To Mihara City, Hiroshima Prefecture. This is a bullet train trip from Tokyo.
I thought it would be my first visit to Mihara City, but it seems that I had actually visited there during my trip to Hiroshima City the year before last. I was completely unaware that Hiroshima Airport is located in that Mihara City.
In the trip the year before last, I took a limousine bus immediately from Hiroshima Airport to Hiroshima Station, so I was not aware of Mihara City.
This time, Mihara City is our destination. Unlike last time, we will go overland and take the Shinkansen to Mihara Station.
The purpose of this trip was to participate in a monitoring tour organized by the Mihara Tourist Association.
However, since we were visiting Mihara City, we decided to tour the city from noon the day before.
So, for a while from today, the articles in this blog will be about our trip to Hiroshima Mihara.
There are so many things I want to write about. It was such a wonderful place, Mihara.
On the first day, we took the Tokaido Shinkansen from Shinagawa Station to Fukuyama Station. From Fukuyama Station, we transferred to the Sanyo Shinkansen and headed for Mihara Station.
It is a 4-hour trip on the Shinkansen. In order to enjoy the Shinkansen, I decided to buy a Tokaido Shinkansen bento box lunch from the on-board sales.
Bento on the Shinkansen is very exciting, isn’t it?
And it was delicious.
Leaving Tokyo early in the morning for a sightseeing tour in Mihara, Hiroshima Prefecture
After deciding to participate in the monitoring tour in Mihara, I felt it would be a shame to stop at just participating in the tour, so I made some arrangements so that I could visit the city the day before.
Tours are easy and convenient, but by having a guide take you around the city, you are seeing things through the guide’s filter.
I wanted to tour the city on my own and see Mihara as it is with my own eyes.
The day before the tour, I checked the schedule and found that there was no bullet train that arrived in Mihara at noon, so I decided to take the bullet train at 11:00 a.m. I thought that would be fine.
I checked the departure time and found that the departure time from the station nearest our house was 6:00 a.m. We started our journey early in the morning to Mihara.
4-hour Shinkansen trip from Shinagawa Station to Mihara Station
We boarded the train from the station nearest our home and arrived at Shinagawa Station before 7:00 am.
First, I went to the Midori-no-madoguchi (ticket window) to buy a ticket.
Since it was a weekday and early in the morning, I decided to buy an unreserved seat ticket for 17,500 yen.
To be honest, I am not familiar with the Shinkansen because I prefer to use LCCs when I travel somewhere far away from home.
I am not familiar with the Shinkansen, but the fact that I don’t take the Shinkansen makes me more excited about it.
I entered the Shinkansen terminal through the ticket gate and waited for the Shinkansen.
The time is up, and the Shinkansen is entering the platform. It is the Nozomi No. 9 Tokaido Shinkansen bound for Hakata.
The schedule to Mihara station on that day was as follows.
Departure from Shinagawa Station at 7:17 a.m. → Arrival at Fukuyama Station at 10:44 a.m.
Transfer from Tokaido Shinkansen to Sanyo Shinkansen
10:51] → Depart Fukuyama Station [11:04] Arrive at Mihara Station
It was a weekday, and most of the passengers were dressed in suits.
There was plenty of room in the seats, and I was able to sit in a non-reserved seat without any problems.
We started our meal with a Tokaido Shinkansen bento box lunch.
I was a bit nervous about traveling on the Shinkansen because I didn’t really know how it works, but I was able to sit down safely and breathe a sigh of relief.
Once I found a power supply at my feet and got my system in place, I felt much more at ease.
I am more productive when working in a place like this, so I pull out my computer and spend some time working.
While I am concentrating on my work, an in-train sales wagon passes by.
Since we were leaving early in the morning, we had not yet eaten anything at this point. I asked if there were any bento available, and they gave me a card with a picture on it to make it easier to choose.
There were three types of bento available, but I purchased the Tokaido Shinkansen bento, which has the name of the bullet train as it is.
Meals are one of the attractions of travel. This time, I had decided to eat an ekiben to start off the meal.
There are quite a variety of items sold in the train.
You can check the items sold in the train on the website of JR Tokai Passengers Co.
https://www.jr-cp.co.jp/
Here is the “Tokaido Shinkansen Bento” at 1,000 yen.
As the description says, “This bento is filled with gourmet foods along the Tokaido Shinkansen Line.” The bento is filled with specialties from the Kanto, Tokai, and Kansai regions.
Opening the lid of the bento is the most romantic part. When you slowly open the lid, you will see a delicious-looking bento.
The colors are beautiful and it looks gorgeous and delicious from the outside.
Fukagawa-meshi and grilled conger eel from the Kanto region, black hanpen, fried shrimp and miso katsu from the Tokai region, and cooked sweet potato, octopus and pumpkin from the Kansai region. ……
It is a luxurious lunch box that allows you to enjoy a variety of dishes from each region at once.
The taste did not betray the impression of its appearance when I tried it right away.
I bit into the broiled conger eel and immediately took a bite of the Fukagawa-meshi. After taking a mouthful of the miso katsu, you take your time to savor the takikomi with sweet potato, octopus, and pumpkin.
This is a lunch box that is not only delicious but also enjoyable, making your mind race east and west.
There was not a single item that was too subtle. The kombu tsukudani (tsukudani boiled down in soy sauce and kelp) that was served with the bento was also very tasty.
It is good to be able to enjoy a variety of tastes, and yet the overall balance is also very good. If you can be this satisfied with a bento, there is nothing to complain about.
Changing Shinkansen trains at Fukuyama, we finally headed for Mihara.
While we were enjoying our bento, the Shinkansen was steadily moving toward our destination.
After leaving Shinagawa, the train stopped at Yokohama, Nagoya, Kyoto, Shin-Osaka, Shin-Kobe, and Okayama, and arrived at Fukuyama Station in about 3.5 hours.
Since we had to change trains at Fukuyama Station, we got off the Shinkansen and waited for the next Shinkansen on the platform.
We are already in Hiroshima Prefecture at this point. Fukuyama is also an intriguing city, with a castle visible from the platform.
This is where we say goodbye to Nozomi No. 9.
I waited for the next Shinkansen to arrive at the same platform, but in just over five minutes of waiting for the next Shinkansen, my body began to sweat.
It was 38 degrees Celsius in Hiroshima that day, and it felt much hotter than Tokyo, where the temperature had been dropping for the past few days.
I must get on the Shinkansen as soon as possible.
This is the Sanyo Shinkansen Kodama 735 heading for Mihara. We are almost to Mihara station.
The Shinkansen is well air-conditioned, so it is not so hot that I can’t cool down my burning body and go to ……. I arrived at Mihara station in a little over 10 minutes without any time for the sweat to subside.
When I stepped out onto the platform, the sweat started to pour out of me again. This trip to Hiroshima Mihara is going to be a “hot” one.
Heat is one of the seasonings of a trip. It is good because it will remain as a memory of the trip, It was hot in Mihara that time anyway.
Conclusion
The trip started with the Shinkansen.
It was more comfortable than I had imagined, and I was able to enjoy a delicious bento lunch box, which made it an unquestionable start of the trip. I recommend the Tokaido Shinkansen bento.
I got off at the platform of Mihara Station and looked out from the platform to see what kind of place it was. I saw mountains nearby and a magnificent stone wall of a castle ruin along the station, and I was curious about the scenery.
The desire to quickly walk around the city made my steps down from the Shinkansen platform quicker.
From the next issue, this will be a tour of Mihara City. Stay tuned.
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