After a bit of searching, Mai brought me a good offer to go to Hiroshima… 2 days and one night by train would cost around 450 dollars… her secretaries said it would be so expensive to try Nagasaki because it is in the extreme south… I felt a bit disappointed because for me Hiroshima and Nagasaki are the most important to visit while in Japan… I have a bond towards these two cities… for the most part of my higher education, these two cities occupied a lot of my time and studies… focusing on nuclear issues and the legality of the peaceful uses of the atom and illegality of the weapon.. it was unavoidable to study the effects of the tragic events that took place in those two cities on nature and human beings for generations… so, I would have missed a lot if I come (to the end of the world for us) without visiting them.
Before booking that trip to Hiroshima, I decided to search online further and check my options, hoping that I can find an affordable trip to both cities and also to Okinawa… the latter was impossible to find but I have discovered a very good means to travel by trains in Japan.. which is the Japan Rail Pass… this pass is meant for foreign visitors to Japan who want to travel around….it can be used on all trains, local, express, limited express and even the Shinkansen “bullet trains” except for the most 2 speedy trains in the country which are Nozomi and Mizuho… it was very difficult to figure out what can this pass do when you read on it on the site… but at the end I decided to buy it even if I wasn’t going to make it to Nagasaki because it would allow me to do other cities in Japan. The other problem on the site, that it says you have to buy it before travelling to Japan because it is only sold outside the country for those coming for short visits… while the latter is correct, but the first was not fully accurate… yes, the pass has to be bought from outside the country but thanks to the technology you can order it online from one of the sites abroad and order the delivery to an address in Japan… so after a short disappointment that I needed to book it before coming over to Japan, I was able to order it through a British site for around 400 US dollars and it was delivered to the address that I provided in Japan few days later.
That was the best discovery of my trip… now I am travelling already on my way to Nagasaki on it… so, I am finally going to make it to that city and to the tip of the Kyushu Island.
Travelling by train in Japan is a wonderful experience… trains are clean, neat and efficient… just like the Swiss... always on time… the speedy trains which I can use on the ticket travel already very fast.. I guess around 285 km per hour… I was also able to use the local trains and the JR ferry from the mainland to Miyajima Island. So, far… I have travelled from Tokyo to Kyoto, from Kyoto to Nara and back to Kyoto, from Kyoto to Hiroshima, from Hiroshima to Miyajimaguchi then to Miyajima Island by Ferry and now on my way to Nagasaki on an express train.
What is noticeable about the trains are the conductors… they bow at the entry into any of the cars and some even lift their hats and they bow again before leaving the car… this I didn’t find anywhere I have travelled to except in Japan…
While on board of the train, when a conductor wants to see the tickets of the passengers, he first bows at the entry of the car. He takes off his cap. He bows. Then, in Japanese of course, he announces to the passengers that he wants to check their tickets. Then he bows, put on his cap and starts with the job at hand. Always with a smile he starts and an arigato gozaimas at the end of the check.
They also dress and walk in the stations from and to their trains like pilots in airports. Their uniform together with the gadgets they carry and their briefcases, they definitely make you feel you are at an airport not a train station.
The ground service awaits each coming or departing trains have very developed gadgets, where they use to make announcements to passengers all around the station. All in Japanese of course, so I barely understood anything except for the name of the train and the destinations it will travel to.
Although I have toured Europe by train as well, backpacking when I was a student in London, but it was not as relaxed as this trip… so far, I keep remembering a program on travelling around the world by trains that the Egyptian TV used to broadcast when I was a kid. It was called “Mosafer ala Elahawa” the literal translation is traveler on air and the comments were made by Ahmed Fouad Moaz, whose voice was very strong and melodramatic. I had a long dream to do that, to travel by train on these green mountains around the world… especially that Egypt’s mountains are yellow or red… but never green because we are a desert… so the green mountains were fascinating when I was a kid and still charming to watch as an adult… huh… one child’s dream came true to travel around the world in trains on top of green mountains and one adult’s dream after a long time of study to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the sites where the atomic bombs swept cities and harvested human life in no time, also came true.
Safety:
Japan is a very safe place. The Japanese people are honest. So far, many leave their bags and go somewhere else and get back to pick it up. Like in restaurants or trains for example, they leave their bags and go to the toilet without any problems.
For female travelers, it is pretty safe. No harassment or intimidation.
Trains are pretty safe as well… safer than Europe, the place where I experienced traveling by trains the most. As a whole, it is very convenient to travel around Japan, even if one doesn’t know the language. When understanding a bit how the system runs, it is pretty easy to manage around the stations and getting on board of the trains, trams or buses.
cleaning the trains:
The bullet Trains :
when the trains stop at their final destination and before passengers embark on board, the cleaning team take over. they stand each at the spots were the doors of the trains open, when the train approaches they start to bow one by one. when the train gets to a halt and the passengers on board disembark, the cleaning team in their red uniforms jump into the train... in no time, they colleact the garbage, they clean the tables on the back of the seats and they turn the seats in each car to the opposite direction...i.e. to the direction that the train will take. the best by far, was at one point when they all finished, they lined next to each other, greeted the passengers that are yet to board with a bow, then they left.
local trains: even on local trains, there is a cleaning team on its final destinations... the time of their stay in the station is short, so they allow passengers to baord while the cleaning is going on. they brush the floor and sometimes clean the seats from anything that they might see like paper, hair or food parts.
Courtsey on Trains:
exactly similiar to the streets, the japanese has rules of behaviour when on board of the trian. they are all meant to care for the other.
talking over the phone is not allowed in the trains, you hear announcements all the time. however, on the bullet trains; it is allowed only in the areas connecting the cars. in local trains, people don't talk over the phone or they whishper.
most of the japanese play with their phones of other gadgets in the trians. some read or sleep... astonishing enough, they sleep but they wake up just on time for their stations... as if they have a biological clock fixing the timing in their heads.
after 11 pm during the week, many of the japanese men are waisted in the trains. they can not walk straight... i have found out that many socialize with their work colleagues after work. so, they go for a bar and few sips are capable of making them tipsy or drunk... yet, the best thing is all the colleagues who are not drunk always support the drunk one. they don't leave unless they put the guy in a cab, or take him to the train for his home destination. it looks like another unwritten code for solidarity.
Kids and school uniform:
Amazing enough how everything is included in the uniform… we used to have everything but not the bags or the model of the shoes.. . the restriction was in relation to the colour… here, the shoes model is standardized for each school…even the bags…their shape and colour are included in the school uniform… I have heard that now, boys can choose from blue, brown and black bags … which is sort of revolutionary for them…
Girls use uniforms similar to ours… no big difference except that they use short skirts with regular socks even in winter… but for the boys… so far all around the areas I have travelled boys wear blue or black suits that look more like military suits… few wear green in grey suits for example… probably from private schools not public ones…it is funny because when you see the men.. it makes a huge sense if you imagine their childhood and why they are fond of wearing suits.
Formal wear in Japan:
Although the national dress for Japanese is the kimono, but most people in modern Japan don’t wear it in their daily lives… it is so easy to be a man in Japan… most men dress in suits… they love suits even when they are going for outings or for sightseeing trips… their suits are more like their school uniform.. Mostly blue, sometimes black or dark grey.. I am yet to see a Japanese man dressed in a brown suit for example…it is very rare... they look neat and elegant.. but, I believe few suits in the closet with many shirts and ties will do the job instead of bothering about all the other clothes that one should buy to fill up the closet… I am sure it is not a rule… I have seen many in casual wear, especially teenagers and the young generation… yet, I am amazed at the number of men dressed in suits over the weekends for example.
In all the restaurants, buses, trains, ferries.. etc.. you will find conductors, drivers, hosts and hostesses dressed in suits.. probably dark blue..or black..
For women, it is totally different… way more complicated as usual :) most women dress in skirts.., very short ones… even if it is freezing… some put on pants, but it is not as popular as skirts… they are mostly elegantly dressed… but one would see those who dress like cartoon characters or like dolls in the streets and shops… they love dying their hair … many to either brown, burgundy or even blonde… which I have to admit looks strange with their complexion… what I don’t understand as well are 2 things; why they wear to much foundation although they have very good skin? And why they put on and some men as well shoes at least 2 sizes bigger than their size? For me it is still a puzzle that I don’t understand… women love wearing high heels… one can see many have difficulties in walking in them... especially when the shoes are 2 sizes bigger than the foot…yet.. it is still there and I don’t get it…
many men and women die their hair. they are fond of changing colours, they all have very dark black hair, but all of a sudden you can see a blonde or a brunette... sometimes with strange haircuts.
Japanese houses in rural areas:
Do you remember the series Oshine… many of the parts of the old cities in Japan.. the streets, the houses…reminded me of that series.. the streets are so narrow and there is almost no space between the houses.. they are small sized and built so close to each other.. going further to the south in rural areas space is not an issue ... from Hakata to Nagasaki, one can find bigger houses and relatively with more space between them.. not as attached as the ones in Kyoto or Nara… the lack of strict organization, the mess with storing tools, wood and other materials that are used in agriculture can be easily found here rather than the strict organization in the cities… one can safely assume it is not different than any country side around the globe..
So far, I am yet to see a mountain fully occupied by inhabitants… when I asked few of the Japanese I met… they said that living in mountains is difficult and only in certain areas people live on mountains but mostly people like to live in the valleys…which of course make the housing so expensive due to the scarcity of land balanced with the number of inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago.
Now in Nagasaki and saw fully inhabited mountains :) it reminded me with Lebanon where the houses on the mountains are so close to each other.
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