It took a while to get to Sabae, because it’s hard to go south out of Niigata. Sabae and Niigata are on different Shinkansen that don’t meet unless you go back almost to Tokyo. I took three trains and had to pay an extra ¥280 at one point to get to Sabae because one of the JR trains turns into a private railway train at the end of its trip.

But first, morning set at the regular spot.

Then it was off to catch an “express” train, a shinkansen, and another “semi-express” train for Sabae. I bought an ekiben at Niigata that wasn’t that bad. Who am I kidding? I love ekiben.

The first train changed companies partway and I had to pay extra. You’re on the same train, but it suddenly its running on someone else’s rails.

Once I got to Sabae I thought I’d made a big mistake. I walked to the hotel and it took around 35 minutes and it was HOT today. Plus, there was absolutely nothing on the road between the train station and the hotel so I didn’t know if there would be anything to do. Oh, and taking a taxi back to the train station cost ¥1500.

I came here for the Megane Museum as Sabae is known for making most of the eyeglass frames in Japan. The Megane Museum wasn’t that interesting. There’s a workshop you have to sign up for 3+ weeks in advance to hand-make your own frames (or much easier, a toy pair of glasses), the museum is small (about the size of my living room) and all in Japanese, and the rest is just a big store with frames from Sabae.

I bought a pair of glasses and lenses and it wasn’t cheap. I think I paid about ¥90,000 which is $835. They’re going to be delivered to one of the hotels I’m staying in. They better be the shit. Most of the glasses didn’t fit my giant foreigner head. I guess real Japanese people’s ears are much closer to the front of their heads. That’s what I get for eating so many cheeseburgers as I was growing up.

The museum is 15 minutes away from Sabae station. I took the 35-minute walk back to the hotel along the highway (sometimes in the pitch black countryside just like I remember) instead of that podunk road I took from the station to the hotel. On the way there were several restaurants and I ate at a family restaurant called Tomato and Onion. I remember wanting to try Tomato and Onion in the past but I was with my sister and she HATES onions. I had the mix grill to see if it’s better than the refrigerated version I got at 7Eleven back in Niigata.

It wasn’t awesome, but it wasn’t bad.

Now it’s time to figure out what to do tomorrow. Ain’t a whole lot going on in Sabae.