Planes, trains, and automobiles: 24 hours of travel to Japan

Screens on the backs of seats in a dark airplane cabin.
Air Canada Flight 1, Toronto to Tokyo direct. They did a good job simulating an overnight flight. This is what it looked like for most of the 13 hours.

We left home at 11:30 am on Monday, 19 August 2013, about a half hour later than ideal. We rolled our bags to the Christie metro station, a short 10 minute walk. From Kiplling Station we took the airport express bus to Pearson International Airport – total cost of $3 each and travel time of 40 minutes. Pretty much how long a cab would take, and about $40 cheaper. Exactly what public transit should be. The rest of the trip had much more epic proportions.

Air Canada flight 1 to Tokyo took off a bit late at 2:20pm and put us at Narita Airport at about 4 pm local time, about 13 hours in the air.

Narita Express train
Narita Express train from Narita Airport to downtown Tokyo.

Narita Express train from Narita International Airport to downtown Tokyo was about 1.5 hours and cost about $30 each, and from there a bullet train to Sendai, the Tokohu line shinkansen, was another 1.5 hours and cost about $210 each, a steal for the 365km ride. It rained on the way and the windows didn’t even get wet, the raindrops were simply whipped off the glass. They don’t call it a bullet train for nothing.

In Sendai we were met by Daisuke Takeya, hardest working artist in the world, and Ykiko Sato. The last leg of the journey was a 1.5 hour car drive to Onagawa.

Train, bus, plane, train, train, and car for a grand total of 24 hours of continuous travel, a personal record.

Magda getting on the bullet train
Super excited to be getting on the bullet train. In my hand is a white plastic bag with our first meal in Japan.
View inside a train with a snack cart.
Tokohu line shinkansen (bullet train) from Tokyo to Sendai in northern Japan. Fastest train in the world.
Taxis parked outside the train station.
Taxis parked outside the Sendai train station.
Outside view of Sendai Station, Japan.
Outside view of Sendai Station, Japan.
Daisuke Takeya and Yukiko meet us at the train station in Sendai.
Daisuke Takeya and Yukiko Sato meet us at the train station in Sendai.

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