Rags to Riches by Bullet Train

I left the Insignia and spent the night in Tokyo so I could catch the Bullet Train to Hiroshima the next day. Hotels are outragous in Tokyo, so I found a hostel because all I was going to do is sleep.  The rest of the time I went to see Tokyo at night.  It's a completely different place.

My ship coming into Hiroshima at 6:30 am from my hotel room.

TOKYO

I was in the Ginza District walking distance from Tokyo Station. I checked in and hit the streets, ate octopus and local beer, watch Karaoke (a national sport) at BIG ECHO and went into a Pachinko parlor.  Three little men tried to entice me into a strip bar, "You like tiities?  You like tittles?"  This while blocking the sidewalk in front of me. "Who no like tittles?" I had to push myself through them.

It is so crowed you have to think in three dimenions. Entertainment is not just at street level.  There are signs that cover the sides of tall buildings. Burger King might be on the third floor and you have to take the elevator.  A bar might be on 5 and a Sushe Bar on 7.  The 7-11 could be on the 4th floor and Family Mart on 2. Trains are stacked in over passing 4 levels high with the Bullet Train on top and commuter and frieght trains below as well as a highway and a local city street. My Hostel, Books-Tea-Bed was on the 5th floot. The elevator was almost out on the street.

My "room" was 3 ft. X 6 ft. X 4 ft. with a light, a shelf, 2 hangers and a shoe tray. Fifteen other people where in the room.  It had a common toilet, two showers and a 4 sink bathroom cabnet all shared by everyone. The 3x6 bed was 3" foam.  You made your own bed and pulled the sheets and pollow case before you checked out.  You could hear everyone. They provided free earplugs. It was about $34 vs. $200 for a hotel room. It was an experience I won't soon repeat. 

View of entrance elevator  to BookTeaBed from the street.

 

I was next to door and front desk.

I don't know what this was about but, it was in the elevator and there several local ads taped to the wall.

I had to figure out how to use this.  It is the controls for the toilet.

Street signs are not at intersections which makes it difficult for foreigners like me to find their way.  The signs are overhead in the middle of the block for vehicle traffic with a arrows showing which street is ahead.

Octopus, scallions and wasabi.

On this next video you will hear the sound of millions of metal game balls (like large ball bearings) rolling around in these machine and "paying out" for wins in the red baskets. Gaming is illegal but I was told locals get around this my winning prizes that they can easily sell to a dealer. The dealers are always around outside with ready cash. It like playing the slots in Las Vegas, only louder.

After a little night on the town, I had a hard knock sleep on that thin pad. I got to Tokyo Station without a problem except I had to explain to a cab driver that knew as much English as I know Japanese, that he was taking me to the wrong station. The commuter station is gi-normous but I was taking the high-speed city-to city-train.

These ladies went in on the arriving train that would take us from Tokyo of Hiroshima, turned all the seats to the new forward postions, cleaned up, vacumned and replaced the individual seat head-clothes.  Very efficent.

The train left to the second of its listed departure time of 10:14 all cleaned up. The trains are 15 minutes apart all day long. It was hard to tell the train was moving at first; it was so smooth. Obviously welded rail.  No clicky-clack except at the few cross-over switches. It flew at 320 kph (200 mph) The scenery was great.  I had a window seat on the ocean side. It was raised track (no crossings) so it was like we were flying. It was a little over 4 hours, slowed only by several station stops along the way.

HIROSHIMA

I couldn't find a hostel near the harbor where the ship was coming in the next day so I booked the closest hotel. Besides I was happy to not sleep on the floor again.  It was the Grand Prince right on the water.  The first picture on this blog is the Insignia coming in.  The picture was taken at sunrise from my 18th story room. I showered and met the ship at the pier as they were securing the gangway. I was the only one going in as passengers where lined up to leave the ship, surprized that someone was coming aboard.

The hotel also provided a smartphone in the room for me to use. I had unlimited internet access and free international calling.  Since my T-moble phone doesn't work all (different system) I took advantage and called friends and relatives back in the U.S.  So I went from sleeping in a box to a luxury room overlooking beautful scenery, free international calling, privacy and big deep bathtub to read in. Rags to Riches in one day and all it took was a ride on a 200 mph train.

I dropped my backpack in my cabin and went right back out to catch a shuttle bus to tour the Peace Memorial, ground zero for the first atomic blast used in WWII. Our local tour guide must have been a kindergarden teacher.  She slowly repeated everything, had pictute props and taked in a emotional soft "teachers voice." I noticed Japanese who speak English to foreigners repeatedly use the the words "so" and "yeah"  i.e. "So, so, so the Japanese people decided to, so, so make a democracy, so, yeah, ya, ya, ya , ya yeah, yeah, ya, yeah, ya, so, yeah."

The hospital was directly under the atomic blast but, one of the few structures to still remain as it had reinforced concrete structure.  Most the rest of the city was wood and completely obliderated for a very large area. Very solemn experience.

The cherry blossums only last about a week each year and I was here to see them.  The cherry trees are everywhere. This one is helping hide two dumpers. Also notice no leaves or trash on the ground.  There was an army of sweepers out sweeping up leaves almost as they hit the ground.

Next we went to Hiroshima Castle or "Carp Castle"  which was built in 1592 but destroyed by the atomic bomb in 1945.  It was reconstructed in 1958. The name of the local major league baseball team is the Hiroshima Carp.

I had noodles for lunch before going back on ship. Slurpping is expected and polite.