The run through to Aizuwakamatsu took the best part of an hour and a quarter, weaving its way along the river valleys and between snow capped ranges. It wasn’t quite spectacular scenery, or rather not consistently spectacular with constant Wow! factors, more a constantly changing vista with significant spots where the view was breathtaking. Madam reckoned it was going to snow tomorrow, but I was glad we were there when we were there.
Once we'd changed in Aizuwakamatsu the route involved more of the same, though the weather started to close in around halfway through the second hour long section. By the time disembarked at Koriyama it had closed in completely, a grey misty wall that meant there wasn't going to be much to see.
But we'd seen been up and down this next section of shinkansen line a couple of times before, so that wasn't an issue.
Lunch, on the other hand, definitely was an issue, since I needed something and the first bento stall we ran across had run out of my preferred option. I grabbed a spicy chicken roll and a can of Yebisu Red on the way to the shinkansen, and, predictably, after we’d made the purchases the route up to platform 13 took us past two stalls where I'd probably have found what I’d been looking for in the first place.
In any case, I wasn't worried. We were looking at dinner in Yokohama's Chinatown, and all I needed was something that resembled a snack to keep me going until then.
And, of course, Yebisu.
On the train, speeding through the misty rain everything was hunky dory. The conditions suggested the Frockster Factor might have come into play if we were heading onwards beyond Yokohama, but the weather lifted before Utsomiya and the last bit of the run into Tokyo went in under blue skies and bright sunshine that meant I was glad of the shade provided by hanging coats.
Once we’d made our way into Tokyo and disembarked, the next issue involved finding the right line to Yokohama.