1 November 2026
Both sides of the tracks
Niigata station area
As previously threatened, tonight was the night for re-exploring both sides of the station to see how it has changed since I was last here 7 years ago. I am not sure how much it has changed because I cannot really remember it properly, I thought there was a tunnel under it but there is not. Also I suspect the department store inside the station and restaurant areas on both ends have been redone. The Donki store on the far side of the station however, appears to be exactly the same.
The station area was quite busy, so busy in fact that I could not find a restaurant without a line, so instead I wandered nearly all the way back to my hotel and went to fast food beef bowl emporium, Matsuya. The Matsuya is not the Sukiya under my hotel, I felt as though it was important to make that distinction, however I also think Sukiya would have been a better choice.
None of this is funny. What is funny is the hotel no longer wants to clean your room daily, instead they give you a bag of supplies. This is extremely wasteful, the bag literally has towels, pyjamas, tooth brushes, slippers, combs, cups, coffee, sugar - basically every single thing that is in my room that I MAY have used, and have used none of except for one towel. And I get a bag of all this stuff daily. There appears to be no options to reject the bag of hotel supplies.
OK that still was not funny.
The station. It is large. It is the end of the line for bullet trains here.
Reminder, Niigata is where we are.
The backside of the station has some terrible busking going on. They have a lot of gear and lighting, but really, sell it all and find a new hobby.
Donki time. There were many restaurants in the Donki store and its immediate surrounds, but I had not taken quite enough photos yet for this to be my final stop.
Instead, back into the station, I toured the food section, but the restaurants were still too busy.
So Matsuya it was, at least it was cheap.
Tomorrow, another rainy hiking day.