Sunday 8th February – Bullet Train day.

Sunday 8th February 2015

We stayed in bed until 7am this morning – very early still for a Sunday! We got sorted and went down for another very good breakfast in the Lavarock. It was busy but very nice again. Back in the room we decided to have a walk over to the railway station to get our tickets for the train sorted in case there were any issues. It turned out to be very simple. There were lots of different places to buy tickets – we have chosen to go on one of the faster trains – this makes the tickets more expensive but it is something else crossed off the bucket list.

Sue did the talking with a very helpful young man whose English was very good, but he had a prompt sheet in English when he got stuck. We are booked on the Nozomi train leaving Tokyo at 1250 arriving Osaka at 1523 Car 5 seats 4-D and 4-E cost 14,450 yen each (about £80). Once that was sorted we walked back to the hotel grabbed our bags, checked out then chilled in the library for a while taking advantage of the wi-fi and free coffee.

Later – around 11.50am we had a slow wander in the very drizzle out of the hotel and over to the station. We set up camp next to a Starbucks near track 18, and I went for a bit of a look round. The 1210 had just departed and a few people were queueing for the 1230. As you would expect it is very well ordered and polite – each carriage has two designated queuing points, front and rear. Just after 1235 we wandered up for photo ops – our train was in and we could see the cleaners beavering away and a man going down each carriage swinging all of the seats around so that all pax are always facing the direction of travel.

At about 1145 we boarded and at exactly 1150 we pulled way, gaining speed remarkably quickly and smoothly. The Nozomi train is the fastest of all of the bullet trains with a top speed of 300kph (186mph) – the 515 miles to Osaka takes 2 hours 25 minutes! This includes a few stops on the way. The first two stops are at suburban Tokyo stations of Shinagawa and Shin Yokohama. When we left Tokyo the carriage was less than a third full but by the time we left Shin Yokohama it was about 75% full – from there (1309) it was full speed ahead to Nagoya (1433) Kyoto (1510) and finally Shin Osaka (1525).

Leaving Tokyo is was a bit grey and drizzly still but it was fascinating watching the city of by for ages before we hit the rural areas, these included a lot of tunnels and obviously a fair bit of climbing but the ride was smooth and very, very quick. Nagoya is a huge industrial city and by the time we reached it the sky was blue and the weather was much improved. Kyoto also seemed to go on for miles, before we pulled into Osaka dead on time. the staff were great, the ticket collector and the buffet trolley girls made a big point of bowing every time the entered or left a carriage.

Watching the countryside go by was a real experience – the whole ride lived up to expectations. When we left the train we stopped to take a photo of the rear of the train, but were both taken by surprise with the rate of acceleration away from the platform as it headed to Hiroshima – neither of us got a good photo! We went down into the station in search of the metro. We know which station we want, but were immediately struck by the lack of bilingual signs that we had got used to in Tokyo.

The ticket machine was a bit of a mystery so we finished up buying the cheapest ticket for 180 yen (£1), knowing that we may have to pay an excess at the other end. We are on the red line, getting on at Shin Osaka (M13) and heading for Tennoji (M23). The ride was uneventful and sure enough, when we got off we had to pay an extra 100 yen (55p). We asked the ticket guard how to get to the Marriott and after a bit of confusion his colleague said he would show us! He set off into the busy shopping mall next to the station and told us to follow him. We walked for a few minutes up, down and round in a warren of corridors and eventually he pointed to a door – talk about above and beyond the call of duty!

I had expected great things from this hotel having read about it, but over the next few minutes I was blown away – Sue, who knew nothing about it was positively giddy! We had to get a lift up to the reception on the 18th floor and the hotel is posher than posh with huge champagne bar and massive reception with unbelievable views over the massive sunny city scape. When I checked in the girl told us she had put us up on the 55th (top) floor and insisted that one of the bell girls took our bags and showed us to the room – talk about being treated like royalty! She also gave us some free tickets to the observatory in the building. The exec lounge is on the 38th floor so from the reception you jump from 18 to 38, then up to 55. Our room is spectacular with unbelievable views -talk about luxury – we kept exploring and finding lovely surprise touches including some wonderful freebies. We then decided to go for a drink in the lounge and again we were blown away. Staff everywhere in a huge lounge with a great selection of snacks and drinks. We got some coffee and cake and sat and revelled in our good fortune.

It was time for planning and plotting and posting our good fortune on Facebook. Sue had already decided that she doesn’t want to leave here. She had been expecting a normal Marriott – a nice hotel, but this one blows the socks off nice! We had a coffee and some cake / chocolates, the staff were lovely as you would expect. The cake (afternoon tea service) finished at 5pm, but by 5.15pm everything was laid out for the evening food service!

The drinks were also available – full bar service including champagne all laid out for you to help your self. The gin is Bombay Sapphire and there are several beers to choose from including Suntory and Heineken but is stuck to the dry beer I am getting a taste for Asahi. The food spread is wonderful – lots of small ramekin dishes of various salads and cold dishes, two hot dishes of meatballs in a cheese sauce and some chicken thighs plus some nice breads, rice and salad. There were quite a few things that we didn’t bother with – including a big bowl of octopus dumpling balls!! The staff keep glasses topped up and plates sorted.

After we had eaten a few bits we went for a walk downstairs in the shopping mall – it is Sunday evening, but the place is still rammed. Below the hotel is the Kintetsu Department store – another claiming to be the Japan’s largest. the Food Hall was amazing with lots of meats, fish and other delicacies on offer. Outside was another Tower Records, and lots of other shops that were fascinating. It is a little cold, but dry. We wandered and wandered following our noses, then had to work out how to get back to the hotel, we sorted it eventually.

Back up in the lounge we were kept amused as we ate our evening cake treats by two Japanese guys – one in particular was rather the worse for wear and the lounge boss was working full time keeping him in line – including quite forcibly marching him out of the lounge to the smoking room to have a cigarette when he tried to light up where he was. One of the lovely ladies who were waiting and serving came up to us to apologise for their behaviour, but they hadn’t bothered us and we have seen a LOT worse in Mansfield. Sue did an email to Christopher and I got the diary sorted as well as doing some planning for the rest of our stay in Osaka – we may even have to leave the hotel at some stage!!

It has been another long day, so we weren’t late settling down.