From Tokyo, the largest city in Japan, there are many ways to get to Osaka, the second largest city. One could fly out of Haneda Airport, take a bus, drive a car, take local trains, take the bullet trains ... probably there are even boats. And I'm sure there are travelers who have biked or walked as well. Considering time and money I decided on the Japan Rail Pass for seven days and used the bullet train. But there isn't just one type of bullet train either. On the Tokaidou Line there is the Kodama, the Hikari and the Nozomi. The Kodama stops at every station and while it is faster than the local JR trains, it is the slowest of the bullet trains. Also the Kodama doesn't usually travel really long distances either. One would need to change Kodama trains mid-route several times most likely for longer distances. The Hikari stops at only certain stations and is good for getting to the main cities quickly AND does not cost any more than the Kodama! This little piece of information I did not know many years ago. Then there is the Nozomi which stops at even less stations, is extremely quick and a little pricey. In fact Japan Rail Pass users have to pay an extra fee to take the Nozomi trains.

So I took a Hikari from Shinagawa to Osaka. Back in the day Shinagawa didn't have a shinkansen stop, but now it does, so this was my first time using the Shinagawa shinkansen station. I also reserved a seat in advance, which is something I didn't use to do in the past. I used to travel on whims so I didn't like to plan every minute of my trips. I actually enjoyed reading the train time table books at the station to get an idea of when I would need to transfer, etc. But I didn't want to have to commit to an exact date, time, train number, seat number, etc. I wanted to leave everything up in the air in case I needed to go on a tangent en route. In fact to this very day I have a hard time scheduling trips. For example the plane flight decision is so difficult for me because circumstances always change. And there is always a fee to have to change the ticket.

But this time I looked at the train time schedules in advance to see how far I could travel in a short amount of time. I had a lot of places I needed to investigate, so I needed to be more efficient with my advance planning. I made reservations at the train stations at least a day in advance (fortunately for me it wasn't Golden Week), which I think was a big step for me. I made sure I could be in a seat and not have to wait an hour in line either. I even got to choose window or aisle seats!

Another thing I had to look forward to on the trip from Tokyo to Osaka was the view of Mt. Fuji. I used to live in the Shizuoka Prefecture, so I was spoiled with a beautiful view of Mt. Fuji all year long for two years. In fact it was the view on my way to work, while I was at work (I could see it perfectly from the teacher's room) and even from my apartment (to the north). Mt. Fuji IS north for all residents of Fuji City, so no one gets lost ... unless it is a cloudy day and Mt. Fuji hides herself, which is what happened on this trip to Osaka. At first I overheard a father and his son talked about when they would be able to see Mt. Fuji. When the train passed a certain mountainous area, they were sure one of those mountains was Mt. Fuji.

While I am certainly no expert when it comes to Mt. Fuji, I DO know my beloved Mt. Fuji enough to be able to recognize her.

Oh yes. I did say "her". Mt. Fuji is a female mountain, you know. She has five mirrors (the five lakes of Mt. Fuji). She wears make-up (the snow) during the winter time. When she doesn't wear make-up, she covers up (usually during the summer time ... and on days when there aren't any clouds - wow! purple Fuji). She has a child, she carries on her back (it was a small eruption over 500 years ago and also what gives her such a unique shape). And just like a woman, you don't want to see an upset Fuji - she'll erupt!

So I took it upon myself to help the passengers find Fuji. Early on I spotted her in the distance. Many passengers got up to take photos. One passenger was disappointed because Distant Fuji wasn't as spectacular as he would have hoped for. But I assured him when we got closer he wouldn't be disappointed.

I was wrong. When we got closer, Mt. Fuji was completely covered in clouds and we could only barely make out her outline. Too bad ... but I was happy to at least know my Fuji was still there.

And then the food cart came ^_^!!!

Since we were passing through Shizuoka I ordered green tea. The can even said it was Shizuoka tea. But Shizuoka tea is a story for another day ...

Finally I arrived at Osaka Station. One of my brother's best friends, Bear, met me there. He had luggage of his own and offered to help me carry one of my bags. Then he lead me through the maze that is the underground city of the Osaka stations.

We wound this way and that. We found ourselves above ground at one point just to ask for directions before we burrowed underground again via the stairs along with the multitudes of commuters who live in and around the Osaka area. Finally we arrived at another Osaka train station. For what line or train I didn't know. How we even got there I had no clue. I figured if I had to retrace the steps it would have been better had I scattered breadcrumbs. I guess I could always try to follow the signs too, right?

At the next station we waited for his wife, Kumi, her mother & sister and his own sister. In fact my brother's friend had just gotten married the week prior and was heading to Florida to have the American wedding. I think they both wore traditional Japanese wedding clothing for the wedding in Japan complete with the ceremony in a big hotel. And the wedding in Florida was going to be near a beach. They were getting ready to board a bus for the Kansai Airport that very day, but luckily I had planned to meet them in advance by a hour or so.

So what do you do when you are in the underground of the Osaka stations with an hour to spare? You find a good restaurant.

After a brief poll it was decided that we eat Korean BBQ. I had never tried bibinba, so that is what I ordered. As an afterthought I asked, "Is it spicy?" Spicy foods being something I do not digest easily. Thankfully it wasn't. On the other hand it was a bit of adventure. The ingredients came to me in a big bowl all piping hot and still sizzling. I sat there admiring it but was quickly instructed to start stirring. It turns out that if you don't stir soon enough everything starts to burn on the bottom. Consulting the "how to" sign helped me learn the proper method of stirring bibinba. I'm sure I could have figured it out without the sign, but it is certainly nice to know there are "how to" signs readily available when confronted with a new bit of culture, you know.

Then there were short good-byes as Team Bear headed to the bus station and Kumi's mom and I zig-zagged back to the right Osaka station to head to her home that evening.