The "dream railway paradise entertainment" story is set in a parallel world where Japan did not privatize its national railways.
I’ll admit I only got through the first sentence of Rail Wars!description before passing judgement on it. I decided to watch it primarily on the strength of illustrator Vania 600’s character designs but without knowing much else. The alternate reality and mention of privatisation of the railways evoked images of different government departments duking it out on trains - it had “wars” in the title after all. As is my brain is wont to do, it pattern-matched this idea to what I’d heard about Toshokan Sensou (Library War) which had a similarly ridiculous sounding premise of library backed paramilitary groups battling with government censorship groups.
he is now part of the thrilling and sexy world of trains
Having not previously seen Toshokan Sensou, I decided to watch the two series in parallel, fully expecting to be equal parts amused and baffled by the surreal alternate histories but otherwise underwhelmed. What I didn’t expect was for Toshokan Sensou to be so serious, and for Rail Wars! to be quite so pants-on-head dumb.
The missing Kyoto photos are retrieved! All things told there weren't that many good photos on the iffy card, mostly blurry geisha photos (geisha ghosts?) and some lamentably blurry night shots - one of the great problems of my D50 screen and chimping is that slightly blurry photos tend to be missed and only visible upon more detailed examination.
I have been awake since 0330 local time which is annoying as I was asleep 2300 local time and up for lord knows how long before that, jet lag is a real pain and I don't remember ever suffering from it to this extent beforehand. Anyways, some thoughts on travelling around Japan:
Get used to train stations: where to look for times and what to look for (rapid, limited rapid express etc.); always note which exit you use and entrance you want, they may not be one in the same and orientation is easier if you've done the route before; get familiar with the ticket machines as you'll either be ticketing, SUICA'ing or PASMO'ing and they all involve adjustment machines at some point
Improve your train sleeping: this is a necessity if you are jetlagged or have a full schedule as you'll be able to hit the town at night and still have energy for the important parts during the day, even an half an hours nap can improve things; just make sure you're the last stop or have people around you who can wake you up if you get overzealous with the napping
Learn your landmarks: if you're like me and can't read Japanese fluently then navigation can be tricky so instead of recognising stores / pubs, go for colours or tall buildings or quirky objects outside, there are plenty of all three kicking about and makes exploring a hell of a lot simpler
Be prepared to be scrutinised: if you're European or American then you will naturally stand out in most areas of Japan, Tokyo not so much but other areas you will be glanced at more often than not, a friendly smile and a nod is usually all it takes to make everyone feel at ease; there will also be a natural radius around you on trains and local transport, you can mitigate this by plonking yourself in between two current passengers but otherwise there is a general reluctance to sit next to you if it can be at all helped.
Don't expect high technology everywhere: Tokyo is privileged in its use of wireless internet, modern transport methods and so forth but other areas of Japan can be just as rural and disconnected as your home country - downloading TV to your mobile phone is a nicety, not provided as standard
Get good shoes: or tough feet (general life advice but especially relevant)
I know have a plethora of bits of paper (receipts, ticket stubs, reservation tickets, leaflets etc.) and photos to organise. Last count for photos was just a hair under 700 and unlike my last trip there are very few duplicates and the overall quality of the photos has surprised even me - helped of course by the stellar weather that held for all but a single day. One thing I do regret is not taking my lens hood for my 18-200, with the 18-55 there's little need for one but looking through some of the photos there was definitely a need for one (and me holding the lens cap in conspicuous positions was not a good interim solution) - here was me thinking lens hoods were just for camera pimping.
Other random thoughts include my choice of clothing - definitely took too many warmer tops although I was expecting the weather to be 6-8 degrees less than it was, unseasonable warmth indeed. No matter how much you cram into a backpack, it can always hold more with judicious application of body weight and zip moulding. Do not trust hotel bedside clocks - their alarms oscillate between weedy and useless to sonic sleep destroyers. Hotel wake up calls are surprisingly sinister at 6am.
Travelling for me is somewhat akin to shooting stress into my eyeballs, minor part going from point A to point B and major part stress management; it wasn't until a couple of years ago that I experienced the joy of travelling as an experience rather than a means to an end, but that's an aside. There is a definite period - dependent on the type of journey - where my stress is maximised and occupies a space somewhere between short-term "let's go over here!" and long-term "right so I need to be at this place at this time". That zone is where I don't have enough time to prepare and more than enough time to fret and obsess. The long term planning allows me to purchase things that make me feel like I'm prepared and most importantly of all, plan for ifs.
My brain mostly works on the idea of "if". Given time to gestate, certainties and decisions are questioned and scrutinised; for instance, on a journey to London for a meeting at 1:30pm I know the train I should be catching but if something happens with that train, I can catch another one however many minutes later. Having multiple ifs is when I'm most relaxed, and mostly they come from doing the journey before or planning for it or having as few immovable times and places as possible. This mentality usually translates to showing up at whatever transport station is the most important in the journey (train stations and airports fall into this category) with "ample" time to spare. Ample time usually equating to three or four times longer than I really have to wait: the more time I'm sitting twiddling my thumbs is more time that could have been used up on ifs.
For a long time, I scoffed at document wallets; the ones touted in shops of sundry right next to the "luxury passport holder" and neck pillow (ensuring you get the minimum amount of sleep for maximum amount of neck discomfort). I then realised that document wallets serve the purpose of compartmentalising items which in turn compartmentalises the part of my brain worried about the location of all items on my person at all times, thus reducing my worry. I could, as an example, just fling everything into a backpack and extract items and documents as and when I needed them; however, my backpack also contains a magazine and food, I'll have to navigate them (sacrificing precious seconds) to get at just one item. Conversely, keeping everything together potentially makes it easier to pilfer, unfortunately thievery is a game stopper and one has to balance the mental anguish of keeping items safe with alleviating angst. I still scoff at single passport covers however because they serve no other purpose than to kill a cow (another cow potentially if your passport is already leather bound) for your style or to satisfy your lust to "bling" your travel documents.
I have, if anything, mellowed out somewhat from my earlier days of borderline neuroses. This has mostly come about due to further journeys and understanding how systems work (where to go in an airport, where to look for times, where best to sit and people watch) but mostly by travelling with other people. Time was when I would eagerly stride off on my own if not simply because it meant I would no longer have to encompass other people, with their own whims and timetables, into my carefully laid plans; nowadays I understand the push and pull of journeying with others and in return they brook me at least some leeway with being at places an hour before we can even access ticketing desks.
