A typical Life

About a week in to our stay, I thought that it was time to get out and do some exploring. My first trip on the Japanese train system was very intimidating. Just to give you an idea of the systems complexity here is a map from Japan Corner. (If you zoom in you to the bottom right corner you will see a silhouette of Cinderella’s castle which is near where we lived.)

First I had to figure out where I wanted to go and how to get there. My lifesaver was a bilingual train guide that you can purchase in most major bookstores in Japan. I would map my route by saying to myself “take the red line to the yellow line, transfer to the blue line….” Just like a first grader!

Then I had to buy a ticket. The first time I attempted to do this it took quite some time as I needed to analyze a complex grid to determine the correct fare. In smaller stations there is often no English on the grid and you need to match the Kanji of where you are to where you are going which can be very time consuming. It’s sort of like the game of memory where a whole bunch of cards are face down on a table and you have to match two in order to get an extra turn! Japan-Guide.com has a great overview of the train system.

Now I put my Yen in the machine, pushed the button with the right fare, and crossed my fingers that the ticket that I purchased would get me through the gates of the station where I was and out of the station at my destination. If the fare was wrong a machine would stop me from exiting and I would need to go to another machine to fix it!

Next I needed to go to the platform to wait for the train. I had to make sure I was on the right platform otherwise I would catch a train going the wrong way! In order to prevent this from happening to me I would make sure that I knew the name of the last station on each line and go to the platform that indicated that station on the signs (maybe English, most likely Kanji).

Somehow I managed to get where I was going and back again but I was exhausted by the time I got home!