Japan Day 6, Feudal Merchant Town and Our Train ride to Tokyo!

 The next morning for breakfast, a good portion of us went out to a bakery in the train station for breakfast. We'd found this place the day before when we were exploring the area for an inexpensive lunch, and it was so delicious and home-cooked, we had to go back. This bakery sold everything from your typical bread rolls and sweet pastries, to homemade warm sandwiches, cheesy rolls, hotdogs baked in dough and cream-filled buns shaped like little piggys. It was so good and fresh, Megan and I decided to grab stuff there to keep in our bags so we could have lunch on the bullet train to Tokyo later in the day.

It was called Little Mermaid, which is what initially got our attention.

See? They are little pigs made of bread, filled with cream. Everyone in our group loved them. They were apparently even more tasty than they looked.

 Then we took a stroll over to the historical part of Kurashiki. It's a couple streets along a canal that are all shops, restaurants and museums made into what used to be merchant shops and houses in the feudal era of Japan. It was a pretty neat place to window shop, and to check out authentic goods preserved from the time period.

The canal and the houses and shops lining it. I also liked that bridge at the end.

One of the old houses was having it's garden taken care of. I thought it was kinda cool to see the old house there with such a blatantly modern ladder beside it.

Finding and interacting with the local wildlife has become a thing with our group, so of course we did it here too. There were two big,beautiful swans we got to feed, and the canal was also home to a bunch of large Koi and other fish.

Here's the boldest swan. The other one was much more shy.

This pigeon got in on the action too. He was so bold he ate right out of our hands. It was really funny actually.

There were apparently boat rides being along the canal.

After we had shopped and seen out fill in Kurashiki, we headed back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and take the much-anticipated bullet train ride to Tokyo. I spent most of my time on the train alternating between trying to update this blog without internet and reading or staring out the window that the nice view the train offered. One view in particular caught be so off guard I literally gasped and fumbled with my camera to get a shot of it.

"Oh, hey there Tess. Guess what I am?"

"That's right, I'm totally Mount Fuji. Aka, the super-famous Japanese natural landmark you were told you probably wouldn't get to see while you were here. Surprise!"

"Look at me, looming impressively over all of the surrounding area. Pretty impressive, huh? I bet those mountains at Miyajima couldn't loom half as impressively as I can."

"Oh, are you going? Alright then."

"Have fun in Tokyo! I'm gonna sink behind the more immediate horizon now."

"Bye!"

Yeah. We were all a little excited about the sudden appearance of Mt. Fuji. It came out of no where! It was suddenly just there on my side of the train when we came out of a tunnel. Even Dr. Huang was excited, since there have been trips where they don't get to see Mt. Fuji even once on the horizon the whole time, and the view for this train ride was awesome! I shot as many pictures as I could handle before the bullet train passed out of site of the peak.

When the train finally arrived in Tokyo, we took the Yamanote subway line to Ikebukuro, which is one of the most popular train stops and entertainment districts in Tokyo. I know I've mentioned before, but I was really excited about the fact we were staying in Ikebukuro because one of my favorite Animes, Durarara, takes place there.

A screen cap from the opening of Durarara. Just to give you some context.

Not only is Durarara set in Ikebukuro, but the creator and artist paid particular attention to details, recreating Ikebukuro in an almost completely accurately down to specific shops, alleyways and intersections.

Not my photograph; I just wanted to show you just how accurate Durarara gets on some of it's small details. Cool, huh?

Walking around Ikebukuro I got to see a lot of little things that seemed familiar. I didn't take too many pictures that night day, but here's what I did get.

Ikebukuro Subway/Train Station.

One of the intersections on the way to the Sakura Hotel.

Our home in Tokyo!

 After we got to the hotel and settle in, Megan, Becky and I went to dinner at a little noodle place across from the station. It was very cheap, and it served large portions of great soba, udon, and curry rice. There were a few places like this we came across in Tokyo, but this was our first. If only I'd gotten a picture of it.

That's all that happened on our first night in Ikebukuro! I'll post later about our day of seeing the sites with Dr. Huang. Until then, have this:

These owl hedges were right outside the train station. Cute.