Adventures in Japan Part 2

The Shinkansen (aka, the BULLET TRAIN!)

From Tokyo to Kyoto, or trying to, at least 
After my night at the hotel in Tokyo, it was time to get over to Kyoto, which is about a 2.5hr (320 miles) bullet train ride from Tokyo. While at O'Hare, I had started to doubt my initial plan, which was to go immediately from Tokyo to Kyoto the first day - thinking about it I thought that I might not be optimizing my time in the best way but I knew that I wanted to make it to Mt Koya before the baseball tour began and getting out to Kyoto would get me close to Koya. Anyways, despite doubting my original plan, I set out from the hotel that morning to the local JR (Japanese Rail) station which was a short shuttle ride from the hotel. At this point, I hadn't exchanged my rail voucher for the JR Pass yet and thought that I would be able to do so over at the JR station.
Riding the Rails in Japan - the JR (Japanese Rail), the Shinkansen (bullet train) & more!
Before I go any further, it's worth explaining how the rail system works in Japan. I already mentioned that I had bought a rail pass before heading over to Japan, which was FedEx'd to me via the rail company. The company will mail you what basically amounts to a coupon that you take with you and then exchange at a JR station in Japan. Once you have your rail pass, you'll get access to bullet trains (the Shinkansen) that criss-cross the country in addition to a special train system referred to as the JR. The JR is available in most Japanese cities but is separate from each city's subway system. You'll need separate tickets in each city in order to ride each city's subway system but in some cities, like Tokyo, the JR train might be all you need to get around the city so your JR pass will suit you just fine.
Just to keep this straight - you can think of there being three train systems in Japan. The Shinkansen (the bullet train) which gets you between major cities very quickly, the JR (Japanese Rail) which gives you around within cities, and the individual city subways which, like the JR, gets you around each town. The subways, generally, have much more coverage & stations within cities than the JR. 

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Narita JR Station - aka, the place where I could not exchange my bullet train coupon.

Back to traveling to Kyoto
So, there I was at the JR station trying to figure out where I could exchange my JR coupon for my actual pass so that I could travel into central Tokyo and catch the Shinkansen over to Kyoto. Unfortunately, after talking to the ticket counter agent, I found that I had to go back to the airport to exchange my JR pass. Fortunately, I was able to buy a one way JR ticket from the station that took me back to the airport. Once at the airport and after some back and forth with various ticket agents, I finally found the proper kiosk where I could exchange my JR coupon for as rail pass and was soon on my way back to Tokyo via the JR. One side note here that I found interesting was that a many of the train station personnel that I spoke to at the airport could not speak English, which led to some frustration while I was trying to figure out where to go with my coupon.

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Arrival at Tokyo Station
After about an hour train ride from Narita into central Tokyo, I made my way over to the Shinkansen ticket counter. All of the signs were easy to follow and in English.

Train that runs between Narita Airport and Downtown

Osaka Station (not Tokyo)

Getting Shinkansen tickets
Bullet train tickets come in two varieties - unreserved and reserved. Reserved means that you're issued a ticket for a specific train time, train car and seat. You're guaranteed to have your seat. If you have an unreserved ticket, you can try your luck in any of the unreserved cars on the train, of which there are usually several for every train. During my whole time in Japan, I never purchased an unreserved ticket and always opted for the reserved route. Trains run pretty frequently between certain locations. To Kyoto, it seemed that the trains ran at least every hour, if not every half hour or more.

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Train schedule sign in Japanese. These signs would also show the same information in English.

Waiting for the train to Kyoto
So, after getting to the ticket counter I had myself a reserved ticket on a train leaving in about an hour. Originally, on my way to the train, I had passed a ramen noodle shop that appeared to be some sort of vegetarian food. I eventually found the shop and discovered a place that would see me stop by several more times during my time in Japan. See the gallery below for more photos from this place. 
T's Tan Tan was one of the few, if only, pure vegan/vegetarian restaurants that I encountered during my trip. The first time there, they gave me the regular Japanese menu which I had to use Google Translate to help understand. Google Translate is another great app to have while traveling because one of its key features is that you can take a picture of something you're trying to read and it will allow you to read the sign/menu in whatever language you desire. This came in handy here.
My noodles & a drink called a "beauty lemonade" came within a matter of minutes. Proper etiquette in Japan calls for the loud slurping of your noodles. Let's just say I have some work to do there, although I did get better at loudly slurping as the trip went on. After finishing a meal in Japan, it's customary to take your bill up to the main counter to pay. There's no tipping in Japan to speak of which also helps keep most meals to a reasonable price - usually around 1500 yen ($15) or less.
So, after eating, I was on my way to Kyoto at nearly 200 mph on the Shinkansen! I'll write more about that in my next post.