Our 1st Train Ride to Tokyo

The weekend after Kamura, we decided to take another tour. This tour was mostly a learning tour on how to use the trains here in Japan. Yes, it did take us to Tokyo, but we really didn't see too much of it.

We started our train ride in Fussa--the town right outside of the base. We walked to the station around 9am. From the base to the station, its takes about 15 minutes. Once we got to the station, our guide explained to us how to buy our tickets on the machines. Luckily, the machines talk to you in both Japanese AND English. What a lifesaver, heheh!! Before you buy your tickets, you need to look at the map and figure out where your final stop will be--when you find your last stop, that will tell you how much your ticket will be. So if I remember right, to our stop in Tokyo, it was 760 Yen, about $7.60 pp. Cadens tickets was half priced and Mayla was able to ride for free. So you start the machine by pushing English first and then a whole bunch of squares pop on that say the prices. So, we just had to find the one that said 760 Yen, hit that one, and on the side of the machine, hit the button that said 2 adults (2 figures) and one that says 1 child. After that, pop in your money and get your tickets. Pretty easy!

Now we went on a Saturday morning. Japanese folks work on Saturdays, so the train was a bit crowded--at least in our opinion it was. According to our guide, the train was "empty"!! Wait until you see the picture of everyone on it!! Now the train was more like the subway in NYC or the T's in Boston. But if you ask me, I thought the subways in NYC were a lot nicer. While we were waiting to hop on our second train, we got to see the Shinkansen, aka, the Bullet Train, go by a few times. Once again, that was amazing to see. I can't wait to go on that one day! Anywho, I believe we hopped on 1 more train before we got to Tokyo. Our guide wanted us to experience hopping on different lines so we could understand the time tables (when the trains arrives/leaves).

So walking in downtown Tokyo...we couldn't believe we were there! I was so amazed what a clean city it was!! Now a certain street we walked down, it must have been around 12pm or so, but they closed off the whole street so people could do window shopping, eat their lunch in the middle of the street and who knows what else. It was pretty neat. But besides that time, we were amazed that not many people were out on the streets like in NYC. Although maybe we were in a quiet part of Tokyo.

Our guide took us to a Japanese resteraunt for lunch--took off our shoes once again. We sat a table that was kinda like a picnic table, but it was able to fit all 10 of us that were on the tour. We ate pork and rice and it was actually very good! We are definitely getting used to using chopsticks. No forks or knives. Although, they did give the kids little forks, spoons, and bowls to use.

After lunch, our guide took us to a shopping mall. Every mall/store here has about 4-5 levels on it. And on every 1st level, is a grocery store/bakery/whatever food. You'll find it all. We only had about 30 min there..but that was okay because everything in this store was really expensive!!!

From there, we walked some more down town and then went back to the train station. Now this time, our guide made us do everything by ourselves, which I thought was good. We aren't going to have a guide with us all the time, so it was smart of him to do that. We bought our tickets and on the train we went--I think it might have been an hour ride back to the Fussa Station. Luckily, it took us straight there and we didn't have to switch trains. Mayla and I slept real nice on the ride home. I guess the only thing I would complain about, is the air moving around in the train--they need to crank it up!! It can get real stagnet in there and then for me, I started to feel a little bit claustophobic at times. But in all reality, it wasn't too bad. You just need to find the right time to ride!!

When we got home from our long day, we had a little birthday part for Mayla who turned 3 on that day! We turned on Skype so mom and dad could sing Happy Birthday with us. I love this technology--although its not the same as having your family with you in person. Close enough though :) Its hard to imagine by the time we leave here, she'll be 6 and finished up with Kindergarten!!