Monday/Tuesday – April 17/18, 2017

Spent Monday and Tuesday shopping in Osaka and making my way back to Tokyo via the Shinkinsen train.

I was able to check out the recycling shop that my AirBnB host last time introduced me to. It is a short train ride to the shop.  Was able to buy some Japanese pottery. Had to limit my weight, since I have to carry it around for the rest of trip. It was hard to limit myself but was good to keep it lightweight.

I didn’t take many photos. I had a problem with my pasmo card ( kind of like the debit card used by Ottawa transit). It worked ok in Tokyo. However, when I tried to use it to go to Yoshino it was rejected. The station manager said the problem was with how I used it in Tokyo and it would have to be fixed only in Tokyo ( which was a pain). I knew I had lots of money on it. 

So when I tried to use it to take the local train to the recycle shop, it was rejected again. Since it wasn’t busy this nice station manager, took it, and worked hosahoc to fix it. I said there should be 4400 yen on it and I just used it to store my stuff in a locker. He confirmed there was money on it, but after a few magical computer stuff, it worked fine on the way to and back from the recycle shop.

It is nice to have and makes it easier instead of trying to figure out how much of a ticket you needed to buy.

Stayed at a wonderful onsen which had a nice view of Mt Fuji off in the distance.