Stuff I've Seen - April 1st Edition

So, the Evangelion Shinkansen from last trip that was about to be retired has done so, and there is a new themed Shinkansen to replace it.

What more iconic Japanese character could they pick to replace giant fighting robots?

Why, Hello Kitty of Course.

That most Japanese of cartoon characters finally gets the recognition she deserves with her own customized train.

In addition to train conductor kitty and friends (above) there are of course, the obligatory unique versions of the character for each of the major stops along the route (below)

Here is the train arriving at Hakata station:

And an artists rendition of the train.

The front of the train

Side shot

Logo

The first passenger car

Entering the train

Ribboned doors

Pink and Purple carriages

The second car has a "Photo Spot"

Hello Kitty pictured driving the train.

The first car sells a variety of Hello Kitty Shinkansen merchandise, a few snacks, and beer.

The walls have various characters festooned on them

From Kitty serving snacks

To her passanger friends

Space for bicycles

And luggage

The phone room

with cute call being made

Even the bathrooms are obnoxiously pink

Stuff I've Eaten - Fukuoka and Huis Ten Bosch

Beef and Egg Eki Ben

A different kind of Hello Kitty Eki Ben

Sake that came with a little plastic cup/cap.

Lemon beverage

 Sushi train for dinner:

3 piece special - beef, tuna, and mackerel (probably)

hotate, uni (with wasabi)

grilled salmon belly

Ebi, boiled ebi, flounder x2, clam, and surf clam

o toro

whitebait, tiny prawns, and minced bigger prawns

egg sandwich pringles and drink yoghurt

the same carton of yoghurt and Cheetos, if they were fish flavored, and not full rings
Fishuus?

milky goo

matcha cheese cake

delicious!

Hotel buffet breakfast

"Sangria"

Chicken bits cooked over charcoal 

french fries of a frankly ridiculous length.
(especially since you don't get any short ones)

grilled pork onna stick

Ramen

Beer

Shochu

Peach tea

chicken in a bag

soup that I ate just to keep warm.
(It tasted decent, which was a bonus)

yuzu lemonade

a pink flavored cake

Caramel on Caramel Macchiato

Complimentary fish soup for the Australian

"overflowing" seafood on rice

Beer

A pretty decent mocha.
~70% dark chocolate in a cafe au lait with no additional sweetener

drinking yoghurt with bits.
Left - blueberry
Right - Peach

Quattro Formaggio from the Pizza Festival.
Keeping an in joke between 2 people alive 15 years later.

Sakura Popcorn Blossom Kula

They'd run out of Sakura Popcorn.
You can see on the board what it should have looked like.

I bought some of the cards for the arcade games.
They each come with a card sized wafer.

Awful tasting mints.

Better tasting not quite mints.