18 October 2026
Early alarm clock. Time to get back to Tokyo, unfortunately. Check out and then to the bus to the station.
Breakfast at a small café. Rolls and coffee. Good enough to start the day. Our tickets have already been connected to our IC cards. No standing in line for that. I wanted a bento box for the trip to get the “real” experience of a long-distance Shinkansen tour. It is a bit of a search. But with the help of the tourist information we find the big shop that has bento boxes. And a lot of sweets with an expiry date too short to make them good gifts.
My choice is a minced chicken box that you warm up. Tim got a mixed one. There is time before departure to find the geocache on top of the parking deck. And then through the gate with tap and go to the platform.
We have the Nozomi 16 Express Shinkansen that takes us from Hiroshima to Tokyo in about 4 hours. A trip of over 800 km. Green car tickets, which translates to first class. 150 € per person (24,000 yen) for that distance is not too much. We bought them before the trip, when it is still a little cheaper.
Comfy seat with a bit of a weird footrest. Up to 300 km/h is a good speed for traveling.
This trip is like time travel… Back 3 weeks in 4 hours. From Hiroshima to Osaka to Kyoto, passing Odawara and then back to Tokyo.
My bento box gets activated by pulling a cord, and then steam comes out of it. 5 minutes later the food is warm. Not bad for a travel box. It came with chopsticks, soy sauce and chili. Many on board have bento boxes.
Tokyo again. Where the trip began. But we have to go to Narita. That means local trains for over an hour, since we do not want to take the fancy airport trains. Known stations and then over to the line to Narita city. It is a bit warmer in Tokyo than it was in Hiroshima.
At Narita a free shuttle bus takes us to the Hilton Narita hotel. This one is on Tim, who used his bonus points from work for my last night and his last two nights.
Bus ride on a full bus, stopping at two other hotels before the Hilton. A big hotel with over 500 rooms and even its own 7-Eleven (cannot be without one in Japan).
Tim is a Gold member. Own check-in counter. We get several perks like complimentary breakfast and a room upgrade to a nicer and bigger twin room. Even our luggage from Osaka has made it, and they bring it up to the room. That is service. Could get used to this.
It is too early for dinner. The hotel has a pool, and our bathing shorts get their first use on this trip. Big area with gym and even a Japanese bath and sauna. But for us it is the pool, also complimentary. We have to borrow swimming caps. Funny stuff. Feels good to swim 500 meters of laps in a 25 meter pool.
Then dinner in one of the restaurants. Tim wanted a sushi dinner, which he got, and I got the cutlet with rice. The restaurant was empty, the decoration non-existent, the lights too white and bright, and they used cheap disposable chopsticks. We have had better in smaller restaurants. Not the last dinner we would have liked. At least 25% off for Gold members. 😅
To the terrace bar, and here the ambience is right. Good seats, good light. We even get the first drink at happy hour prices, even though we are 3 minutes too late. An Old Fashioned and a Japanese single malt for me, beer for Tim. He gets one drink free and 25% off the rest. We can continue this way.
Time for the room. I have to pack and see how everything is best distributed. My last night in Japan.
