After a very short night's sleep in Osaka, I was up at 5 AM looking for coffee. The Osaka Kansai airport is like a small city. We had dinner there and slept in a nice hotel room the night we arrived. The train station also runs right into the airport. The restaurants are world-class. We could have even seen a show if we had not been exhausted from traveling for 24 hours straight.
But the Starbucks in the airport did not open until 7 AM despite flights coming and going around the clock. So we waited, figuring out how to use the international calling card to contact the girlies back home. We had a great Japanese style buffet breakfast. The highlight for me was miso soup. My favorite.
We took a mini-shinkansen to Shin-Osaka station from the airport. Kind of like a slow bullet train. It only goes about 120 miles per hour.
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| Beneath Osaka Kansai airport |
Then, we got on the real shinkansen. 180 silky smooth mph all the way to Tokyo. Simply amazing. The views had us oohing and awwing the entire way.
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| Shinkansen arriving at Shin-Osaka Station |
After our train ride, we decided to wander a bit... we wound up in the Imperial Palace. More on that later, but here is a picture of us at the guard house where hundreds of samurai would inspect any visitors. Kind of like an ancient version of the secret service.
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| Guard's quarters at the Imperial Palace |
Then... sub ride to our hotel near Ikebekuro station. Here's your typical sub station, except since this is late at night there weren't thousands of people. Those pictures come later.
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| Beneath Otemachi Station |
Our hotel room is the size of a closet. But... inexpensive and it has internet and laundry. Most importantly, right next to one of the busiest stations in Tokyo.
Next... Our trip to the mountains.
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