Youth 18 tickets – all you can ride a local train
I don’t remember what year it was again, but a few years after I started working, a friend from junior college asked me if I wanted to go to Hokuriku using the Youth-18 Ticket.
My friend became friends with two railroad enthusiasts (boys) at a driver’s license training camp and she heard that they were going to take a trip using that Ticket, but my friend didn’t want to join them alone, so she invited me.
The railroad enthusiasts were nice guys of the same age, and they were going to get jobs in the railroad industry next spring. By the way, this youth 18 ticket is a special ticket issued during the summer and spring vacation and year-end and New Year times that allows you to travel all over Japan on a cheap local, and some rapid train.
Hokuriku sight seeing
Well, I took a slow train from Tokyo through Nagano (I think) and arrived at Ishikawa Prefecture. I don’t even remember where we stayed anymore, but we decided to go to the famous Kenrokuen Garden. It was far from the hotel and a cab was not that expensive, so we took a cab. On the way to Kenrokuen, the driver told us that he would take us sightseeing around the area for X,000 yen if we were willing.
I don’t remember much about Kenrokuen, but I did go to Tojinbo, a famous suicide spot, where you can enjoy the rocks and the rough Japan Sea and beautiful. Now that I look it up, it’s pretty far away from Kenrokuen, so maybe we went on different days.
Going back to Tokyo via Nagoya
I think we ate at a nearby Izakaya in the evening. The next day, the train geeks went back to Tokyo, while my friend and I decided to go around a bit more and go back through Nagoya.
On the way, We ate some famous trout sushi as a station lunch box. My memory is a little hazy on that part. I don’t even remember when or where the new year started.
We hurriedly booked a business hotel for one night in Nagoya. It was a room without a window.
I called my crush in Nagoya then…
So I called someone I crushed on little bit who was returning to Nagoya from Tokyo for the holiday, and we decided to meet. He took us by car to a Misokatsu-don (Miso pork cutlet rice bowl) restaurant, which is a specialty of Nagoya, and then we went to the Moai statue, which has eyes. By the way, I thought this moai statue was famous, but no one knew about it even if I told people in Nagoya.
I had already told my friend (the one I went traveling) about my feelings for him but there was an incident near this moai statue. I was walking in front of them, and when I turned around, I saw them holding hands! I was shocked. It wasn’t like they were going to get together afterward, but what was that development? New Year’s shock?
I don’t remember much after that, but he also said he was going back on the Shinkansen the next day, and we took the slow train home.
Disconnected Phones and Hearts
By the way, I was using an IDO cell phone, a company that is no longer exists, When I met my crush again after the New Year, he said, “I tried to call you the next day, but I couldn’t get through”. Yeah, and my feelings, too.
Simple 3 pics Holiday Card