Originally written December 2018
I was supposed to spend at least half the day skiing today, but it had been raining all morning, so we decided to head back to Tokyo earlier instead.
This time, by Shinkansen — the bullet train.
Nagano to Tokyo only took us about 1 hour and 49 minutes.
Getting from the station to our accommodation?
Considerably longer. 
There was, of course, more asking around.
And more wandering.
And more trying to work out where we were supposed to go.
Graeme said we probably don’t need the “Tokyo Like a Local” guided tour anymore — the one where a guide takes you around local shops and introduces you to everyday life in the city.
According to him, I’ve already spoken to approximately half the population of Tokyo. 
By the time we finally reached our accommodation, about four hours had passed since we left Nagano.
You do the maths.
Then came another surprise.
Our accommodation is approximately 12 square metres — including the bathroom.
There is barely enough room for both of us to move around at the same time.
Basically, if one of us is standing up, the other one has to stay in bed.
At least I now have a perfectly legitimate excuse to lie down. 
But despite all that, I’m actually rather proud of myself.
Only around two hours of asking people for directions this time.
That is a huge improvement compared with our first Tokyo adventure.
And most importantly…
we didn’t miss our station.
Progress.
Stories Along the Way 