Adventure Time

I know I know, this site is called ‘Imabari JET Adventures’. I combined a few vacation days together and got 8 straight days off from work. And since school technically isn’t in session it was a great time to go exploring.

It’s pretty straightforward if you live near a major JR station that is served by the limited express Shiokaze. If you don’t, you’ll have to take the local train to one that does. Chances are, your local station is unstaffed if you don’t live near Imabari Station. So how do you buy a train ticket if there are no machines/people to sell you one? Well, when the train comes, if it’s a ‘one man’ or ワンマン, get in using the back door of the train and take a ticket from the machine near the door. Pay either the driver if you are getting off at another unstaffed station or whoever is running the ticket booth at the (staffed) station. There is a display near the exit telling you how much your fare is. Once you get to a staffed train station, you can buy a ticket from the green ticket machine not just for the express train but also to stations served by the Shinkansen. Neat stuff. Find the correct platform, wait for your train to arrive, and enjoy the sights as you ride through Shikoku and cross the Seto Ohashi Bridge towards Okayama. Once you arrive at Okayama simply follow the signs for the Shinkansen or pick up your rail pass if you ordered one.

Exploring Kansai

I was doing research on rail passes since I heard that certain rail passes could be purchased by residents (not tourists) of Japan. Unfortunately the national JR Pass isn’t on the list but the ‘Kansai Wide Area Excursion Pass‘ is. 10,000 yen may seem like a lot at first glance but when you realize that a one way Shinkansen ride from Okayama to Shin-Osaka costs 6,550 yen, you start to realize how good of a deal the pass is if you are planning to explore Kansai. Even better, you are allowed to use Nozomi and Mizuho trains unlike the JR Pass. You can take a look at the chart to see how much I would’ve spent on train tickets. This list is not conclusive, just some of the more costly sections. All prices are for unreserved seating except for the Kuroshio.

I based myself in Osaka near Shinsaibashi Station. Not because of the location but because I had found myself a next-day reservation at the Pokémon Cafe. Let’s be perfectly honest, nobody comes here for gourmet food. People come because they want food served in cute Pokémon-shaped plates while watching Pikachu in a chef outfit do the ‘If You’re Happy and You Know It’ dance. To paraphrase a Google review, you’re literally watching the birth of the Pikachu cult here. Don’t expect too much English from the staff, but at least the electronic ordering system on the iPads do have an English option so no need to worry there.

The weather is hot. Like really darn hot. Plus the humidity will have you sweating like crazy. I’ve read about Japanese summers and how much they suck, but I didn’t really understand it until I experienced it myself. Standing at an intersection and waiting to cross while the sun is beating down on you is not a great experience. “I’m straight up not having a good time“. I visited Akashi, Himeji, Osaka, Kyoto, and Wakayama using the Kansai Wide Pass. On the way down from Osaka to Wakayama, I made an embarrassing rookie mistake. I had initially assumed that the limited express Kuroshio had non-reserved seating available. But upon boarding the train and walking around looking for the NR section, I realized that the train had all reserved seats (and a PA announcement confirming this). Unfortunately I realized this too late as the train had left Tennoji Station. Mortified, I thought about where to hide before deciding to stand in the middle of two train cars. The conductor came through and I explained my mistake. She ended up telling me to stay in between two train cars. Which wasn’t the most uncomfortable situation since I could lean on the wall. But obviously it was worse compared to an actual seat. I decided to get off at the next station 25 minutes later and hopped on a local train to Wakayama instead since I was dying of embarrassment. This delayed my arrival by about 15 minutes which wasn’t too bad since the local train had plenty of seats available. If you’re wondering, I absolutely made sure to get a seat reservation on the ride back to Osaka. The Kansai pass allows for 6 free seat reservations. But in my case, the lines at the ticket counters were super long and I didn’t want to risk missing a train and having to wait for the next one so I mostly sat in unreserved cars. But do your research and be careful or you’ll end up stuck between two train cars like me because all the seats are reserved.

I had a good time and will come back when it isn’t so darn hot.

Hello Kitty Trains

I didn’t really care all that much about Hello Kitty before I came to Japan. But now that I’m here, I’m a fan. I mean look at how cute the trains look both inside and out.

There’s something neat about taking a dull white train, painting it bright pink, and decorating the inside with the same theme. It turns an ordinary train ride into something that you look forward to and enjoy. I saw many parents with their children taking photos and enjoying the ride. I recommend lining up for car 2 as that is where the so-called ‘kawaii room’ is and has unreserved seats. That also puts you the closest to car 1 where you can buy exclusive Hello Kitty Shinkansen merch if you are interested in that.

I don’t think you have experienced the Shinkansen until you watch one zoom past your station at ~300 km/h. The first time I saw one my jaw dropped as I realized just how quickly it comes and goes. If you get a chance, I’d recommend waiting on the platform at a station like Himeji where not all trains stop so you can witness it yourself.

Once you’ve fulfilled your wanderlust, it’s time to head on home. Getting back to Ehime/Imabari is straightforward enough. Just follow the route you took to get wherever you are now backwards. In my case, I ended in Osaka and thus had an easy route back to Shikoku. A short ride on the Shinkansen to Okayama, transfer to the Shiokaze limited express, and you’re back in Imabari a few hours later. That’s one of the neat parts about Japan. You can get from one place to another pretty quickly without having to drive in most cases.