Hey everyone, just saying goodbye for a little while… I’ll be heading to Japan tomorrow morning for some rail adventures there. I’ll be riding my first shinkansen, or as they are more commonly known around here, bullet train. Supposedly the train that goes from Tokyo to Kyoto which I will be taking reaches speeds of 186 miles per hour… so that should be pretty interesting. Other things on the agenda are going to Wakayama prefecture to see a rather famous cat named Tama, who I have briefly mentioned before. I’m not sure how well this meeting will go. From my understanding, the general public can only see her through a sheet of glass. One of my Japanese coworkers attempted to arrange a “special meeting” with Tama for me, which didn’t turn out so well, since they said they didn’t really have anyone that could speak English with me. I did make a present for her though, which I’m not sure if I will be able to give to her.

This is Tama. She doesn’t seem to have any problems wearing hats and clothing…

Clearly I had to give her a new hat. A train conductor’s hat. And what better gift than to bring a train conductor’s hat from the USA? Okay, well, I tried. It is a pretty ghetto looking version of a Metro North conductor’s hat. Probably a little bit too tall, but about the right size around for a cat’s head. I took the pictures before I had finished painting the badge. I also took pictures of my cat wearing the hat, but his expression in the photo pretty much was, “I am going to kill you while you sleep tonight,” so I am not going to post it. I also managed to get a female tie, the ones the conductors wear, to complete the ensemble. (Thanks Gina!)

Clearly the best possible outcome would be getting a picture of Tama wearing that hat. Whether it will happen is another story. We’ll see though.

I don’t know if I will be able to blog while away (perhaps I will tweet), but when I get back I’ll be posting some of my rail adventure photos and stories. I don’t think you’ll miss me all that much, since I have a few posts already written that will post themselves over the week. I’ll be back on the 11th, so I’ll talk to you all then!