Although we only just got to Tokyo, and have seen nothing, it’s time to leave! With our Rail Pass we head back to Kanda Station. There we try to reserve tickets to Kyoto… but Japan has a week of holidays next week, so there aren’t any available tickets. No problem… Trains in Japan have both reserved seating and non-reserved seating. We will just have to cross our fingers that we get seats in the non-reserved section, or else we will be standing five and a half hour train ride.

So off we go to Tokyo Central Station. We cannot impress on you enough how big this place is. It’s ridiculous. 

It should be so easy to get lost, but they have information booths everywhere and they speak a multitude of languages and are very helpful. Not only that, but the station attendants (that check your pass) are also very helpful, there are automatic kiosks that can give you directions, and finally there is BEBOT. Everything that can be automated in Japan, is, and BEBOT is no exception. As you can see from the photo, it is a service only available in Tokyo Central Station and does not require any additional installations. It is just as if you were chatting with someone.

Another Japan classic for us is Pokemon, and we were not disappointed. As soon as we arrived we saw signs for Pokemons everywhere. Apparently, Tokyo is undergoing a Pokemon Stamp Rally. There are stamps and passports to be filled throughout the train system. Of course we had to give it a shot. We will let you know how well we did…

Well… it was time to go get in line and cross our fingers. We started off well… and by well, I mean my partner made a mistake and took us to the wrong platform. The platform attendant pointed us in the right direction. We got there about 30 minutes before our train to start lining up for the non-reserved wagon. We hope we’re in the right spot. We don’t really understand the sign…

Just kidding. The attendants are superb and the sign is in both English and Japanese. Everything is very easy and convenient so far! And it was worth lining up early! We got two seats next to each other with a window seat. Perfect.

We quickly made it to Kyoto – we were on the third “category” of bullet trains (Shinkansen) and recorded a top speed of 267 km/h – to be honest it was a little weird to be going so fast, but not really feel it. As we stepped out of the Kyoto Station, we were greeted by the Kyoto Tower. What a sight!

We then dropped our stuff off at the hotel, did a quick geocache, then visited a store that we had heard a lot about. The store was huge and had so many options for everything. It had a floor dedicated to cameras, one to headphones and other audio related things, video games, hobbies, the great outdoors, it just went on and on. 

We then walked around looking for other geocaches around the area. It was a nice walk, and it was actually pretty cool out (~25 °C very late at night). We saw lots of closed shops, some Pokemon street lights, and a few penguins.

We then finished back at Kyoto Station, where we saw the Kyoto Tower in all its glory. Good night from Kyoto!