A very personal Decade of Dreams tour! UPDATED 6/5
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Wendyismyname · 05-08-2009, 07:07 AM

Very nice!! Love the looks of those seats!

**Colexis Mom** · 05-08-2009, 08:48 AM

Looks like a great breakfast! Great pictures too!

**duck addict** · 05-08-2009, 09:50 AM

Hooray, the report has resumed

**OhToodles!** · 05-08-2009, 11:03 AM

It does sound like a lovely breakfast, with lovely views!

belle0517 · 05-08-2009, 12:18 PM

Welcome Back! Great pictures!

Minnie Lor · 05-08-2009, 03:18 PM

Yippeee! Welcome home. And

doing two TR's at once. Wonderful pictures of the city. Love the shirt that Mark is wearing.

BeckiO5 · 05-08-2009, 09:38 PM

Welcome back from DoDs Cheryl. I loved your last post and I'm so glad to hear you and Mark were able to get pictures from your room with Mt Fuji in the background. Your breakfast looked heavenly and wow, those seats on the train look huge.

**chezp** · 05-09-2009, 05:39 AM

Thursday 2 April – part two: is that a trough in the ground?!

Unsurprisingly, the train left dot on time. I wouldn’t have expected anything less from the Japanese. It was a very smooth ride, much more than I’m used to at home. At times, you could only tell that we were moving from looking at the countryside whizzing past, not from the train’s movement itself. When we travel on the Eurostar at high speeds, you know all about it, but it was a very different feeling here.

One or two bikes!

McDonald’s get everywhere!

It took about 30 minutes for us to get out of the sprawl that is Tokyo and as we moved further and further out into the suburbs, you started to see houses, albeit small ones, with some tiny gardens.

A tiny bit of the UK!

Those gardens became bigger the further out we went and soon we were travelling through open countryside. It was interesting to see agriculture at work, as there were huge greenhouses that we saw along the way.

The towns we saw after Tokyo reminded both of us of small town America. At one point, it was just like being out on the prairie. I couldn’t help but think that there’s some serious irony, when you think that Japan now looks similar to the States, considering how viciously they fought against America in World War Two.

It was also clear that they have warmer seasons over here, judging by the orange trees we saw and the air conditioning units on the properties. It’s interesting, as I had already seen photos of Tokyo in the snow, so they must have quite severe winters and summers. I know it’s certainly very hot and humid over here from mid May, as when we had originally been planning to visit Japan at the end of May, my Japanese teacher had warned me about the humidity.

One thing I did notice was that almost every single house without fail had washing hanging outside to dry, so I guess washers aren’t very big over here.

We were soon at our station, Shimoimaichi and it was very straightforward to change to the local train to Nikko. This was Japanese efficiency at its best. As we pulled into the station, there was another train waiting for us and all we had to do was cross the platform. It couldn’t have been simpler. Once gain, there were English signs everywhere, which helped no end.

A few minutes later, we were at Nikko.

Here, I made the mistake of trying to go through the ticket turnstile without inserting my ticket first and the barrier slammed down in front of me. Then it opened again and I could get through. It wasn’t at all clear what we were meant to do with our tickets, as it was obvious that they wouldn’t go through the machine, but Mark realised that there was an information booth and that’s what you had to use, as that bypassed the machines.

That sorted out, it was time for a quick restroom stop. I have already worked out that you stop for these when you can and always where you think there will be a Western style one. I went in and it all seemed fairly modern, so it was a bit of shock when I saw one cubicle and it was a Japanese style one. Oh my goodness! I had read about these in my guidebooks, but even that just didn’t prepare me at all for actually seeing one. The best way I can describe it is that it’s a trough in the ground. Seriously. Fortunately the cubicle next to it was empty and was a Western style one, so I dived in there. That was something I was just not in a hurry to try if I didn’t have to.

:

We headed outside and saw the bus stop straight ahead. This place reminded me of a ski resorted. It had that feeling to it and certainly there were snow topped mountains to be seen not too far away, which added to the feeling.

Next: the breathtaking highlight of Nikko

**duck addict** · 05-09-2009, 08:07 AM

No photo of the Japanese style restroom ?

lauren-roxy · 05-09-2009, 08:16 AM

Great photos!!! The bathrooms do not sound very appealing.

**chezp** · 05-09-2009, 08:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by duck addict

No photo of the Japanese style restroom ?

I think there is one later in the trip, but I had to wait to find an empty restroom, before taking photos!

Minnie Lor · 05-09-2009, 09:13 AM

Gorgeous photos of the country side. I love seeing how other people live - what the normal day to day life is like. Very interesting.

After reading about the fancy toilet in your hotel room, I was hoping that Japan had done away with their traditional style. That definitely would've put a crimp in my style.

**Kenny** · 05-09-2009, 09:47 AM

Welcome back from DOD, Cheryl! Great piuctures of the cities and the countryside! As I was looking at the pictures from the train with the snowcapped mountains in the background, I was thinking how it reminded me of the Rocky Mountains in the US West.

**KMB733** · 05-09-2009, 09:59 AM

Welcome Back Cheryl! I missed reading all about Japan while you were away. Great pictures of the countryside. And how nice that you finally got to see Mt. Fuji from your hotel!