Arriving in Tokyo

730 Friday night we hopped on the Shinkansen, or “Bullet Train” at Shin-Osaka station. The Bullet Train that runs from Osaka to Tokyo is the world’s busiest high speed train line in the world. 

We were a little worried about how to find which train to get on, how to check in, and how to find our assigned seats, but it ended up being easier then we thought, and we met several people who pointed us in the right direction. We also met up with Nathan’s teammate, Tachi, his wife and his daughter at our train and all traveled together. 

The bullet train is the BEST way to travel. It is basically just like flying, minus all the headache. The train station looked and felt exactly like an airport terminal, but you do not have to arrive 2 hours before your departure. Most people walk up 5 minutes before and walk straight onto the train. There was also no security, no metal detectors, no checking luggage, no fasten seatbelt sign, and no stuffing your bag under the seat in front of you. There was lots of leg room, reclining chairs, refreshments served, electrical outlets, and wifi. If you ask me, Texas needs to step up its game and build some train tracks to connect the major cities. 

And we were off! The train travels close to 200 MPH, so we arrived in Tokyo about 2 hours later. 

Once we arrived we caught another train to our hotel. By the time we figured it out and arrived at our hotel it was about 11 PM, and freezing. Luckily our hotel was very close to the train station, so we didn’t have a far to drag our luggage before checking in. 

We arrived at the Ariake Washington Hotel, got out room keys and headed upstairs. Now we expected the hotel room to be small, (everything is small here compared to home) but we were still shocked to open the door and find out exactly how small it was. 

This picture was taken from the doorway, so what you are seeing is the entire room. Also keep in mind this was not a hostile, or a budget hotel. It was one of the largest hotels in the Tokyo Bay Area, and used to host many conferences and weddings. No wonder they think American’s are excessive.  

No worries. We only had 2 1/2 days in Tokyo and we had a lot to see, so we were not planning on sitting around in our closet sized hotel room!