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I've been thinking about my recent trip, still digesting. (and finally getting over jetlag).
I was especially impressed by the Japanese RR stations of Tokyo, Kyoto, and Kanazawa--each was beautiful in its own way. In Tokyo, the back end of the building is relatively old and made out of brick. The front entrance is very modern. I'm sorry I didn't take ever more photos of the three stations I spent time in than I did. Each station has food for sale that is fresh and varied--even in small stations you can buy the local "delicacy" to eat on the train. In Tokyo and Kyoto the stations are connected to underground malls-multi malls in Tokyo. Yes, there are (alas) Starbucks there and some other crappy intrusions from the west, but mostly there are restaurants that show their wares in front (the plastic food)--which makes it easy to point out what you want when you don't know what to ask for. Or you can buy a bento box type lunch/dinner at the many "deli" equivalents in every station. In Tokyo's mall there is a giant department store that has one floor (or two--maybe the one that had two was in Kyoto Station) of food markets---from mochi to french pastries for dessert to pickles, tempura, niguri (spelling) rice triangles stuffed with tuna, pickles, or other stuff, noodle dishes, all kinds of fish--raw or cooked, etc etc. Eileen and I went down there at least twice before traveling somewhere as John stayed with our baggage upstairs.
The malls in the stations seem much more interesting than most of ours (possibly because they're foreign to me? But I think not).
I was especially impressed by the Japanese RR stations of Tokyo, Kyoto, and Kanazawa--each was beautiful in its own way. In Tokyo, the back end of the building is relatively old and made out of brick. The front entrance is very modern. I'm sorry I didn't take ever more photos of the three stations I spent time in than I did. Each station has food for sale that is fresh and varied--even in small stations you can buy the local "delicacy" to eat on the train. In Tokyo and Kyoto the stations are connected to underground malls-multi malls in Tokyo. Yes, there are (alas) Starbucks there and some other crappy intrusions from the west, but mostly there are restaurants that show their wares in front (the plastic food)--which makes it easy to point out what you want when you don't know what to ask for. Or you can buy a bento box type lunch/dinner at the many "deli" equivalents in every station. In Tokyo's mall there is a giant department store that has one floor (or two--maybe the one that had two was in Kyoto Station) of food markets---from mochi to french pastries for dessert to pickles, tempura, niguri (spelling) rice triangles stuffed with tuna, pickles, or other stuff, noodle dishes, all kinds of fish--raw or cooked, etc etc. Eileen and I went down there at least twice before traveling somewhere as John stayed with our baggage upstairs.
The malls in the stations seem much more interesting than most of ours (possibly because they're foreign to me? But I think not).
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