We ride the Shinkansen to Osaka

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Today we ride a series of six trains down off the mountain and across Japan to Osaka. An early start got us onto the first cablecar down to Gora, we were the only passengers. We purchased tickets for Odawara and almost immediately stepped on to the virtually empty mountain train. This has to be one of the most spectacular train rides ever with bridges over ravines, three switchbacks and nine tunnels.

In Hakone-Yamatomo we changed to the local train that took us into the major junction of Odawara. Here three rail companies intersect along with the Shinkansen (Bullet train).

Our first task was to find the JR ticket office so we could reserve seats on the Shinkansen to Osaka. The bright green JR office was easy to spot and a very helpful young lady appologised that since it was a public holiday the next few trains were fully booked. We would have to wait till noon - about two and a half hours. Not a problem, we had expected to have to wait, we were glad that we could get on so early.

With tickets in hand we now had time to kill in the station. With the pressure off we decided to fit in a late breakfast and tried a box meal to share. Sitting at some of the few seats in the station to eat, the various objects had a pleasent taste but all shared a fine, highly processed, slightly plastic texture. After our repast we looked around to see where we could dispose of the container. There were no bins to be seen so Greg headed off to find one. After a full circuit of the station he came back perplexed and still carrying the packaging. There appeared to be no bins anywhere, strange since the station was so very clean. Then we realised that we had not seen anybody eating or drinking in the station. There were some dining establishments but all the people buying the bento box meals seemed to carry them not eating. We assume that they intended to eat during their train rides.

After further exploration of the station we found a place with an Italian name and went in for coffee and a piece of chocolate cake. We picked the right place as this was by far the best coffee we had found since leaving home.

Finally it was time to head up to the Shinkansen platform. Our tickets were for carriage 9 so we were delighted to see the carriage numbers clearly market on the platform. This was going to be easy.

Suddenly there was a loud sound of air being split as a bullet train came through the station at 300kph less than 10 metres away! In seconds the long train was gone and we were left with mouths gaping. Wow, that was spectacular. Shinkansen trains came through at high speed about every 5 minutes and our wait tuned out to be much more exciting than expected. Two trains came and went on our platform and then it was our turn. We had green class seats, which are about equivilent to business class on an aeroplane. The overhead rack took our large bags and we settled in as the train pulled out of the station and began to accelerate.

Very quickly the scenery was flying past. Greg estimated we were doing somewhere between 250kph to 270kph, certainly much faster than he had ever driven (and he's been up to 230kph).

We settled in for the ride.

Before we knew it we were in Osaka. Our next task was to ride the local trains to get to Kiobashi station. There were multiple lines running out of Shin-Osaka (the bullet train station) but by now we knew to look for the JR lines. A JR lines map showed us the local train we had to take for one stop before we transfered to the loop line. Once we were on the right platform this all happened simply and quite quickly. Stepping of at Kiobashi station concluded the last of today's six train rides! Whew, now to find out hotel.

We soon discovered our first challenge was to get out of the station as each passage seemed to lead to another set of platforms. Finally getting up to street level we tried to get our bearings and find a landmark. We had used Google street view to look at the street around our hotel the previous night as the hotel was just a doorway in a mall above the station. An attendant at an information booth in the mall pointed us in the right direction and we were soon checking in. The hotel started on level 7, the 6 levels below was a massive mall, including a department store, specialty shops and a food court. Below that were the multiple levels of the station. In Japan you have to think in three dimensions.

Before too long we were catching up with the rest of the a

Australian wedding guests in the hotel bar.

A group of us, including the bride to be, spent the evening together catching up over many courses in a local restaurant. Tomorrow is the wedding day.

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Photos

At this early hour even the descending mountain train was empty.
Everybody was heading in to Hakone for the long weekend.

The mountain train track winds tightly as it hugs the mountains.
Note the roadway below on the lower left.