Today was my last day in Tokyo, for now because Tokyo is a city that has so much to offer and explore that 4 days here hasn’t been enough. I checked out from the hostel early in the morning to head out to Kyoto via JR Tokaido Shinkansen at Tokyo Station (bullet train).
Having some ticketing issues as I bought the fare ticket and was missing the super express ticket to board the bullet train, I decided to arrive earlier to the station and solve this issue at the ticketing office. Luckily, someone helped out and we purchased the super expressed ticket quickly.
As mentioned above, there are 2 tickets that you need in order to board the train: (1) fare ticket and (2) super express ticket. One way to Kyoto cost approx. ¥14,000 – double that for the round trip cost.
The Shinkansen arrived 10-15mins before departure and got cleaned up before it took off at exactly 10:50am. On point. Train cars number 1-3 are for non-reserved seats, while 4-16 are for reserved seats. The ride was super quick, it took about 2 hours 15 minutes to arrive in Kyoto station – before it continued its way to Hiroshima, which is the last stop.
Kyoto feels more quiet and relaxed than Tokyo, without the huge density of people. Life seems slower. Train stations and ticket machines are older and have a vintage look – pretty arcade.
Looking forward to making the most out of my visit here in Kyoto.
rich
Richard Chan 