Somewhere In The Ishikawa Prefecture

Let's see, we've visited the Ishikawa Prefecture and stayed the night in Kanazawa in 2007 and 2008. Don't have much to show in terms of photos because although we had plenty of photos at Ultraman Stadium.The rain that greeted us both years we were there didn't help us covering much place to sightsee anyway.

We managed to walk around Kenrokuen; a garden classified as one of three most beautifully landscaped gardens in Japan. I am so looking forward to visiting another; the Korakuen some time soon!

Instead of taking a bus from Komatsu Station to get to Ultraman Stadium, we decided to stop at Terai station and walked to the Stadium while enjoying the scenery. I think we walked for almost an hour but it was a really nice walk. We passed by rice fields (no rice planted that time, though), fields, schools and homes and got a glimpse of rural Japan.

In between the homes, the agriculture fields, factories and a huge Pachinko place and that Ultraman Stadium we had so badly wanted to visit, there was a small amusement park with plenty of rides. When we were there, it was pretty deserted.

We just couldn't resist snapping a photo of this interesting postbox, found in Kanazawa Station. ^^ Is that Momotaro?

and this too, enjoyed while taking a break over at some place in Forus complete with  posh waiters hovering.

Trains, Trains, Trains & A Tram - The West

We had a blast taking numerous trains in Kyushu. However, for the West (by West, I mean the area covered by JR West) it was just a few trains that we tried. The East trains (JR East) were a bit more fun and I'll cover it next month.

Trams in Hiroshima. Not covered by the JR Pass, but we got on one for the experience and headed to the Peace Park.

The Sanyo Shinkansen; Hikari Railstar.

This, we got on to get to Kansai Airport; it's the Limited Express Haruka, which is covered by both JR West and JR Passes.

But I kinda like riding on this cool Rapi:t on the Nankai line to get to Kansai Airport. Not covered by JR Pass, by the way.

This Noto sleeper train we took to get from Kanazawa to Tokyo (Ueno Station) and saved a night's budget on hotel taking it. This train used to run daily, on the JR West line but is now a seasonal overnight express train. From Mar 13, 2010 this train came under JR East.

Both Raimie and I reserved seats in the ladies only coach and we got blankets to cover us on that trip. Nice warm seats and blankets. No such luxury for Zaini in the normal coach!

I remember we took this train to get to Tokyo from Kanazawa one year, arrived Ueno Station, put up our luggage at our hotel, read my e-mails, found one e-mail from Contamination and met up with him afterwards having not shower and all! Did I smell that day, Contamination? ^-^!

By the way, the good Contamination has the honour of being the first non-Malaysian blogger I've met in Japan. 

And this is a shot of the Limited Express Thunderbird which we got on at Kyoto Station to get to Kanazawa.

The Limited Express Raicho bound for Kanazawa from Osaka. 

The last remaining Raicho service was discontinued from the start of the 12 March 2011 timetable revision, with all trains subsequently using the Thunderbird trains. The Raicho train had the dubious honour of a "memorable" trip for me because the train we were supposed to get on was delayed by a few hours and not wanting to wait any longer, we hopped on and boarded the unreserved smoking car on the Raicho. To say that the trip was horrible is an understatement. Try sitting in a train filled with cigaratte smoke one day and you'll know what I mean. And to make that particular trip lovelier, the 2 hours plus trip turned into an almost 5 hours' trip due to slowing train (something about crosswind being the cause, I think - my Japanese is negligible so don't trust me understanding much of the announcement). Well, at least the train was moving and we weren't stuck at the station.

Next month will be of the trains covered by JR East. Plenty of interesting trains that we took there! Stay tuned! And mentioning JR East, Tazawako Tourism Association put up a post about the Akita Shinkansen Komachi resuming operation on Saturday, Apr 30th.