There’s not that much to report for today as I used most of my time going back to Tokyo via the route I came down south. The night at the hotel was short and although I was at the main station of Hiroshima rather early I had to wait for my train for another hour.
That is because the bullet trains have different classifications. The most modern and fastest one, the “Nozomi” train, leaves every fifteen minutes and doesn’t take too many stops. But users of the Japan Rail Pass are not allowed to travel with that train which is why they have to take the slightly slower and less frequent “Hikari” or “Kodama” trains. Because I had to wait I wanted to sit outside the station building for a smoke. That’s where a man of about 45 years approached me and asked for my time. He said he was learning English at an institute near the station right now and that he wanted to test his skills. So we sat down and had a 30 minute talk. He was really trying and although his level was still rather low I could sense that he was really giving it his all the whole time. It was a very funny and nice experience which simply rounded off a nice stay at Hiroshima.
I boarded the “Hikari” train to Osaka where I had to change for another “Hikari” to Tokyo. At Shin-Osaka (New Osaka) station I took the chance to grab something to eat. While in Europe most places at the train stations sell warm snacks like bratwurst or hamburgers, in Japan you get packed bentou, the lunch boxes every japanese worker and traveller loves and enjoys. They are rather cheap, but are filled with lots of fine dishes. Most of them have rice and meat and some vegetables. After I boarded the train I happily ate my lunch and waited for the arrival at Tokyo’s main station.
From there on I took the subway to a place where me and my host had got off twice and tried to find my way back to the house which worked out pretty well, although my luggage was rather heavy. My host had told me the evening before that her mother would be back at around 5 pm so when I arrived at around 4 pm I settled in for waiting about an hour. But it turned out her mother was back early and from then on I sat in the kitchen for the rest of the day and told stories of my trip to the south. The father and my host came back in the evening and we all had dinner together.
It somehow felt like coming back home and I really feel a little sad I have to leave in three days to go back to Germany. I haven’t made up my mind yet about what to do tomorrow, but there are still some friends I’d like to see before I leave, so there will be something to do.
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