The art of accidental adventure and immersion into train travel culture of Japan. Sometimes you never know what you are going to encounter. The item on the agenda today (in 2015) is to transport via JR from Sendai to Morioka in order to have a day trip to Kakunodate. We left the extreme hospitality of the hostel - Guest House Umebachi (see this blog post for more info) and took the short walk to the train station. I really love walking in new places so you can observe and tak

Day 3: rainy days and Sundays.... a transportation day with a short hour peaceful diversion through Utsunomiya before Shinkansen to next pitstop in Sendai. A peaceful morning at the shrine and found the Buddha with three beans standing strong from the encroachment of urbanism. We are on our way from Kanuma to Sendai catching the Shinkansen in Utsonomiya. This little map shows the Nikko line from that main hub. It's a rainy day with damp glistening streets. One of the things t

A short jaunt north of Tokyo on the Shinkansen from the Ueno JR station was the perfect pitstop to wander main streets of two small charming towns. Nikko: antiques and wabi sabi When you depart the Nikko train station to head to the Toshogu shrine you can choose the public transit bus or to walk a slowly sloping main street with a decent sidewalk. Sometimes there are so many people waiting for the bus, that the walk is worth it. I also prefer the art of accidental adventure t