Early in May, there are several consecutive holidays in Japan (known as “Golden Week”) and many people go on mini-vacations during this time.  I myself always go to my husband’s parents’ house in nearby Yamagata Prefecture.  A lot of people drive to their destinations, but my husband doesn’t really like going by car–so we take the trains.

Here are the tickets (for one person.)

Can you find the word “Fukushima”?  In Japanese it is 福島  (Hint:  It is written on each ticket.)

The ticket on the left is a bullet train ticket.  The ticket on the right is for the regular train that we take after the bullet train.

These tickets have only Japanese on them, so I thought these tickets may be confusing for people who don’t read Japanese.  However, my friend Helen said that one can request tickets that use romaji (the Roman alphabet system.)

Once you enter the bullet train area at the train station, there is a little shop where you can buy drinks, food, newspapers, and so on.

This shop has a lot of “only in Fukushima” items.  Japanese love to give souvenirs that were made in the region that they visited.  There is a HUGE market for these specialty items.   When I say HUGE, I mean GINORMOUSSSSSS!!!!!!

Possibly Fukushima’s number one snack “Mamadoru.”  Filled with your mother’s love!!!!!

The commercial on TV says (In Japanese):

Mama!  Mama!  Mamadoru

Filled with milk

Taste of Mother

Mama! Mama!  Mamadoru

Fukushima is famous for peach orchards, so peach-flavored goodies are popular.  The sign at the top 福島のもも says “Fukushima’s Peaches.”

もも Momo =Peach

Fun Tohoku trinkets

And plus, regular chocolate (for those of us who get the munchies on the train….)

Hmmmmmm….which should I choose…………..

Here’s the train….the BULLET TRAIN!

What??!!??  Are they going to collide?   Are we witnessing the first head-on bullet train collision ever?

No, of course not, silly.  Everybody knows the bullet train never has collisions.

What is happening here is that two bullet trains are connecting together.  This makes the train longer so it can accommodate more passengers.

Why?  Well, these two different trains came from northwest Tohoku and northeast Tohoku.  Tohoku (comparatively) is sparsely populated, so the trains didn’t have to be so very long.  In Fukushima city, the tracks converge, so they join up to go to Tokyo together.

I always tell my son the trains are kissing.  It’s true love, railway style.

Ah, so romantic!   The man in the black uniform is saying “I now pronounce you man and wife!”

“Oh, I’m so happy!  We met online!  They say commuter dating doesn’t work, but we are really attached and plan to spend the next two and a half hours together!”

Congrats to the happy couple!