The rain on the plain falls mainly on the train.

There was a return of sick-Joshie overnight, but he appeared to be on the improve at breakfast. Our nicotine-laden taxi back to Hakata Train Station did not do him any favours however. When we were but 100 metres away from our destination - Josh started wailing and pouting in distress - clear signs that a revisiting of his breakfast was mere moments away. I was mortified that he would ruin the inside of this poor man's taxi, so started motioning to the kerb, opening the door and pantomiming Josh being physically sick. The taxi driver, in turn - gestured to where the arrival point was, only metres away now. I was essentially skiing alongside the taxi on the wet bitumen as it came to a stop, flinging open Joshies door and hauling him out. We just made it - the finally comprehending (and very grateful) taxi driver even helped us clean the little fellow up. Clearly - things did not bode well for the journey ahead.

One of the trains we've been dawdling along on.

Somehow - we managed to procure 5 seats (an entire row) on an Non-reserved carriage. I think the very obliging nature of the Japanese folk may have resulted in them taking the non-reserved carriage-label seriously - it appears far more relaxed and the background chatter is such that we are no longer drawing attention to ourselves.

I finally managed to sample some Calpis (one of the odd things on my 'to do' list) - a popular, yet horrendously-named drink. The taste of Calpis? The nearest description I can muster is a flat lemonade ice-cream soda (or lemonade spider for the Australians amongst us). Not bad at all - but looks like watery milk.

Make mine a Calpis!
Happy Refresh!

The leg to Shin-Osaka was delightfully uneventful (apart from a sleeping Joshies sweaty head leaving a dubious damp spot on Jen's pants), and we were contemplating grabbing some lunch when we noticed another Shinkansen heading off to Tokyo within the next 5 minutes. I sagely reasoned that we could purchase our lunch on board, as all of the Shinkansen trains to date have provided options for meals. As we congratulated ourselves on such a smooth train transition, the english version of the PA message advised us that this particular line did not have a food trolley. Awesome. While there was Grape Fanta and canned coffee galore (huzzah) in the vending machine, we had but a packet of Ritz crackers to sustain all of us until Tokyo - half of Honshu away.

Electronic devices were the order of the day, and I was able to chart the passing of an enormous band of cloud - right over Tokyo. It was evening when we pulled into Tokyo Station, and the sodden, bedraggled folk wandering into the Station from outside was evidence of the intensity of the rainfall.

Hamish
 - communicating through grunts and hand-gestures.

Josh
 - improved and App-ing.

We smoothly transferred to the Keiyo Line like seasoned professionals, getting off at Maihama Station (stop for Disney Land etc) - where we spied more half-drowned commuters. As we weren't staying in  the Happiest Place on Earth, we boarded the Disney Resort Line to make the final leg to our Hotel. Things immediately started taking on that good old Disney surreality, with the train featuring Mickey-shaped windows and hand-hold hoops.

One of those hand-hold loopy things.

Mickey-shaped train windows.
Josh is impressed.

The good news is that despite the torrents of rain cascading down as we arrived at our Hotel - the online weather-folk assure us it will be a sunny day tomorrow when we venture into Disney Sea. I for one am thrilled by the prospect of lines several hours long.