Golden Week!

Leaves are just starting to grow on the deciduous trees. Cherry blossoms are starting to bloom. And the seeds that I planted weeks ago are finally starting to sprout. Spring is here. The massive lightening storm I had to trudge through this morning notwithstanding, I have never been more excited for a change in the seasons. Spring break is right around the corner and not long after suffering through multiple entrance ceremonies there’s the promise of Golden Week.

Golden week is something I usually ignore. After all, who wants to contend with an entire nation of vacationers? Everything costs twice as much and is four times as hard to book. This year, though, my spring vacation plans fell through and my parents decided on a last minute visit to Japan. Now most people would get all excited and go about booking a trip to Kyoto or a week in Tokyo. But these are my parents. They’ve been to Japan so many times they opted to fly me and the family to Hawaii for Christmas rather than take a trip to Japan during the winter. We’ve done Tokyo, then all the convenient Tokyo daytrips, then Kyoto and other Kansai attractions, then we drove all over Kyushu… This time around my parents opted not to rent a car. After Olive’s bout of car sickness (all over me) in the Hawaii rental car on our last trip, I don’t blame them. So I’m doing something I haven’t done since my Tokyo days and booking a holiday by rail.

Japan’s rail system is world famous. Bullet trains! Rush hour professional train pushers! Women only cars! I must admit that rail travel outside of Tokyo is not quite the paradise it’s made out to be. I’m lucky if the local train goes past our stop more than twice and hour. However, the Japanese are, in general, rail enthusiasts. And this has created a niche market for trains that are less about the travel and more about the trip. Kyushu has a very large number of trains that exists for little reason other than to make train fans happy. Take for example the Aso Boy. You can get to Kumamoto to Mt. Aso on regular commuter trains every day of the week. However, on weekends and special holidays the Aso Boy makes two round trips between Kumamoto and Mt. Aso each day. And why would someone opt for the Aso Boy over the regular scheduled trains? Because it has a built in
ballpit, that’s why.

Booking our train trip has me all stressed. Having never actually booked a holiday during Golden Week, I imagine lines around the station for the reservation counter and a polite but firm station employee closing the counter as soon as I reach the front of the line. And without reservations my poor parents will have to stand next to the bathroom or glare at a “sleeping” teenager sprawled out in the silver seat section for the entirety of our trip. My parents provided for me and even put me through college. The least I can do for them is give them a good trip to Japan. Plus, ballpit.  Whatever is a good daughter to do?