Most of our excursions by rail require a change of trains in some very busy stations. You step off one train and make your way to another platform to catch another train. More often than not, you are swept along in the proverbial sea of humanity, and when this human wave has settled it is the perfect venue for a people-watcher like me.While waiting for a train at the Ofuna Station this afternoon I was rewarded with the most exquisite and graceful vision of Japanese femininity imaginable. Scanning about the mass of people on the platform, my eyes locked on an oriental beauty standing only feet from me. I was awestruck. She was delicately swathed in a flowery kimono. She was a vision.
On closer examination I saw she was texting on her cell phone and that spoiled the illusion for me. It was just another example of how old and new Japan have come to harmoniously co-exist.
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On a humorous note: As you are zipping along from station to station the train drivers announce the approaching stops over the public address in the rail cars. It is all very efficient. Of course, the announcements are in Japanese, but many of the major lines also announce in English. That is a reassuring comfort for us newbies.
On one section of track I got a real kick out of one train driver's announcements. He sounded exactly like the Japanese version of the Godfather, Vito Corleone. Every stop we made was a cause to chuckle and it made the ride especially entertaining.
