Our Rented Rectangular Room

Post date: 30-Nov-2009 14:25:48

On November 21, 2009, Colin and I took the Shinkansen Nozomi super express train from Osaka to Tokyo. We went to the station early, so we could get a few pictures before we got on the train. Bullet trains pull into the station every ten minutes and the process of boarding and then taking off again is about 2 minutes. If you're even a minute late for your train, you'll miss it. Bullet trains travel at 300 km/h and our train made it up to a maximum of 270 km/h.

It only took us from 2:27 PM when we left until 2:40 PM to arrive in Kyoto. It took us an hour to get there when we took a regular speed train. The train has 16 cars. However, there were only squat toilets on the train. We sat in seats 10D and E and made the following stops: Kyoto, Nagoya, Shinyokama and Shinagawa.

We saw many broccoli trees on the mountains, fields, farms and apartments. We were going to fast for me get a picture of the tombs I saw. They were by trees in people's crop fields and some of the tombs were raised up on a cement platform in the middle of the field.

We stepped off the train at 5:03 Pm into the largest metropolis in the world and the beginning of

a rough night. The guy we're staying with through a homestay was not waiting for us at Tokyo station. As we wandered the streets looking for a pay phone, a wheel fell off my rolling duffel bag. I am now a true backpacker instead of a flashpacker. We phoned the guy who was supposed to meet us and we had to wait 45 minutes for him to come to the station.

When he finally showed up, he didn't actually let us in his car (no room apparently) so we had to chase him around Tokyo using the subway for hours until we finally arrived at his rental place. As we have discovered some homestays actually turn into just renting a room from someone. He gave us unwashed sheets but at least there was a washer. The washer and dryer are actually all in one. I love all the high tech stuff they have in Japan. However, if you have something that can't go in the dryer, you have to come down and rescue it before the machine goes into automatic drying mode. There is probably a way to turn the drying off but my Japanese isn't good enough to tell.

Our room is a rectangle with futon mats and a small window. We're on the second floor of a four storey apartment building. We're across from the Tokyo University so there are lots of students staying in the 10 room building. Our room has a permanent smell of incense. It doesn't matter how many times I open the window or the door into the hallway for fresh air.