A few of my readers delighted me last week by becoming subscribers. Part of that reaction was the notion that they are gambling on me. There are two paid subscription levels. The $5/month or $50/year level is for content that is set to begin in April: once I return from Japan, I’ll begin sharing, once a month, information on travel to Japan. Usually about things to see and experience, personally informed by my love of Japan. I will also share recommendations for accommodations and restaurants, together with tips for dealing with the language barrier.
There is also the founders’ level subscription (and many many thanks to the angel who already purchased at that level). That subscription includes the travel guide content, of course. It also will include a signed copy of my memoir, currently titled Crying in a Foreign Language: The Deity that Answered My Plea. Every editor and reader so far has shared my confidence that there’s a place for the memoir in the market, and I would be so grateful for any subscribers (at either level).
Let me use this issue, then, with a taste of the type of travel information I will write about.
As you might know, Hiro and I are leaving for Japan in two weeks. The last time we were there was in 2016, and we covered a huge swath of the country, from Oita, Kumamoto, and Fukuoka prefectures in the south to Fukushima prefecture in the northeast. Although the end of our trip included six nights in Tōkyō, each of the first ten nights was spent in a different place.
I can’t recommend such a trip (it was far more grueling than we expected it to be), so why did we even contemplate it in the first place?
Three words: Japan Rail Pass.
(a recent-model bullet train at a Tōkyō Station platform)
Before leaving for Japan, we purchased two two-week First Class passes. The per person price, even today at USD472, for unlimited rail travel is very reasonable. Especially when you consider two round-trip first class bullet train tickets from Tōkyō to Kyōto is currently more than USD400, total.
Our first full day in Japan, we took the first bullet train down to Ōsaka, changed to a bullet train to Hakata, and then rode a limited express line called the Sonic to Beppu, a hot springs town in Oita.
(photo Hiro sneaked as I dozed between Oita and Fukuoka)
We rode the Kyūshū bullet train from Fukuoka to Tamana (in Kumamoto) and back. The bullet train from Fukuoka to Hiroshima, from Hiroshima to Okayama, from Okayama to Ōsaka, from Ōsaka to Kyōto, from Kyōto to Nagoya. From Nagoya we took a limited express to Matsumoto, and then another limited express from there to Tōkyō. Back on to a bullet train to Kōriyama, where we changed trains to a local heading to Aizu-Wakamatsu (where Hiro’s father’s family is from) and then a very local train to Yunokami Onsen, another hot spring town.
(the Yunokami Onsen station is a trip back in time—yes, that’s a traditional fireplace inside the station)
From there we returned to Tōkyō on a private rail line (there are multiple train companies in Japan beyond Japan Rail and the pass only covers Japan Rail trains). Once we were situated in Tōkyō, we only boarded the bullet train once more, near the end of our trip, for a day trip to Kōbe (to visit the shrine of the deity that answered my plea, Ikuta Shrine, where Wakahirume, a divine younger sister of Amaterasu, is worshipped).
Not only did the rail pass make all of this VERY affordable, the First Class pass made it very luxurious. Quieter cars, lovely service, comfortable seats, blankets and pillows… it was dreamy.
Side note on colors: In Japanese, first class cars are called Green Cars and first class tickets, green tickets. The term first class (一等, ittō) was in use until May of 1968, when a revision to ticket pricing included the change from first class to green. Why green? There are conflicting opinions. Some say it was because first class tickets were green in color. Others say it was because a green stripe was painted beneath all windows in first class. And if you see a Silver Seat on any Japanese train or subway, those are seats reserved for the elderly (with our silver hair), pregnant persons, or persons with mobility challenges.
And for our trip this year, we considered doing rail passes again. This time for the three-week option. We won’t be doing the forced march route this time (there are only two destinations where will stay for just one night), but we are covering a lot of ground. Again to Oita and Fukuoka, then Shimane, followed by a week in Kyōto and nine days in Tōkyō. But there will excursions here and there, and I had thought that the rail pass would be good for all that.
Except Japan Rail has changed its policy. This probably won’t affect ninety-five percent of my readers, but in 2017 Japan Rail decided that any Japanese national using the pass would need to have been the resident of a single country abroad for ten years or more. Hiro still has his Japanese passport, but he’s only lived in the US on his green card for eight years (and before that we were nine years in Canada and eight years in the US). Japan Rail skirts the issue by asking you to bring questions to the nearest Japanese embassy or consulate but no matter who we talked to, the Japan Rail policy did not change.
We pivoted. Instead of taking the bullet trains and limited express from Tōkyō to Oita on our first full day, we are flying! Japan Airlines has a wonderful plan (called the Explorer Pass) that lets you purchase discounted tickets for domestic air travel (as long as you have proof that you arrived in Japan from abroad). Our flight from Tōkyō to Oita is less than USD100 per person, and then our flight from the Kyōto area (the closet airport is Itami, just outside Ōsaka) is less than USD65 per person). This is also a great deal if your visit to Japan only includes two or three destination cities.
Hiro and I will also be renting a car at least once in Japan, but more on that in a later issue.
One final tidbit of news to share:
I submitted an essay to a Montana-based journal called Cutbank in January of this year. They reached out to me in February to let me know that my essay, a piece called Unfolding that braids ancient Japanese mythology with my own personal creation myths, is a finalist for the Montana Prize for Nonfiction. The final decision will be made later this month, and I’m hoping I have good news to share with you all, soon.
And one other note:
I’ve started the process of transferring older content from my website to the archives for this substack. My older posts are live here now, but the older issues of Out of Japan will take a little more time.