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Wednesday, November 13, 2024

The Curious Case of the Lost Bag or how we Ended up in Nara

 


Making Osaka a base for explorations of the surrounding towns, one has options: Nara for the park, Kyoto for the protocol and Kobe for the beef. The idea was to Kyoto, cos culture. The Shinkansen too short a trip to enjoy, the local train it was. Alight in Kyoto, change to the subway line, 4 stations northwards and there is the Imperial Palace. A must see, just like the Nishiki Market and the Manga Museum.

This one time. A first, I put the backpack onto the rack above the seats. I have never done that in a train. The backpack stays with me like a loyal dog. After 4 stations, I noticed we go SOUTH! So, just as the doors are closing, we get off. Sans backpack. 

With the bag, containing passports (Yeah, we have that along in Japan ALL the time, cos Duty Free!) headed to the terminal at the end of the line, we approach the station master. The are kinda used to dazed and confused tourists and after a half hour wait, the polite, patient and competent conductor has news for us that a bag, looking similar like the one described has been found and is available for collection in Nara. The most amazing thing is the translation device used to communicate. Train dude speaks into it in Japan and out comes perfect German!


Back onto the train with changed plans: might as well explore Nara. With half the staff at the terminal station already knowing my name (not many Germans about I guess...), the bag is retrieved and the adventure continues. 

Gotta hand it to the Japanese: although a stressor, the incident was handled with utmost professionalism, calm and collect (pun!). In most other places one would have had to start thinking about a replacement passport. 

Still have to see the Imperial Palace, after my fourth visit to Osaka. However, we found that the Nara Craft Beer Fesitval was in full swing, which was an bag of fun for all of us after the scare. 
 

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