Rail tour of southern Japan

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Tour of Southern Japan by Train (using the Foreign rail pass of course!).
starting from Tokyo taking the bullet (shinkansen) train to Kyoto, overnight stay visiting relatives then onto Kurashiki (2 nights) via Himeji and Okayama.
As usual the shinkansen are amazingly punctual and fast and include a buffet service in the style of jumbo jets via a trolley service selling everything from o-bento boxes (but best bought from the station for the best variety) to beer and soft drinks - hot and cold and all manner of sweets and crackers. There are now a variety of western and japanese style toilets and also a specific carriage for smoking.
The cherry blossom is fantastic at the moment and is visually stunning but it does mean that there are tours of older japanese people who are hell bent on keeping together no matter what, so beware if you get stuck behind or in the middle of one of these groups, which then means that the best places for viewing are packed with people so a good deal of patience and preplanning (if with kids as we are)is required. But even so it is still well worth it all, the areas around Kyoto and Himeji were stunning, and there were a lot of Hanami festivals going on which meant a lot of food and drink stalls - yummy !

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