Train station

Thank you for your ideas yesterday... Now to find time to do some trial sewing. That is the problem!

Yesterday my friend from another prefecture came visiting so I went to the station to meet her. It's not often I get to the station and I can't remember the last time I took a train. The Utsunomiya station where the bullet train comes in is certainly busier than the little wooden station that services my Nikko area. We only get local trains there. Maybe only 6 people all together can wait in the Nikko train station waiting room. Still, compared to Tokyo I supposed the Utsunomiya train station looks almost deserted!

An outside view of the the station.

Inside the station looking at the available souvenir shops and eating places. Do you see the yellow line in both pictures. I don't recall if that is common in the States or not. (Of course I don't think I've ever been in a train station in the States.) It is a textured walkway for the sight impaired. Japan tries very hard to make it easier for sight-impaired people to get about... Beeping traffic signals and such. Of course I've heard that some of these walkways get blocked by parked bicycles which negates the whole purpose but in most places the stations are easy to maneuver... Of course I can't find my way in a train station even with my sight.

The turnstiles leading somewhere. I was trying to capture a "movement" image... Nowadays I hear that everyone just flashes their cell phones at the turnstiles and it is all connected somehow to the bank account. Electronic money that I've yet to learn how to use.

My friend brought us some cookies from her prefecture. Japanese blog visitors may understand this but no one else will. The naming for these cookies is a humorous take off from another specialty of cookie in a different area of Japan. But the original cookie makers took great offense of the new cookies' naming (the cookies were completely different) and the whole thing went to court and all of Japan took sides on whether the name was humorous or belittling. I guess the new cookies won because their sales have skyrocketed since the court case. They were delicious.