Day 175 May 3rd 2007, Which Queue - Tokyo to Kawaguchi-ko


In addition to Golden Week this weekend is also a long weekend, like a bank holiday in the UK. As in the UK everyone heads for the countryside and upon arriving at the train station we found organised chaos, queues the length of the platform. This is where the confusion that resulted in us taking an hour to get on the train started. In summary

1. Two types of tickets - reserved and unreserved if you have an unreserved you have to queue for a seat.
2. We got in the wrong queue and by the time we realised the un reserved carriages were all full
3. After queuing in the right queue got on the wrong train, lesson learnt even though the guard looks at his timetable check with at least two other people until you get a consistent answer.
4. Right queue and right train phew

This isn't where the confusion stops as there are local, express and limited express trains all of which require a different ticket. There are signs on the platform telling you where to queue for each type of train depending on your ticket but our Japanese is still coming along slowly.

Which part of "I want to travel 1st class" didn't you understand Adam

The whole experience was great fun though and we got talking to a little old Japanese man in the queue, it later turned out that he was in the wrong queue but to his delight he managed to get the last seat on the train in the form of the luggage rack at the end of the carriage. One thing I can say for sure though is that when a train is due to arrive it certainly does to the minute.

After arriving at Otsuki we changed to the local train, which was actually a limited express doh, new ticket required but we did get to Kawaguchi-ko a bit quicker.

It was interesting to see the countryside as we travelled out of Tokyo. Shelley was the first to see Fuji San, San being Japanese for Mountain (see were getting there) Its an impressive sight even from some distance.

Highlights: Learning how the Japan Rail system works