Bullet train northwards.

Today we travelled from Tokyo to Sendai by bullet train - 305kms in less than two hours.

We left the hotel at 8.00am and went by coach to the station. There was a train at the platform when we arrived and some of our group assumed it was ours and boarded.

It wasn't ours, but Janette managed to save the day by getting them off the train before it left. However it left her feeling very unsettled for the rest of the day thinking about what could have happened.

From Sendai Station we walked the short distance to our hotel, left our bags at reception and had a lovely lunch in their restaurant.

After lunch, we went by coach to visit the Miyagikyo Whisky Distillery.

During the one hour journey, Inage reminded us that the train station before Sendai is Fukoshima well known for a major nuclear accident at its nuclear power plant. The cause of the accident was the March 11th, 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.

At this time, Inage was an office worker. On that day he was travelling north with his manager by bullet train. The train suddenly started to slow and then stopped. The train was between two stations and the passengers had to wait two hours to be rescued, all the time not really knowing what had happened.

At one point the train moved sideways, presumably from an aftershock. By now it was dark and there was no power. They were taken to a hotel and they were given space in the lobby to sleep.

They couldn't go eastwards because of the damage caused by the quake and the tsunami. They took a taxi westward and managed to get a flight back to Tokyo.

Listening to him, it seems that recounting the story brings back the fear and anxiety everyone must have felt.

I cannot help but see a parallel with this and a massive bomb being detonated above a city leaving the people not knowing what was happening…Read more