Train museum before heading to Tokyo

SCMagLev and Railway Park Museum

I’m heading to Tokyo today! But first I have one more stop before leaving Nagoya and that’s the SCMaglev and Railway Park. The railway park is a large museum detailing the history of Japanese railway history. Inside it houses trains from different generations along with train technologies over the years. Upon entering there is an impressive lobby that showcases old locomotive trains, current shinkansen trains and even developing maglev trains.

The main exhibition hall houses a huge array of trains from every era. You’re free to explore around and inside most of them! Along the side of the hall are secondary exhibits that go into tech that supports the train industry. Things like ticket booths, signals and even seat technology. There’s even a room with a large working diorama of the train system that works in and around Nagoya. All in all, it’s a very impressive museum and being a bit of a nerd, I’m very happy to spend my morning exploring!

I also pop into the museum cafeteria which is also train themed! They sell ekiben themed bento boxes which is a super cool touch! Unfortunately I don’t end up getting one but really like the attention to detail even for the museum cafeteria!

Ekikama Kishimen

Instead of an Ekiben, I head back to Nagoya station and have another helping of Ekikama Kishimen since it’s conveniently located at the station. And shortly after lunch, I quickly book a Shinkansen ticket, board my train and am on my way to Tokyo. The ride is about an hour and a half and is pretty uneventful. I doze off for a quick nap and before I know it, we’re starting to pull into Tokyo Station!

Sake Bar Hotel Tokyo

From Tokyo Station I eventually make my way to my home for the next few days: The Sake Bar Hotel. In looking for places to stay in Tokyo, I wanted to find something a bit unique and stumble on this place! While the hotel itself is pretty standard, what sets itself apart is some of its amenities. The hotel will offer free sake to all of its guests! They will give each guest a wooden masu cup which you can take with you to fill up with different sakes. On the roof of the hotel is a foot bath with some great views of the Tokyo skyline. You can have a drink while soaking your feet after a long day of walking. Or you can head to the lobby where they have other bottles of sake and snacks available for you to try at anytime. It’s a great concept and one I would enjoy over the course of my stay!

Kotoyon

After checking in and settling down, I head down to the lobby to have my first few sips of Sake where I strike up a conversation with a few fellow travellers doing the same. One of these new friends and I decide to head out into the surrounding neighbourhood in search of dinner. We find a tiny little bar in an alley called Kotoyon. At the time everyone inside were all (seemingly) middle aged women who seemed like they all knew each other (including the owner!). So when we walked in we felt a little out of place. But they were super friendly and welcoming and tried to include us in their conversation with English as much as they could. Despite the language barrier, It was such a refreshing experience to spend some time with other people just trying to make some genuine connections. We ordered some drinks, and shared different dishes with the other patrons. We talked about where we’re from (Canada for me and USA for my new friend). And laughed at jokes we didn’t really understand. While I wish I took more photos, I’m also glad I didn’t. I didn’t want to spoil the moment by trying to “document” it. But still a very chance encounter and one I very much enjoyed!

After such a wonderful time, my friend and I say our good byes and head back to our hotel. I have an early day tomorrow as I’m meeting up with Lebron and Antetokounmpo to go to Disneyland! I have a feeling its going to be a long and busy day so I’m eager to get some rest!