ShareJR West Hikari Railstar trains do not have green cars. But, the reserved coaches are quite comfortable a step up from other JR Shinkansen coach seating. Additionally, non-reserved coach seating on Railstar trains is old and cramped so be sure to always get a reserved seat when using the Railstar.
Archive for June, 2009
Himeji Castle Interior
Jun 29
348 viewsShareHere are some shots of the inside of Himeji Castle. If you have big feet the stairs may be a little dicey. I had trouble coming down because the backs of my calves were always getting impacted with the riser I was coming of off.
Station Maps
Jun 29
368 viewsShareEvery train and subway station has large local neighborhood maps near the exit portals. In most areas in or near medium and large cities the maps are bilingual and very easy to read. Here is an example of those maps. In large station complexes these are very useful for determining which exit to use.
Excellent Lens Filter Comparison
Jun 18
1,536 viewsShareI found an article about lens filters that actually has a ranking based on multiple factors. The article is quite detailed and I used the rankings to upgrade my UV filters for my lenses. My current gear list has all of my glass listed in detail with reviews of each lens. I decided that this [...]
JAL Safety Promotion Center
Jun 17
454 viewsShareJAL operates their Safety Promotion Center near Haneda Airport. It is a solemn place, open to the public and by reservation only. Photographs are prohibited but JAL maintains a webpage with some photos of what’s inside.
Japan Customs Warnings
Jun 17
434 viewsShareThe departure area at Narita airport has a nice display of contraband. Genuine and counterfeit articles are displayed, prohibited items are also displayed.
The Real Hachiko
Jun 17
8,245 viewsShareMany people have seen the statue of Hachiko in Shibuya. What many people don’t know is that the real Hachiko is in the National Science Museum in Ueno.
Gyoza in Utsunomiya
Jun 14
372 viewsShareI am one of the biggest suckers for venturing out to try something when I hear a place “is known for” or “specializes in” or “is the <choose food> capital of Japan” so I headed out to Utsunomiya one morning to try the gyoza there. It was certainly delicious but not much different from any [...]
JAL Executive Class Dinner (->USA)
Jun 14
399 viewsShareThe Japanese dinner offered in JAL Executive Class on flights leaving Japan is pretty good. I starts out with eight courses of very delicious dishes followed up by an entree with rice and miso soup.
JR Sakura Lounge Shower at Narita
Jun 14
885 viewsShareThe Sakura Lounge at Narita is quite vast and well-stocked. They have first-class shower facilities which are available on a first-come-first-served basis. If I’m not flying business class I use the day room facilities to take a shower prior to boarding but the facilities in the Sakura Lounge are second-to-none.
JR Tickets at Narita Terminal 2
Jun 11
716 viewsShareYou can buy JR (or Keisei) tickets in the arrivals lobby or go down one level to the platforms and use the JR Travel Center (first picture) or the ticket window (second picture).
Kiraku Ramen Shop
Jun 10
309 viewsShareI don’t know how many ramen shops there are in Japan. It must be in the thousands. In the small town called Torisawa which is in Otsuki City in Yamanashi where my wife’s mother still lives there is a small ramen shop called Kiraku. It is famous for the incredibly tasty chashu pork. Here are some [...]
Amazing Stair Climbing Dolly
Jun 10
1,037 viewsShareI was outside of Otsuki Station and saw one of the most interesting carrying devices I’ve ever seen anywhere. This dolly can climb up and down stairs with large amounts of payload. It certainly beats the heck out of hauling these boxes up and down stairs the old-fashioned way.
2009 Hakata Trip
Jun 9
245 viewsShareI went to Hakata to get some Ramen and took these pictures of the station and the Yodobashi Camera store. Unforunately, they wouldn’t let me take pictures inside of the store.
Mt. Fuji Pictures at 270 km/h
Jun 9
426 viewsShareI was heading to Osaka in January 2009 on a beautiful clear day and took these pictures of Mt. Fuji. It was truly fortunate to be traveling on such a clear day.
300 km/h Shinkansen Ride
Jun 9
313 viewsShareI shot a picture of my GPS while going from Hiroshima to Tokyo.
But, looking closer zoomed in, check out the maximum speed of 300 km/h.
Fukushima Ekiben
Jun 9
274 viewsShareI was returning from Aizu-Wakamatsu and picked up an ekiben meal on my way back to Tokyo. There were quite a few choices but this one caught my fancy because of the salmon flakes on the rice.
Takkyubin (Door-to-Door Courier Service)
Jun 8
1,097 viewsShareEveryone talks about using takkyubin and luggage forwarding. It’s pretty straightforward to do this at the airport counter or from a hotel when the bell desk takes care of it for you, but most non-Japanese speaking people are probably intimidated by walking into a Yamato (Kuro-Neko/Black-Cat) depot with suitcases to be forwarded to your next [...]
Yukichi Honten Sushiya in Yokohama
Jun 8
366 viewsShare
This is my favorite sushiya in all of Japan. The quality and choice of fish is top tier. The wikimapia entry shows the location out in the Konandai area of Yokohama.
Canon Gear List
Jun 7
268 viewsShareA friend of mine asked me the other night what kind of photography gear I have. I told him Canon with a bunch of model numbers but he was confounded and overwhelmed. I told him I made the difficult (and expensive) decision last year to switch and upgrade from Nikon to Canon because of the [...]