Trains in Japan can be delayed

I decided to catch the local trains from Atsugi to Kyoto. There were several reasons. First its cheaper than going by shinkansen (and I don't have the Japan Rail Pass, which is the best deal for tourists, as I am a resident of Japan) and right now its school holiday period sp you can purchase a ticket with unlimited travel for 1 day, which makes it ridiculously cheap. Second, going on local trains would give me the chance to get a close-up view of Mount Fuji and small towns along the way. It would also give me a good chance for some people watching.

From my station to Kyoto it would take 9 hours and I had to change trains 5 times. This is how it was: it is so easy to travel by train in Japan, there are signs in English in every single station, even the small ones, and it was never difficult changing trains, as most of the connections departed from the same platform as the incoming train. Okay, from the beggining I was a little bit nervous, since my second train was 55 min delayed (!) and I though I was going to miss all the rest of my connections. I never understood why, as I always looked away when they displayed the message in English (every 10th minute) on the information board. But it all went by very smooth and I came to Kyoto when had planned.

The nagative side was that it was raining all day, so the nice views of the surroundings and Mount Fuji I was looking forward to could not be seen. But I got to see some costline, which was beautiful. And now I can also tell you that I saw houses and buildings and small patches of rice field outside the train widow for nice hours. One city or town is connected to the other all along the way. No wonder it is popular with bath salts with names like Finland bath and scents of pine trees or birchwood.