ロードスター GET 1

One of Japan's biggest upsells is the precision at which public transport operates. When a train leaves at a given time, it leaves at that time. Not five minutes after, not fifteen minutes after, but on the dot. This means that if you want to want to travel on Japanese public transport, and you need to connect trains or busses, you'll have to hustle.

And hustle did I. I had to take a train from Aizuwakamatsu to Koriyama, then the Shinkansen to Omiya (Saitama), then a train to Shinjuku station, then a train to Ebina, and THEN a bus to the bus stop conveniently located across the street from the dealer. The respective time gaps between each leg were 9, 12, 14, and 17 minutes. I had purchased the tickets required for the first three legs in Aizuwakamatsu, but after that, I was on my own.

Akabeko display on the platform in Aizuwakamatsu

Platform view in Aizuwakamatsu

Commuter train that ends in Aizuwakamatsu

The regional express train to Koriyama

Japan's railways are privatized, so there are multiple groups that have their own regional monopolies. In my case, there were JR East and JR Tokyo. The buses are also on their own thing, so if you're traveling one-way, you need time to buy tickets. Therefore, I would need the extra times between the latter three legs to purchase the tickets and get to the train/bus.

Beautiful green mountains in the mountains of Fukushima

The Touhoku Shinkansen line in Koriyama

I came close to missing the train in Shinjuku. They deposited me at the station across the street from where the Ebina train would be leaving from. (Shinjuku Station is one of the largest in Tokyo.) I had to cross the street and purchase the ticket at the ticket machine, which brought me to my next hurdle. With the ticket machines, at least in this section of the country, I had to find my destination in a table and select the corresponding fare from the machine. That confusing enough for you? If I was 15 seconds slower than I was, I would have missed my train.

The JR station(s) in Shinjuku.

But alas, it got no better in Ebina. I waked out the west gate towards the mall looking for the bus gate, and after waiting quite a while in line at the ticket counter, I managed to flag down a worker. Good news: I could pay the driver.

Bad news: the correct bus stop was at the east gate.

The bus stop in question

With five minutes to go, I sprinted across the station to the east gate. I tried to find bus stop number three, which I figured was where bus number three was. I rushed down just in time to see the bus pull away from the stop. It couldn't go far anyways, because it had to wait at a red light.

I got on the bus and asked if it was going to my destination. It wasn't. I got off, and the light turned green. Right behind it was my bus. Which was going too fast to stop.

JUST

Luckily, a few people, one of who I assumed was an American boy, managed to help me figure out where I should have been. As it turned out, because there were buses with various assigned numbers, the bus number stops didn't necessary line up. So bus number three left from bus stop number six. Are you confused again? I sure was.

I checked the schedule, and the next bus was not to show up for 50 minutes. Defeated, I sat on the bench next to the stop. I was so close to getting there when I told the dealer I was coming. Then again, I was still going to be meeting him earlier than our original agreed-upon time, so I guess it's not that bad.

Would my car give me as much trouble as the bus? I hoped not.

つづく

-wp