Onward to Osaka

Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Osaka, Japan
Today's goal is taking the Shinkansen train or Bullet train to Osaka.

We bid our hotel in Tokyo a fond farewell Tuesday morning at about 8:30am, bowing to their staff in appreciation for the last time.

We went through one entrance to our Shimbashi station, looked around, rethought our move and went back out to return through the main entrance (with luggage in tow, we definitely wanted an escalator or elevalator, instead of stairs!) We caught the Yamanote (green) line train bound for Shinagawa station, three stops down the line from Shimbashi Station.

We drastically overestimated the time needed, as we still have the North American mentality at times and forget the efficiency of the rail system here. We arrived into Shinagawa Station at about 8:45 a.m. and after walking from one end of the station to the other, we arrived at the Shinkansen departure platform too early, at 8:50am (50 minutes before our train was scheduled to leave). With people coming and going on the platform and nothing else, we went back up the elevator to the main station to find a coffee shop to wait. During this time, I decided to pull out my laptop (large by Japanese standards), and started typing some notes for this entry.

We were surprised the train and station weren't busier, but the busier day should be tomorrow, the end of the Golden Week holidays. We boarded without incident: Japan Rail's Tōkaidō line (between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka), on the Hikari (type of) Shinkansen train. The Tōkaidō Shinkansen is the world's busiest high-speed rail line. Carrying 375,000 passengers a day, it has transported more passengers (4.5 billion) than all other high speed lines in the world combined.

In our reserved seats 7A & 7B on train car #6, the aisle was roomy enough for us to navigate with our luggage. We kept our suitcase in front of us and still had the same amount of room as on an average Air Canada flight!

This is the only way to travel. This train just flies. The ride was so smooth and so quiet - turns were banked and there was no clicking of the railroad tracks. It runs on an automated system, so there are no signals or slow downs . Our trip to Osaka, which covers a distance of 405 kms, took us a little less than three hours even with about 6 quick stops enroute. Everything ran on time (the norm from what we've seen), leaving Shinagawa at 09:40 a.m. and arriving into "Shin-Osaka" Station at 12:35 p.m. Really, this beats flying as you have no security to go through, and you only want to arrive just before your train leaves. No delays and everything running smoothly.



We left Tokyo (world's most populous metropolitan area), passed through Yokohama (Japan's largest incorporated city) making our way through Nagoya (home to Toyota, Honda and Mitsubishi, Japan's Detroit and Japan's fourth largest city) and then into Osaka (Japan's second largest metropolitan area).

The urban countryside melted into the rural as the train sped along. Its speed starts at 210 km/h (130 mph) and can go upwards of 300 km/h (186 mph). We saw a wide assortment of houses and buildings along the way, along with numerous rice fields, and businesses. Once again, Mount Fuji was elusive and it wasn't in clear view 

On arrival at Shin-Osaka station, we picked up our Shinkansen tickets for reserved seating, for our trip to Yamaguchi on Thursday. This time the tickets showed no English, unlike our tickets here. Next, we needed to change to the local Osaka JR line for a short trip (one stop)to Osaka Station. The Hilton Osaka (our home for the next couple of nights)is right next to the station. Again, its all about being close to a JR train station!

After arriving in Osaka, we had to navigate our way out of the station, which was a bit of a challenge, as the station is under renovation/construction. We however did make it through and were soon checking in at the Hilton Osaka. The hotel is amazing. Our room has a 'electronic' Do not Disturb sign, a traditional Japanese sliding divider for our main window covering, the electronic toilet again, and traditional style furnishings. One other thing it has is the expected big city/Hilton prices, where, for example, room service coffee costs 1500 Yen, or about $20.00.

After a little rest, we decided to check out the railway station, to get our bearings for our future use of it, and then walk over to the Floating Garden Observatory. This observatory straddles the top of the two towers of the Umeda Sky Building. This is a very futuristic looking building. It seems the Japanese developers are not satisfied with just building regular office buildings, but artistic, architectural firsts, and just being plain different and innovative in design. After a short 30 minute walk, we arrived at our destination and observed what appeared to be a cultural demonstration in the courtyard between the two towers. We then decided to go up to the Floating Garden Observatory. To reach this point, one first must take a glass elevator to the 35 floor(at which point the 3rd Rider encounter happened, a one of the passengers on the elevator asked me how the Roughriders we doing this year), then ride a glass enclosed escalator from the 35th to 39th floor, across the abyss between the two towers, before one can either take the stairs or elevator to the outdoor observation deck on the 40th floor. The view was breathtaking and we spent quite a while looking out and taking photos.

We then made our way back to our hotel, had a quick stop there, and decided to go out and explore a little and find something to eat for supper. We did a little wandering around the neighbourhood, saw many restaurants,(as it is said that the residents of Osaka, eat out, at least 6 times a week), and decided on one called the World World Buffet, which was in the lower "Dining Floor", of the Hilton Plaza West. We had to wait, and put our name down on a list, and, as you would have it, 'Greg' was the only name not written in Japanese, but when our turn came up the gentleman calling names, got "Mr. Greg" pronounced correctly. This restaurant had many dishes from around the World and again some things that we didn't have any idea what they were. For instance a drink that came out of the soda pop dispenser, was milky white in colour, and somewhat carbonated. But what would this trip be, if we didn't consume something that we didn't know what it was? I ended up having: two helpings of different types of pasta, 3 slices of pizza, 7 steaks, 2 types of chicken, 2 desserts and 3 pops.(remember the portions are not the size of ours at home). Eve also ate, maybe not so much, but I think she had about 4 steaks plus many other items and it was all very good. Upon leaving the restaurant, we discovered a floor made up entirely of wine bottles, very innovative.

On our way back to retire for the night, we stopped on the 35th floor of our hotel, for a quick drink in the "Window On the World" (WOW) Sky Lounge. The bar at the top of the hotel overlooks Osaka and gave us a beautiful night view of the city, with all its bright lights, and wonderful sights.

That was it for the day, and we then settled in for our nights sleep, before setting out for Kyoto tomorrow.
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