鈍行で東京へ　By local train to Tokyo

Start of journey: Niigata Station, 8.36am

I'm back on a train. I've taken so many train journeys. So far, my mode of transport for my travels in Japan has been mostly by train, usually by the local train, except for the Joetsu Shinkansen.

I'm not complaining, since I love to travel by train. Buses are fine too. I just don't like flying. For me, the journey along the way is part of the trip. Flying is fast, but you don't get to see much.

My only regrets is not being able to travel by ship. That would have been lovely. One of the things I'd hope to do was to take the ship from here (Niigata) to Vladivostok this summer and then take the Trans-Siberia train to Moscow. But I can't now because I'm going home.

Nagaoka Station 10.32am

There is alot of snow here. The roofs of the houses are covered with snow and along the edges, icicles have formed. Here in the innerlands of Niigata Prefecture, and of Japan itself, there's really a lot of snow. In Niigata City itself (where I call home), you can't really appreciate the idea that this is the snow country according to the Japanese. Looking outside the train window, all I see is huge expense of land covered with snow. It's so beautiful. The platform at Ojiya Station was piled up as high as 2m.

I'm in the front car of a 2 car train and I must say I'm kind of worried. After all the train accidents I've heard, I have to say I'm scared. I'm afraid of dying in Japan, all alone here. I pray that they will safely. There are 3 people in the cabin. 1 driver, 1 other person, and a man in workman's uniform, helmet and all. Somehow, I'm ot comforted by that. I pray that it will be a safe trip. Another worker (helmet-ed too) has just boarded. I'm hoping that it's only because he wants to get to another place. With all that snow around the tracks, I really hope things would go smoothly.

2.27pm I've changed from the JR Joetsu line to the Takasaki line at Takasaki Station.

Instead of waiting 45 min as Hyperdia had suggested, I took an earlier train, so I'm now on my way to Ueno, expecting to reach Tokyo earlier.

There's hardly any snow here. Here being Gunman Prefecture. We've left Niigata Prefecture and heading towards Saitama Prefecture. It's back to flatlands, no more mountains so nothing much to see out the window.

Anyway, the seats are the row along the window kind so I can't really look out much.

With the extra time in Tokyo, I'm wondering what I should do. Imperial Palace again?

We've just arrived at Kumagaya Station. This is a stop on the Joetsu Shinkansen. If I'd taken the Shinkansen, I'd have reached Tokyo at 10.59am, 3 hours ago. That's technology for you. But you know what? I'm happy to take this long ride because I got to see the great view which I won't have been able to on the Shinkansen.

As I'm writing this, a girl, probably late teens, early 20s, is applying her eye make-up. She's pretty gothic looking - all black with lined eyes. Something that I can't understand is why for a country that's so repressed, the young people (both boys & girls) are not shy about preening in public. Just a thought.