Adventures Outside the Prefecture 2: Am I there yet?

*The companion pictures to this story can be found here


Friday started out swimmingly. I successfully met up with a friend to borrow her camera, left the house at a semi decent day-tripping time, and even made it to the correct station about 15 minutes before the hourly departure time. I was so excited for my day of sightseeing I sat at the front of the very first car so I could see everything the train passed by. One of the first things I saw was what appeared to be a big yellow ball sitting next to a big yellow building. I was excited!

The ride was going smoothly – I was seeing cool things, and the train was progressing on time. I checked my guidebook a couple of times and it said that sometimes travelers had to transfer trains at a certain station before continuing to Nikko, but nobody I spoke to at the station had seemed to try to indicate that to me, so I figured I was ok; I kept checking the signs at train stations, and they confirmed that I was going in the right direction. Then all of a sudden the train started going really slowly, there was only one track and the signs saying ‘to Nikko’ appeared on the other side of the track – going in the opposite direction! What happened? I guess I was supposed to transfer after all. As soon as I was able, I got off the train hoping for a quick reversal.

Enter the safety mirror photo shoot. The station was incredibly desolate. I had no idea when the next train would come, but I figured it couldn’t be horribly long; I had forgotten one of the cardinal rules of living in Tokyo – never assume you know what’s going on. I started to pass the time by taking pictures of myself in the traffic safety mirrors. Once I tired of that I started to look around, and quickly realized that there was nothing interesting to look at. I suppose the situation could also be described as calm and peaceful, but I was really frustrated with myself for my mistake. I thought to myself – people are always talking about taking time to slow down in life, and think and be peaceful, this is a great time to actually do it! So I sat down on bench to try and enjoy the peace of the countryside and deserted station. I feel like I gave it at least 5 minutes, although in reality it probably just lasted 30 seconds; I was just too agitated. Finally I heard the signaling bells start dinging to announce the coming of a train. In the near distance I could make out the fancier, more expensive train – the one I didn’t take. This train had reserved seats, but I figured when the doors opened I could jump on and then feign ignorance/confusion when the conductor would inevitably tell me I was on the wrong train. As the train pulled in I was plotting the moment to make my move, but the doors never opened. Two trains arrived at the station only so they could pass each other on the single track. 45 minutes later a train came and whisked me back in the other direction. 15 minutes later I was back at the station where I should have transferred. So, an hour later I was back in the right direction, with nothing to show for my delay.