Today Naomi and I went to Sendai Station. I was buying tickets to Kyoto and she will accompany me as far as Tokyo. She will be going home, while I am going on a 10-day meditation retreat. This is still Obon time, the week during the summer when most of Japan tries to return to their ancestral home to honor their ancestors by cleaning the family grave stone and getting together with their living relatives.
The line for tickets was not as crowded as usual; there were only a few people ahead of us. Also all eleven of the sales booths were occupied so things went quickly. The computer system is old but seems to work well. Although most of the trains were standing room only, we got seats on a train leaving Sendai at 7:20 a.m.
This is looking back in the door after we had our tickets in hand. We had been served by a woman at number 11. The red lines mark the line for people waiting to buy tickets and as you can see this part of the line was empty - something which is very unusual.
Turning around, I was facing a row of booths selling souvenirs, I guess you could call them, but most of the stuff is edible. It is a custom in Japan that, when you take a trip, you bring the specialties of the place you visit to all your friends and relatives. Most people return from a trip with an extra shopping bag full of goodies. These booths sell beef tongue, a Sendai specialty. It comes in all forms, fresh, frozen, smoked, pickled, and any other way that you can think of.
This is the hall way that runs from the ticket office down to the entrance to platforms.
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