Good Morning!

Greetings from somewhere near Fukui (look it up)! It's about 7:30am and I've been on this train since about 10:30 last night. I had a bunk and managed to sleep most of the night (maybe 6 or 7hrs) but there was a lot of tossing and turning. Trains are bumpy!

Anyway, I'm reclining in my bunk and watching the countryside slip by. Japan is SO beautiful! I think most Americans think of Japan and picture the craziness of Tokyo (or some samurai tea house). Let me tell you, Tokyo and the other cities have some magic, but most of the country isn't like that. It's full of rice fields and beautiful mountains, modern houses built with traditional archetectural details and train tracks that stetch endlessly in both directions. I'm a country-loving kid so I'm sure I'm a little bias, but the Japanese countryside impresses me WAY more than the Tokyo public transit system (which is pretty amazing in its own right).

I love traveling by train!