Trains

As I mentioned before, we did a lot of traveling during our week in Japan.  The itinerary was: Matsumoto, Kyoto, Osaka, and back to Tokyo.  For that, we would be riding a lot of trains.

For the long hauls between the major cities, we bought a JR pass.  It's an all-you-can-ride pass that would last a week, only sold overseas to visitors.  It also comes with a small guidebook with sample itineraries and brief bits of information and landmarks near each stop along each route.

The ride is smooth and quiet, and you get to enjoy your beer and ekiben.  Eki means "station", and ben is short for bento, which means "boxed meal".  Bento are usually designed for grabbing and going, usually with bite-sized items with minimal liquids or sauces to slosh around.  They're also compact and designed to be edible on your lap or on the small tray tables on a train. The ekiben shops also sell beer to wash it all down, though if you find yourself thirsty again during the trip, there will be snack and souvenir carts regularly pushed through the train that will sell cold soft drinks and beer.

Each station will have its own selection of ekiben, which usually feature things local to the town that they're in. In line with Japan's obsession with fancy packaging, some of then come in fun shaped containers.  For more on ekiben, here's a 40 minute video about it.

One of the most alien things to me in Japanese movies has always been the sound of the chimes at the railroad crossings.  It's usually placed strategically to mount tension before a major battle or monster attack.  I can't tell if it's the purposely discordant tones in the chimes, or an actual Pavlovian response from watching too much anime, but they really do grab my attention.  There's nothing in the world like the sound of a railroad crossing cutting through the silence of a sleepy town in the Japanese Alps.