(The photo is of a bullet train taken at a private exhibition some time ago.)
(ENG)
There are two types of travel: domestic and international. For overseas travel from Japan, airplanes are the only means of transportation, with the exception of some neighboring countries. In other countries, trains and buses may be the only means of transportation, especially if the countries are connected by land.
In Japan, there are several means of transportation for domestic travel. These include airplanes, bullet trains, conventional trains, buses, and boats. I traveled to distant places for my solo exhibitions the year before last and the year before last, traveling by conventional train within the Kinki region and by Shinkansen for those farther away.
Shinkansen trains used to have dining cars and other amenities that made the trip more enjoyable, but nowadays they no longer have dining cars because they are designed for business people. Recently, even the in-train vending machines have been removed. But now, the dining car is no longer available for business people, and they have even stopped selling food on board.
I used to use highway buses a lot. I used to travel to Kanazawa, Onomichi, Takamatsu, and other places that I could have made a day trip on the bullet train. However, it often took a long time due to traffic jams. I once took an express bus during the Golden Week traffic jam and left Kyoto at 7:00 a.m. and arrived in Onomichi at 5:00 p.m. I was exhausted. I was exhausted. Another drawback of highway buses is that they are prone to accidents due to icy road surfaces in winter. Therefore, I do not recommend taking long-distance highway buses during Golden Week and winter.
When I went to Hokkaido with my grandmother and uncle when I was a student, we took an airplane. However, whenever I boarded an airplane, including when I traveled overseas after that, the plane always shook (probably due to the passage of cumulonimbus clouds), and I do not like airplanes very much either.
Therefore, I took the Shinkansen and other trains to many places in Japan.
The 10 prefectures I have not visited in Japan are Aomori, Akita, Iwate, Yamagata, Fukushima, Gunma, Tochigi, Miyazaki, Kagoshima, and Okinawa.
I would like to conquer all the prefectures when I get here, but Tohoku and Okinawa are too far away.
But I would like to go there.
(JPN)
(写真はいつぞやの個展の時に撮った新幹線)
旅行と言っても国内旅行と海外旅行があります。海外旅行は日本からの場合、一部近隣諸国を除き移動手段は飛行機一択と言っていいでしょう。他の国だと、特に陸続きの場合列車やバスという場合もあるでしょうが。
日本でも国内旅行の場合、移動手段はいくつかあります。飛行機、新幹線、在来線列車、バス、船などです。私は一昨年、昨年と遠方まで行って個展をやりましたが、近畿圏内は在来線列車、それより遠くへは新幹線で移動しました。
新幹線も昔は食堂車とかあって旅を楽しむ感じがあったのですが、今はビジネスパーソンのためということで食堂車なんかなくなりました。しかも最近車内販売までなくなったそうです。それで新幹線の料金は高くて、お金がどんどん吹っ飛んで困るのですが。
以前は、高速バスもよく使っていました。金沢とか尾道とか高松とか、新幹線なら日帰りでもできそうな距離のところへ旅行するのに使っていました。ただ渋滞などで時間がかかる時が多いです。私は以前なんとゴールデンウィークの大渋滞の中高速バスを使ってしまって、朝7時に京都を出て尾道に着いたのは夕方5時でした。ぐったりしました。あと高速バスの欠点は冬季は路面凍結による事故が起きやすいということですね。というわけでゴールデンウィークと冬季は長距離の高速バスを使うことはお勧めしません。
学生時代に祖母や叔父と北海道へ行った時は飛行機を使いました。しかしその後海外旅行で乗った時も含め、私が飛行機に乗るといつも飛行機がガタガタ揺れて（多分積乱雲通過だったんでしょうが）飛行機もあまり好きではありません。
というわけで新幹線などで日本国内はあちこち行きました。
日本国内で行ったことのない県は、青森、秋田、岩手、山形、福島、群馬、栃木、宮崎、鹿児島、沖縄の10県です。
ここまで来たら全都道府県制覇したいのですが、東北と沖縄は遠いですね。
でも行きたいですね。