The trains!

Kamakura, a city not too far away, is home to many Buddhist temples and the infamous Big Buddha. But to get there, it is most efficient to use the train system. I had never ridden the train before, but it was quite an easy thing to pick up. To help us our first time, our class instructor took the class to the train station and helped us get our PASMO cards,  like a credit card you scan when you enter and exit the train station that you charge with yen. After getting our cards, we went down to the platform and waited only a few short minutes for the next train. We got on and rode to the next stop where we were dismissed to begin our self-led field trip of Japan.

At the major train stations, the signs are bilingual so it was relatively easy for us to get around. There are three types: local, semi-express, and express. The local trains stop at every train station along the way and reach more of the "rural" areas of Japan. The semi-express stop along the bigger stations, skipping some smaller ones. The express stops at the largest stations. The trains are color coded: blue for local, green for semi-express, and red for express.

Some train stations are very large, so large we couldn't find the next train line we needed. We walked around looking for signs and ended up asking a security officer who led us to the place. When you reach the platform, you look for the time table. It lists what time the trains run by the minute and has a different schedule for weekends/holidays and weekdays. The blue side is the weekday and the red is the weekend/holiday. Also, the numbers are written in blue/black, green, or red to specify what type of train it is.

When boarding the train, you wait until others have gotten off and then quickly get on because they only hold the doors open for about twenty seconds. While on the train, it is polite to be quiet, talking very softly, and not talking on your cell phone at all. We actually saw a man who had a train officer speak to him because he was talking on his phone. Also, there are women only cars for women who travel alone and want a different environment to ride in. But, the train system is very safe. Kids use the train to get to school every day, riding alone at the age of 6. Today we even saw a few kids riding in the trains by themselves.

Oh, we found the gorilla. :)