Bullet Train

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We were leaving Kyoto today & we were leaving fast (in a good way!). When we got to Kyoto train station the sun was shining & light snow was beginning to fall. We arrived with plenty of time to spare & did a quick search for some train grub. On the departure platform was a kiosk selling lots of different Bento (boxed lunches), after looking at the pictures I plumped for two boxes of assorted fish, seaweed, rice & pickles & went to pay. The lady at the counter took my money & pointed at a sort of microwave saying hotto, not needing to eat for a couple of hours I shook my head & said I would have it cold. This was not an option & she kept pointing at oven & when I left the shop she closed the till & came running after me to lead me back in & open the oven. It all became clear when the door opened & it was full of cartons of hot rice which you get to accompany one of the boxes. Yet another time a basic grasp of Japanese would have been useful, the second sushi box turned out to be a pork burger.
Our shinkansen bullet train turned up on time (as every other form of transport does in Japan) & we set off to Tokyo. Sam likened the feeling of the train to a plane just about to take off but never quite making it & we rushed through the snow covered countryside past fields & towns until we approached Mount Fuji. I've never seen such a perfectly formed mountain, so conical & evenly snow capped glistening in the clear sunshine, it was a shame we were travelling by so fast.
We got to Tokyo station & caught the subway to Inarichi where we were staying & tried to work out where our hotel was. We had booked a western style room with en suite bathroom but our travel voucher said we had booked a Japanese style room (both exactly the same price), which caused some confusion at check in. We were shown the public baths & the Japanese style room which was two futons on tatame mats. Sam decided after seeing the communal toilets it was time to switch to the western room. When we went down to reception with all our bags they were suprised that we were checking out already but soon realised we just wanted to swap rooms.

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