Niigata

I caught the Tori shinkansen to Niigata

there was some fairlt cold mountainous regions that we passed through

but eventually I arrived at the station and a line of icons led me towards all the delicious things they had to eat.

The hotel was spartan but no worse than hotels that were twice the price in Tokyo.

The main drag near the station

Bandai rainbow building

inside

The rainbow tower that gives it, it's name. It was shut.

The river at night

Well known brightly lit landmark Bandai bridge.

The cherry blossoms were still in good shape here

It was pretty dismal weather wise while I was there

To get back to Tokyo I caught a Toki Max

16 carriages of double decker Shinkansen awsomeness

Although really it's two 8s with the nose cones removed joined together

Now Kiss!

And so we went through the ice and snow, trees and coats, and back to Tokyo.