Train Geek

Rode the Sanyo Shinkansen past Shin-Kobe this afternoon to Kokura and transferred to the Limited Express “Sonic” for the 65 minute ride to Beppu.
Passing Shin-Kobe marked the furthest south I’d ever been in Japan. Wah.
The Shinkansen was marvelously fast, at one point the announcement sign blinked to notify the passengers that we were traveling at 285 KM/hour. That’s hella fast, even if you translate that into MPH.
Transferring to the Sonic was an example of how they do things differently in Kyushu, compared to the rest of Japan.
For one, the floor of the train was wood. The seats were leather. The train had a hood ornament (!) And we were stuck in the back of the smoking car…!
Koff koff.
To JR Kyushu�s credit, the ventilation system was very efficient. I lit up a small cigar, blew some smoke rings and voila! Smoke be gone.
Despite that, Schu and I wound up sneaking up to the non-smoking non-reserved seat car. We explained to the Conductor via stilted Japanese and pantomime why we were up there instead of our assigned seats in the back of the smoking car.
He nodded and stamped our tickets again.
Inbetween each car is a small area where people can stand around and socialize or in the case of car #3, watch sattelite TV while socializing and waiting for the bathroom.
For a limited express, it went pretty quick. So quick, the train rocked back and forth like a boat that’s anchored out on the ocean. I was feeling a bit seasick for a while.
It was nice to stand on the platform for a minute after we had arrived at Beppu to take in the fresh, rotten-egg (cuz of the sulfur that’s part of the hot springs) smelling air.