Leaging Tokyo for Kobe without knowing what was going on in Fukushima Daiichi Reactor #3

Cindy was killing time to visit Ueno and Ginza while I was still asleep - not just for Twitter, I was tired of checking travelling options.  Since it turned out that Cindy forgot to buy Japan Rail Pass in Singapore, and I didn't think buses (coaches) were good idea, I thought of buying seasonal coupon tickets called "Seishun Juhachi (i.e.18) Kippu".  However, it requires several transits taking some 10 hours of the route which Shinkansen, the bullet train would take only three hours, though the cost was about 15-20% (or 80-85% saving).

Because the tuner of FTTH line for the TV was still broken, I couldn't see any news other than Japanese channels.  And probably, I hardly switched on the TV, as I don't even remember the TV - all the free domestic channels kept broadcasting the chaos in Tokyo for the malicious rolling blackouts to deliberately trouble passengers of the subway and other private railroads.

I didn't know what was going on after 11am of this day.  Anyway, we left my flat around 3pm to get the train coupon tickets in Monzen-Nakacho, but for some reasons, we decided to make the final decision after arriving at Tokyo Station, which turned out to be good.  Local trains up to Atami were closed due to "blackout" with no forecast of resuming.

So, we decided to buy Shinkansen tickets and left Tokyo about 16 minutes before 4pm to get to Kobe early enough to have dinner my mother cooked right in time.

Cindy stayed with us for two nights and then continued travelling to Kyushu with the coupon + night buses.  She posted the final piece of the 5-series coupon and the Suica prepaid card from Narita.  The stamps with place names and dates, I learned she spent the final three nights in the night buses, spending just half day in Tokyo and depart from Narita in the 20th afternoon.

I had not decided yet how long to stay with my parents.  I wanted to go back to Tokyo as early as possible, but at the same time, I was tired and more scared of non-stop earthquakes.  In any event, I could do my job with my mother's pc as long as the Internet was available.

I eventually left Kobe back to Tokyo on 24th.

Till later, I didn't know how lucky I was for not being able to stay in Tokyo during these days.