We are pretty comfortable with navigating the city of Tokyo, which means it is time to venture west. We headed to Tokyo Station which is enormous. The Shinkansen (Bullet Train) to Kanazawa is a three and a half hour trip due west across the country.
Before our departure, we spent some time exploring the shops near our track. There are all types of souvenirs and food.
Famously, there are bento-style meal boxes named Ekiban (pronounced air-key-ben). The history is fascinating and linked to the development of the railroad. The origin dates to 1885 when several rail lines were completed. Vendors would be on the tracks selling simple onigiri and pickled radish to travelers as they boarded the trains. Today there are multiple shops at the stations selling wide variations of ekiban at various price points. Each prefecture prepares ekiban with specialty regional food. We are already looking forward to the snow crab option in Kanazawa. Also available are cute keepsake souvenir boxes and bottles. We got a basic rice onigiri and a souvenir bullet train kids meal.
The weather cleared as we left Tokyo. Our train sped through the country making several stops including Nagano in the Japanese Alps. The Shinkansen train travels at 150 mph. Ears pop the entire trip!
We arrived at Kanazawa in the afternoon. The train station is beautiful and a sculptured iron gate is a nice welcome to the Edo-style city. We will explore the gardens and the wooden houses and so much more.
Where is Wendy 