Journey from Hokkaido to Tokyo

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Today we traveled from Noboribetsu in Hokkaido to Tokyo. Quite a long day of travel. First a rickety old local train full of school children to Muroran. I think they thought we were from another planet. Then we took an express train along the coast of Hokkaido to Hakodate. Beautiful views of the Uchiura Bay. Then we took another express train to Aomori. This was mostly a tunnel under water which connected Hokkaido to Honshu. In Aomori we boarded the Shinkansen to Tokyo. These trains are pretty amazing. They are wider and far cleaner than the French tgvs. And a bit more radical in design. And all of the seating faces in the direction you are traveling, like an airplane.

We pulled into Tokyo Station around 17:40 and everyone disembarked. After everyone was off the train, a cleaning crew boarded the train. The floors were swept, the tray tables wiped down and the the windows cleaned. Then all of the seats turned themselves around automatically to face the other direction. Then all of the new passengers boarded the train and it left the station to return to Aomori. All of this happened in 15 minutes!

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Photos

Sink in Shinkansen
Soap - rinse - dry!