Holy crap it’s a long ways to Nagasaki. Today was a travel day and the first part was on the train from Nagasaki to Hakata.

We had a weird compartment on the train. It didn’t shut, but it did have a little cramped area for us to sit in. The leg room wasn’t ideal.

We saw some inexplicable views of the ocean, like the poles in the water.

Also, they tend to beach their boats for some reason.

And they stop at stations with ham radio antennas for no reason (actually the reason is that there is a single track for much of the trip and the trains can only pass each other at the stations.)

We had a SIX HOUR layover in Hakata, because my mom doesn’t like riding the Shinkansen that stops at every station. Don’t ask me. We could have been in Tokuyama much earlier. The food was pretty good, though.

We spent a lot of time wandering through a department store and then having dessert to have a place to sit down.

We also got massages and then got on the train to Tokuyama. Tokuyama is the shinkansen station closest to my aunt’s house and is quite depressing. What used to be a bustling little town is now a ghost town. This is happening all over Japan as the arcades move to the malls. The only restaurants we could find were drinking establishments and though the food was actually pretty good the fact that it was the only sort of business open was really pretty depressing. Next time we’re going to find the nearest mall and eat in a restaurant there.

OK, so I thought someone was running some sort of engine outside or trying to start a chainsaw for the last hour. It turns out it was the guy snoring in the next room. Tokuyama is turning into a kind of nightmare for me. At least we get to see another cousin and my aunt.