Just got back from an excellent Japan 2015 Trip!

[TestudoToTetsudo]

BACK from an excellent two weeks in Japan visiting relatives, showing my wife the country, and riding trains.

 

I'll post more later (including photos later), as my ultimate plan deviated from the plan I initially posted here a month or two ago, but some major train observations first:

 

1.  Yamanote Line in the AM rush on the Ueno-Shinagawa stretch appeared about 20% less crowded now vs. 2009 thanks to the Ueno-Tokyo Line opening.

 

2.  Saikyo Line heading north out of Shinjuku is phenomenally crowded at 10 PM, worse than the Yamanote Line in rush hour now.  One relative says it's because some of the private railroads have an early bedtime so there's a rush out of Shinjuku when the lines close.

 

3.  Got to ride to Kanagi on the (often praised on this board) Tsugaru Railroad, to visit the town my family evacuated to at the end of WWII.  I did not see the wood oven train but I did see that they seem to use the "baton system" for train control with what appeared to be a shovel and tennis racket, whoever had one can occupy track North of Kanagi, the other South of Kanagi, and a station agent at Kanagi runs the items between the two trains when they meet.  Also got to ride the Gono Line's ancient DMUs with openable windows.

 

4.  Resort Shirakami was a fun ride but a lightly used one.  At Noshiro going north (known for a championship basketball team), the train stops for about ten minutes and passengers are able to get off the train and shoot hoops in a free throw contest on the platform, with station staff giving out drink coasters as a prize if you make the shot.  The station staff then waved at us as we left with those big foam hands.  Train slowed down in a few scenic spots along the coast.  I actually got to ride this train twice, Goshogawara-Akita coming back from Kanagi and Akita-Juniko round trip.  Less than a dozen passengers on the train Goshogawara-Akita, a couple dozen in board Akita-Juniko-Akita, with some tour groups for Juniko, midweek in mid-May.

 

5.  Stations at Takaosanguchi (Keio), Akita, Kyoto, Hakata, Otsuka and Akabane, in addition to Tokyo, all had obviously been through some major renovations since my 2009 trip and all seem to have come out pretty nicely.  Himeji also has some pretty neat development around the station, with construction still ongoing.

 

6.  Hotel space around Kansai (Kyoto and Osaka) was virtually non-existent for weekends in May, even booking a month out.  To get around this, we booked a Comfort Hotel in Himeji (I had loads of Choice hotel points, all Comfort Hotels in Japan appear to be just 8,000 points per night where available).  where there was plenty of space, and used our Japan Rail Passes to ride to Kyoto and Wakayama for day trips for no additional cost.  Japanese wouldn't do this as the Shinkansen fare would be cost prohibitive, and most foreigners with rail passes don't know the trains enough to do something like this, so it's a nice trick for us train people.

 

7.  We went to Wakayama to visit Tama the Cat.  Tama was on vacation so we saw Nitama.  The museum, gift shop and cafe seemed nice, but other than that there is little around Kishi station.  We went back to Wakayama to see the castle.  Rode the Omochi train both directions.  Lots of families with kids.

 

8.  Hakata Station City has a railway shrine on the top floor.  I knew the Japanese worshipped trains figuratively but now I see it's literal too.

 

9.  Rode the Kyushu Shinkansen to Shin-Tosu and back, to see the Brunel Award winning station.  The structure is impressive for a small Shinkansen station and from an external appearance (and a platform level appearance), but there's little development visible around the station.

 

10.  Rode GranClass Morioka-Tokyo on the Hayabusa Shinkansen and have the slippers and menu to prove it!  As part of an overall Akita - Morioka - Tokyo - Himeji trip scheduled so I could watch the coupling/uncoupling of sets at Morioka and the "7 minute miracle" turns at Tokyo.

 

11.  Rode Himeji - Tokyo the scenic route: Kodama to Shin-Osaka, Thunderbird to Kanazawa and the new Hokuriku Shinkansen Kanazawa-Tokyo in Green Class.  Green seats on the E7/W7 Shinkansen are huge and have several power recline options, almost like GranClass but a bit smaller and without the amenity package.  Also got to experience the Shinkansen earthquake detection system as our train was stopped for 10 minutes near Takasaki due to the 5.6 earthquake in Tokyo last week before resuming.  Also saw a Resort Hybrid train being delivered from the factory near Omiya, the only reason we knew to look at the other platforms downstairs out the Shinkansen window was when we saw about 20 railfans with DSLRs out on the platform below focusing on SOMETHING.

 

12.  Sobu Line Rapid Service for Tokyo (the one that goes from Tokyo station east), inward to Tokyo Station, seems to get jam packed in the mornings over an hour before other lines do.  We could not fit on the train with our luggage from Bakurocho to Tokyo at 6:55 AM due to crowding and had to take the bus on the parallel route for that route.  Missed the 7:15 Narita Express, had to take the 8 AM, but still made our 10:45 AM ANA flight back home, just didn't have enough time to see much of the excellent airport lounges NH and UA have in Narita.

 

Also, as a general note, it was pretty cool using my Tokyo Suica card to buy stuff at a 7-Eleven in Hiroshima, or from a vending machine in Kyushu, 700 miles away.

 

Let me know if you have any further questions about the trains/travel described above, I'll add more text and photos to this in the coming days!  THANK YOU for all the advice you have provided here over the past few years as I planned this excellent trip!

[yakumo381]

 "Stations at Takaosanguchi (Keio), Akita, Kyoto, Hakata, Otsuka and Akabane, in addition to Tokyo, all had obviously been through some major renovations since my 2009 trip and all seem to have come out pretty nicely.  Himeji also has some pretty neat development around the station, with construction still ongoing."

 

I beg to differ regarding some of these station improvements, Himeji old station had lot of character and history, the new one has none and could be anywhere in the world. Similarly most of Hakata, where I was last week, is heading the same way. I was at Tsuruga yesterday which is another old characterful station about to be obliterated by a bland, mega station. Finally, in my "humble" opinion, Tokyo has been ruined by the last round of rebuilding and is now just a caricature of its former self.

 

Earlier I was at Tosu which still has original rails supporting its canopys from the 19th century and which it has proudly labelled so travellers are aware of its history. The JR Group and Japan is at risk of losing even more of its railway history by letting excessive or poorly executed modernisation occur everywhere. Its fine having museums for locos and rolling stock but the real history is in the stations.

Edited May 28, 2015 by yakumo381

[cteno4]

Testudo,

 

Sounds like a great trip! Looking forward to pictures.

 

I really took advantage of the railpass the way you did on my first trip to Japan in 84. I found out I was going to a scientific meeting in Kyoto three days before leaving (great breaking result as a grad student that got me into it all of a sudden) so could not do any real planning other than deciding to stay 3.5 weeks after the week meeting and order a 3 week rail pass. During the week meeting we got the royal treatment in Kyoto and private visits to all the sights so that was off the list and I had a good chance to get comfortable with Kyoto area. In Kyoto I was able to find a great ryokan that I used for a home base then did 1-5 day trips from there by putting a fortune of shinkansen miles on the railpass. The ryokan owners were super sweet (three sisters) and held my bags so I could travel light on my outings and had a room ready (complete with some great snacks as I would come in late usually) with a note on the door of which room to bunk down in. This way I could plan each few day outing at a time without trying to arrange a grand loop trip on the fly and be schlepping stuff all the time. Really worked out well and got to see most of Kyushu and south and central Honshu this way with no big plans or hassles, i just wandered In a direction for a few days with a list of the things to do and see that direction and it a,most always came out grand! One quick trip north to Sendai,mbut figured norther japan would be a later trip. A couple of times I woke up early and decided I wanted to do something in Tokyo so jumped on a shinkansen, spent the day and early evening in Tokyo and bopped home in the evening. So simple and easy!

 

Cheers

 

Jeff

[TestudoToTetsudo]

 "Stations at Takaosanguchi (Keio), Akita, Kyoto, Hakata, Otsuka and Akabane, in addition to Tokyo, all had obviously been through some major renovations since my 2009 trip and all seem to have come out pretty nicely.  Himeji also has some pretty neat development around the station, with construction still ongoing."

 

I beg to differ regarding some of these station improvements, Himeji old station had lot of character and history, the new one has none and could be anywhere in the world. Similarly most of Hakata, where I was last week, is heading the same way. I was at Tsuruga yesterday which is another old characterful station about to be obliterated by a bland, mega station. Finally, in my "humble" opinion, Tokyo has been ruined by the last round of rebuilding and is now just a caricature of its former self.

 

Earlier I was at Tosu which still has original rails supporting its canopys from the 19th century and which it has proudly labelled so travellers are aware of its history. The JR Group and Japan is at risk of losing even more of its railway history by letting excessive or poorly executed modernisation occur everywhere. Its fine having museums for locos and rolling stock but the real history is in the stations.

 

I think we're looking at stations from different perspectives.  I was looking at stations in terms of functionality and features and modern contemporary appearance more so than preservation of historic character.  The gee whiz "wow, I can do all this in the train station" factor is why I said what I said.  For instance, being able to detrain in Himeji and get fresh produce and groceries before leaving the station with an actual market (not just a combini) in the station would be great if I were a commuter.  I agree that if one is looking for the historic character of a station they aren't likely to find much in these locations.

[TestudoToTetsudo]

Testudo,

 

Sounds like a great trip! Looking forward to pictures.

 

I really took advantage of the railpass the way you did on my first trip to Japan in 84. I found out I was going to a scientific meeting in Kyoto three days before leaving (great breaking result as a grad student that got me into it all of a sudden) so could not do any real planning other than deciding to stay 3.5 weeks after the week meeting and order a 3 week rail pass. During the week meeting we got the royal treatment in Kyoto and private visits to all the sights so that was off the list and I had a good chance to get comfortable with Kyoto area. In Kyoto I was able to find a great ryokan that I used for a home base then did 1-5 day trips from there by putting a fortune of shinkansen miles on the railpass. The ryokan owners were super sweet (three sisters) and held my bags so I could travel light on my outings and had a room ready (complete with some great snacks as I would come in late usually) with a note on the door of which room to bunk down in. This way I could plan each few day outing at a time without trying to arrange a grand loop trip on the fly and be schlepping stuff all the time. Really worked out well and got to see most of Kyushu and south and central Honshu this way with no big plans or hassles, i just wandered In a direction for a few days with a list of the things to do and see that direction and it a,most always came out grand! One quick trip north to Sendai,mbut figured norther japan would be a later trip. A couple of times I woke up early and decided I wanted to do something in Tokyo so jumped on a shinkansen, spent the day and early evening in Tokyo and bopped home in the evening. So simple and easy!

 

Cheers

 

Jeff

 

Thanks!

 

I'm going to try and calculate the retail "street value" of the trips I took with m $387 USD 14-day Japan Rail Pass, and post it here once I do.  I already know it's a four figure amount but haven't calculated out just how far into four figures the actual number is.

 

Sounds like you had a phenomenal time in Japan before with your three week pass!  My trip started in Tokyo, then went up to Akita for a few days, then down to Himeji for a few days, then back to Tokyo for a few days before flying home.  I wish I could get three weeks in Japan with no commitments at some point, unfortunately the US lags the rest of the world in terms of normal amounts of vacation time to do so.

Edited May 28, 2015 by TestudoToTetsudo

[bikkuri bahn]

Himeji old station had lot of character and history,

 

Huh, really?  The headhouse was a standard nineteen-sixties reinforced concrete box with the generic "ekidepaato", no loss there.  The railway side I can understand, as I prefer the more railroady atmosphere of ground level stations- especially miss the platforms that served the Bantan Line.  But the new building is way better aesthetically, especially at night, and most importantly, will attact more shoppers to the station area, which helps the railway's bottom line. The main entrance to the station is in-line with the station road, and offers a straight shot view of Himeji Castle.   Though I'm not a big fan of elevated platforms due to their cookie cutter aesthetic and restricted railway photography sightlines, at least JR West thought to cover the electrical conduits found under the canopies with grills that mimic traditional Japanese architectural black/white contrast detail.

[bikkuri bahn]

Hotel space around Kansai (Kyoto and Osaka) was virtually non-existent for weekends in May, even booking a month out.  To get around this, we booked a Comfort Hotel in Himeji

 

More Chinese tourists. I did the same thing at the end of March- ALL non-luxury hotels in Kobe/Osaka/Kyoto/Nara/Wakayama/Shiga were completely booked up even on weekdays as it seems Chinese have suddenly found cherry blossom viewing to be enjoyable.  Stayed at Toyoko Inn in Himeji.  As I had a Surutto Kansai pass, I used Sanyo Dentetsu to get to Kobe/Osaka.  OK if you're a railfan but boy I was knackered in the evening.

 

The lack of hotel rooms is becoming an issue, as business travellers are having trouble finding places to stay.  Advice- book early- at least 3 months in advance if the travel period is anything peak or shoulder season.

[TestudoToTetsudo]

More Chinese tourists. I did the same thing at the end of March- ALL non-luxury hotels in Kobe/Osaka/Kyoto/Nara/Wakayama/Shiga were completely booked up even on weekdays as it seems Chinese have suddenly found cherry blossom viewing to be enjoyable.  Stayed at Toyoko Inn in Himeji.  As I had a Surutto Kansai pass, I used Sanyo Dentetsu to get to Kobe/Osaka.  OK if you're a railfan but boy I was knackered in the evening.

 

The lack of hotel rooms is becoming an issue, as business travellers are having trouble finding places to stay.  Advice- book early- at least 3 months in advance if the travel period is anything peak or shoulder season.

 

Yup, exactly, Chinese tourists!  And many apparently like to rent kimonos by the day in Kyoto.  Wonder how long it will take for Toyoko Inn, Choice Hotels, and others to build up enough capacity to match the new economic demand.

 

If you're strictly trying to visit Kyoto, you could probably do the same thing with Nagoya and have more direct Hikari options per hour, and less backtracking if you're starting/ending your trip in Tokyo.

[bikkuri bahn]

Yep, as a matter of fact I checked Nagoya during the same March period, and plenty of rooms available.  Apparently the blossoms aren't as beautiful there :icon_cyclops: .  Wasn't too keen on the commute to Kansai that would entail though, and anyway, a stay in Nagoya deserves a concentration on Meitetsu, with a side of Kintetsu and JR Freight...

[bikkuri bahn]

Wonder how long it will take for Toyoko Inn, Choice Hotels, and others to build up enough capacity to match the new economic demand.

 

Toyoko Inn, for one, seems to be building at a good clip- a new hotel in the Nanba/DenDen Town area is opening in July, and there is another one in the Tsutenkaku area. I managed to book a few weeks back a five night stay in August at the relatively new Tennoji Toyoko Inn (near the zoo and a big hospital), but already most of the non-smoking singles were booked. 

[lurkingknight]

ugh... don't get me started with chinese tourists.... poor staffers at all those tax free drug stores. I felt bad for them.

[katoftw]

Pics or it didn't happen. haha

[lurkingknight]

honestly, the raping of a duty free drugstore in dotonbori is not photoworthy... lol.

 

It was insanity... we sat outside and watched.... a chinese tour group would get dropped off... they'd all have their iphones or pads out furiously translating a list of things to get. They'd run in, bowling people over... and I'm not exaggerating, they would almost shove people out of the way. If they found what they were looking for... I witnessed some doing this... They would reach all the way into the back of the shelf and pull the entire shelf of those items into their basket. I saw vitamins and hair dye specifically. Personally when it comes to vitamins, I would sort of do the same if I were from china... you can't trust most of that stuff there to be real... hell it might even be poisonous. But the reaching in to the shelf to clear out whatever was on it was mind boggling. And if you looked around the store you'd see other things were just as cleared out. There were gaping holes in the stocked shelves.

 

If they didn't find what they were looking for, they were trying to ask staffers or show them their phones to show the list.

 

There were staff desperately trying to restock shelves, other staff trying to deal with several loud/rude chinese people trying to get what they wanted in time before the guide came back to collect the group

 

Others were overwhelmed at the cash registers trying to maintain some sort of order while doing the duty free paperwork. 

 

The only thing that separated this behavior from raping, pillaging and looting like pirates, was that there was no raping and goods were paid for. But the chaos and destruction they caused was very real.

 

The staff had maybe 5-10 minutes to catch their breath and frantically restock shelves before the next tour group would roll in.

 

 

How often does this happen? Often enough that all the duty free cashiers spoke perfect mandarin.

 

In another drug store a chinese lady kept ramming her baby stroller into me to get me out of the way.

 

Everywhere I saw chinese tourists, I saw callous disregard for respect, ettiquite, manners and downright decency.

 

In contrast, a thai tour group that ended up with us on the chuo rapid across tokyo was loud coming out of tokyo station, loud on the platform, but once they got on the train and looked around and realized how quiet it was, one of them said something to the rest and they all quieted down and started speaking in low tones like the locals. They were polite and very courteous to locals, doing their best to get out of the way while trying to stay with their herd.

 

I also ran into some tour groups from hongkong, cause they spoke cantonese and were well mannered, better dressed than the mainlanders, and they were also courteous and polite... well as much as us chinese people get. They were more respectful of local customs than the mainlanders for sure.

[SantaFe1970]

 

4.  Resort Shirakami was a fun ride but a lightly used one.  At Noshiro going north (known for a championship basketball team), the train stops for about ten minutes and passengers are able to get off the train and shoot hoops in a free throw contest on the platform, with station staff giving out drink coasters as a prize if you make the shot.  The station staff then waved at us as we left with those big foam hands.  Train slowed down in a few scenic spots along the coast.  I actually got to ride this train twice, Goshogawara-Akita coming back from Kanagi and Akita-Juniko round trip.  Less than a dozen passengers on the train Goshogawara-Akita, a couple dozen in board Akita-Juniko-Akita, with some tour groups for Juniko, midweek in mid-May.

 

 

Sounds fun. If you have them, I'd love to see you post pics of this and other legs of your trip.

[Jensen]

honestly, the raping of a duty free drugstore in dotonbori is not photoworthy... lol.

 

It was insanity... we sat outside and watched.... a chinese tour group would get dropped off... they'd all have their iphones or pads out furiously translating a list of things to get. They'd run in, bowling people over... and I'm not exaggerating, they would almost shove people out of the way. If they found what they were looking for... I witnessed some doing this... They would reach all the way into the back of the shelf and pull the entire shelf of those items into their basket. I saw vitamins and hair dye specifically. Personally when it comes to vitamins, I would sort of do the same if I were from china... you can't trust most of that stuff there to be real... hell it might even be poisonous. But the reaching in to the shelf to clear out whatever was on it was mind boggling. And if you looked around the store you'd see other things were just as cleared out. There were gaping holes in the stocked shelves.

 

If they didn't find what they were looking for, they were trying to ask staffers or show them their phones to show the list.

 

There were staff desperately trying to restock shelves, other staff trying to deal with several loud/rude chinese people trying to get what they wanted in time before the guide came back to collect the group

 

Others were overwhelmed at the cash registers trying to maintain some sort of order while doing the duty free paperwork. 

 

The only thing that separated this behavior from raping, pillaging and looting like pirates, was that there was no raping and goods were paid for. But the chaos and destruction they caused was very real.

 

The staff had maybe 5-10 minutes to catch their breath and frantically restock shelves before the next tour group would roll in.

 

 

How often does this happen? Often enough that all the duty free cashiers spoke perfect mandarin.

 

In another drug store a chinese lady kept ramming her baby stroller into me to get me out of the way.

 

Everywhere I saw chinese tourists, I saw callous disregard for respect, ettiquite, manners and downright decency.

 

In contrast, a thai tour group that ended up with us on the chuo rapid across tokyo was loud coming out of tokyo station, loud on the platform, but once they got on the train and looked around and realized how quiet it was, one of them said something to the rest and they all quieted down and started speaking in low tones like the locals. They were polite and very courteous to locals, doing their best to get out of the way while trying to stay with their herd.

 

I also ran into some tour groups from hongkong, cause they spoke cantonese and were well mannered, better dressed than the mainlanders, and they were also courteous and polite... well as much as us chinese people get. They were more respectful of local customs than the mainlanders for sure.

 

I'm surprise that you can tell different from Chinese tourist from Hong Kong and mainlander. Most people I know can't tell the difference. I can tell you that is the same all over the world. Some mainlander people how totally no respect of other people culture and bring theirs with then. I seen it often happen in Europe. That is why people in Hong Kong is protesting about mainland going there! 

 

I would like to add, that not the worst of the Chinese tourist. If you look into aviation industry, some open emergency hatch, pee and poo on the seat (on the aeroplane), start fight and even pour hot water over air hostess! 

 

I think those shops are tailored to do those business in fact I heard that the tour leader get some commission of the revenue of the specific tour group. They have to speak mandarin to do business, just like London high end store like Burberry having chinese speaking staff there.

[westfalen]

I found Taiwan to be similar, you could easily pick the mainland Chinese tourists from the locals.

[JR 500系]

Haha is this turning to be a nice discussion about Chinese tourists..  :)

 

Just to add it's like this everywhere too... Although I do have to speak up for the China Mainlanders that there are some Chinese tourists (minority though) who are very well mannered. Otherwise, you could really spot them from the Taiwanese and Hong Kong tourists.

[katoftw]

Where did the excellent photos from the excellent trip go?

[Guest ___]

I'm surprise that you can tell different from Chinese tourist from Hong Kong and mainlander. Most people I know can't tell the difference. I can tell you that is the same all over the world. Some mainlander people how totally no respect of other people culture and bring theirs with then. I seen it often happen in Europe. That is why people in Hong Kong is protesting about mainland going there! 

 

I would like to add, that not the worst of the Chinese tourist. If you look into aviation industry, some open emergency hatch, pee and poo on the seat (on the aeroplane), start fight and even pour hot water over air hostess! 

 

I think those shops are tailored to do those business in fact I heard that the tour leader get some commission of the revenue of the specific tour group. They have to speak mandarin to do business, just like London high end store like Burberry having chinese speaking staff there.

 

I whored myself a couple years ago working part time for Ralph Lauren (mainly for the incredible employee discount) and I learned to tell the mainland Chinese from the HK very quickly. I have dozens of nightmare stories when the mainlanders would arrive by the bus load. Sadly, my store was not one of the "appointment preferred" locations. It would literally look like a bomb went off in the store within ten minutes.

 

People would literally start pulling and grabbing items out of my hands while I was stocking. I woukld get down to a shelf to refold and stack items back on a shelf that was literally blown apart only to have the SAME people that were just tearing apart the shelf trying to take the items they just had out of my arms. One lady, literally would take items from my as I was folding them.

 

I can't recall how many times I'd get my ass reamed out for not being customer orientated after snapping at the Chinese tourists for pulling crap like, taking items I was folding or  stocking out of my hand without saying a word. The worst part was with zero English they would then try to barter, then get mad when the few Chinese speaking (Hong Kong born employees) would tell them we don't barter.

 

Don't get me started about Chinese tourists while I was in Singapore.

[Guest ___]

Haha is this turning to be a nice discussion about Chinese tourists..  :)

 

Just to add it's like this everywhere too... Although I do have to speak up for the China Mainlanders that there are some Chinese tourists (minority though) who are very well mannered. Otherwise, you could really spot them from the Taiwanese and Hong Kong tourists.

 

 

 

LOL, you're in Singapore, you know what I'm talking about ^_^ Only time in my life I ever heard my now ex-gf, but still good friend curse or get angry at anything, mainland tourists.

[Ochanomizu]

 

 

I whored myself a couple years ago working part time...

No class!

[lurkingknight]

I missed this

 

I'm surprise that you can tell different from Chinese tourist from Hong Kong and mainlander. 

 

 

 

My mom is from hong kong and my dad is from canton, according to native hongkongers, I speak very clean hongkong cantonese, abiet with a limited vocabulary and less grasp on formal grammar, but my conversational everyday cantonese is pretty passable if you were to drop me into the middle of HK (according to the natives).

 

So usually the first indicator to separating them is whether they speak mandarin or cantonese. I have a very limited vocabulary of mandarin, since I was born and raised without any formal chinese schooling in the ass end of nowhere canada, but most people from HK will generally not speak mandarin, even if they can from my experience. For example I've only ever heard my mom speak mandarin maybe 4 times in my life, and it was on the phone.

 

One of the other things that usually tips me off is how they behave in regards to their presentation of themselves, how they dress, how well they are put together, if it's tasteful or gaudy.. granted most chinese fashion is very gaudy, hongkong designers less so... it's a 'new money' mentality, they suddenly have all this extra money and they're not sure what to do with it or how to act with it.

 

Also, I find that foreign cantonese speakers from western countries have a lot more western manners than HKers or some other canto asians. Since this group of cantonese speakers were modestly dressed in non western fashion, well behaved but not overly polite, I was making an assumption they were from HK..

 

 

They also said they were from HK ;) but that only confirmed my deductions.

[Jensen]

Lurkingknight, well said!

 

Totally agree with you here! I somewhat similar to you, both parent from Hong Kong, but I was born in UK.

I can speak fluent cantonese, and really basic mandarin. I mostly learn mandarin whilst at Uni from mainlander friends. I have to say they are much politer and well mannered. 

 

I once went to visit a friends in China and took me a tour. He had a totally different in attitude whilst dealing with people in China then with me or people whilst in UK. He told me the changed of attitude is need to get thing done and show who is boss in China. I never heard him raise his voice in UK, and in China he practically do it several times each day.

 

One thing I would like to say is that only a small minority mainlander are rude and badly behave, however that is what most people remember. 

[TestudoToTetsudo]

OK, it has been WAY too long, the past two months have been rather insane with family and other commitments.  But now I can start posting photos!

 

First, the flight to Japan.  This trip was several years in the making.  The original plan was for my wife and I to fly to Japan round trip in Economy on United miles (with possible cash upgrade to Economy Plus).  But then a year ago AmericanAirlines had this limited time sign up bonus offer for one of their credit cards that could get you 100,000 AAdvantage miles.  So we put the LASIK my wife was going to get last year anyway on that card (well, what our Flxible Spending Account didn't cover) and got 100,000 AA miles, which was enough for us to get two free one-way Business Class seats DCA-BOS-NRT, with the 14 hour transpacific flight on a 787 Dreamliner on AmericanAirlines' oneworld alliance partner JAL.  This also freed up all the United miles we were otherwise going to use to fly round trip in coach to fly one way on the return in lie-flat Business Class on United's Star Alliance partner ANA.

 

787 Dreamliner at Narita:

 

Business Class seats:

 

One of the multiple meal courses.  They serve a big meal the first hour or two after takeoff, and then there's on-demand meal service with udon, "JAL Tokyo Curry Lab" Curry, etc.

 

 

One of the key advantages of the Boeing 787 is that it opened up intercontinental travel from mid-sized cities, not just mega hubs.  As an early customer of the 787, JAL inaugurated one fo the first such flights by flying BOSTON-Tokyo instead of New York or Chicago or LA to Tokyo.  To celebrate this flight's role in aviation history, JAL serves a drink called the "Cran-Shu" only on the Boston-Narita flight: half sake, half cranberry juice.  It tasted pretty good!

Edited August 6, 2015 by TestudoToTetsudo

[TestudoToTetsudo]

Resort Shirakami:

 

Noshiro Station is home to a good basketball team, and the train dwells for about ten minutes, so the station staff set up a free throw contest.  My folks took a picture of me taking a shot, and the prize for making the shot are coasters.  My wife and I were both lucky enough to get a coaster.

 

Lots of Japanese trains have RFWs (Railfan Windows), and the views from those windows on the Resort Shirakami were excellent:

Edited August 6, 2015 by TestudoToTetsudo