the beginning, since it is virtually opposite the Shinkansen exit gate. But from where I walked I could neither see the hotel name nor the sign...
Checked in while the water was literally dripping from my arms and my t-shirt was soaking wet. It was 30°C in Kyoto and probably a bit more in the gigantic station hall. It is by far the busiest station I encountered on this trip and you have queues everywhere. Also a LOT more foreigners, which is to be expected since all the touristic highlights and all guided tours go Tokyo -> Yokohama/Kamakura -> Kyoto/Nara -> Osaka ->Hiroshima.
Problem is: I hate people. Especially in large amounts. I started to wish I had never left the cozy north.
Got my keycard, took the elevator to the 7th floor and first saw this:
Very convenient. Drinks, Cup Noodles and Ice cubes. But who would eat cup noodles when staying in a 4* hotel? In a station where you need more than a week to only try all restaurants and eateries INSIDE the station? Beats me. But restaurants in the station close at 22.00h, so maybe some people get a midnight snack here?
Cup noodle details.
Not the worst selection.
But then this:
I was already a good third in before I took the picture. My room is after the curve near the end. And the carpet may be nice but it doesn't make moving two suitcases easier.
Came to my door and the fucking key card didn't work. My inner tourette started firing up. It was hot, I was sweaty, I had searched for the hotel already for 1.5 hours and now I had to go this corridor of doom all the way back with 2 suitcases and down to the reception...
At the reception they checked the key card and oopsie... gomen nasai (sorry)... there was a slight mistake... ha ha... No shit, Sherlock.
Back to the room. It worked! Yay!
One positive thing: The Shinkansen are driving by every few minutes directly under my window and I hear: Nothing. Excellent sound isolation. Beds are ok, but compared to the hotel in Akita (also 4*) the room is smaller and has less comfort. But at least I have kinda sorta table to put the laptop on and the chair is also ok.
Finally changing into new clothes. It was around 6 pm and I was quite hungry, since I had starved since breakfast. So I went out in search for the food court and had Kushikatsu "chef's choice". Kushukatsu a skewers with different things, breaded and deep fried. Can be anything from crab meat, onions, shrimp, stuffed peppers, beef tenderloin... if it is edible and can be cut into small pieces and skewered it can be made into Kushikatsu. Chef's choice means, that the chef decides what skewers you get and you will be served new skewers as long as you don't shout "stop". The examples above are things I actually had yesterday and a lot more. Since I was hungry. I didn't take pictures though. Was too busy eating. But if you google for Kushikatsu you will find a plethora of images and the fact that it is an Osaka specialty. Osaka and Kyoto are only 40 km apart.
But while I was there I stepped through a door and there was this view:
The dark in the foreground is a giant staircase leading down several floors. Left in the background is the Kyoto tower and right the slightly waning moon.
The food court spans the 10th (Ramen alley) and 11th (all other restaurants, Sushi, Kushikatsu, Chinese, Sukiyaki etc...) floor of the Isetan department store which is INSIDE the station. Top restaurants are in the 24 floor Granvia hotel, but you need to book seats several days in advance and they have a dress code and an according price tag.
And that was that.
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