Before leaving Hakone this morning we had a western style breakfast at the hotel, shown below. Western style basically means no raw fish. I figured that one out all by myself. It also means knife, fork, and spoon instead of chopsticks. I had my heart set on biscuits and gravy, but reality showed up in the form of corn chowder, corn on the cob, and two egg shaped things.
Ayano gives us instructions before we board the train to Kanazawa.
Our first train of the day was a bullet train. Very comfortable. Very fast. Very smooth. Very quiet. Not only was the train quiet, the occupants were very quiet also. Talking was discouraged. Might disturb the quiet locals who are quite conservative. No mobil phone chatter. Whenever a train staff person leaves the train car to enter the next car, he/she turns around and bows to the people in the car he/she is leaving.
I downloaded a map of Japan so the GPS on my phone would show where we are, even with cellular service turned off (Airplane mode). The blue dot shows the location of our train as we head towards Nagoya where we switch trains and head north to Kanazawa.
If you drop your hat, you should ask a train station attendant to retrieve it for you. I pretty amazed you'd have to suggest that to people.
A quick, random photo shot from the train window.
