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This is what happens when the coating is rewritten. You can see some artifacts remain - apparently if you get someone to ''clear" it several times you can entirely remove them.
The card comes out quite warm after this!
I've converted my Suica to be "named", so in theory it can now be replaced if lost?
@snow very tasty!
Reviews of some Japanse snackfoods from the last couple of weeks.
1. Custard bun thing. Pretty tasty, seemed to include cream too. Could have been a better custard.
2. Spam rice ball. Excellent - goes really well with the seaweed & the saltiness cuts through the glutenous rice.
3. Chocolate cream bun. Rubbery; came from a vending machine with a BBE in 2028 and tasted like it too.
4. Squid strips. Salty, fishy and tasty. Could do with a sauce to dip into.
And a perfectly parked automobile. No notes.
More telephones.
It's almost 9am and I'm at this insalubrious bus terminal, smelling of diesel fumes.
More popular than the public transport is the tonkatsu restaurant here, that has a queue of hundreds stretching around the terminal 
Seriously!
Clearly this is excellent tonkatsu!
(Sadly I cannot take a photo, as it obviously contains many people)
It's also worth sharing a photo of the dispatcher's console, used on the Shinkansen platforms.
Their role seems to be solely to open and close the platform edge doors, and some associated safety checks.
Looks pretty cool through!
Time for some more phones?
Seems like the Shinkansen's character is keen on them too!
@sally Whilst it's definitely a "superpower" being a native speaker of the most interoperable language on the planet, it is a bit sad that *everything* is becoming a kind of monoculture.
I'm enjoying travelling in areas where I simply cannot read the signage or understand people (despite the stress!).
It's helping me empathise with non-native English speakers.
@sally Awh that means a lot, thank you 
I'm glad they are appreciated
Congrats 
And hope you'll be back to travelling (+1) in the near future!
@sally Ahh, is that the hook! Would love to hear about your adventures in Japan Have you been back since you started learning?
Back to trains: the Kamome Shinkansen is the silliest railway. It's the shortest Shinkansen, and goes from Nagasaki to the middle of nowhere in ~20 minutes.
Why is that? Politicians in the next prefecture don't want the Shinkansen...
So instead, you get shuttled between Takeo-Onsen and Hakata where you can connect with the rest of the Shinkansen network.
Maybe one day they'll join it all up...
Naturally, there is also a payphone here - priorities.
Being particularly remote and inaccessible, I wonder when it was last used? It's working, of course.
On the surface there are various buildings in an advanced state of decay.
I particularly enjoyed the solitary digger, sitting on the spoil heap and looking out to sea 
On the island is Ikeshima Coal Mine; which operated from the ~1950s through to closure in the late 90s.
Most of the "island" is actually spoil from under the seabed, and the surface buildings are largely abandoned and rotting away. But you can go on (a very limited) tour!
The mine itself is there and used for training, although the future of that is uncertain. Unfortunately access underground is not generally available 
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B1%A0%E5%B3%B6%E7%82%AD%E9%89%B1
@andrew I don't think the buses have changed much since you visited; they feel like museum pieces!
@dahie Yeah, it can be annoyingly inconsistent.
It's now time to catch a ferry to a tiny island just off the coast; requiring the negotiation of two buses to the middle of nowhere - that was a little strenuous.
This is really quite rural Japan!
I don't really know how you'd do this trip without Google Maps; it's extremely hard to find information about these routes unless you read/write Kanji. Even with Google Maps, actually finding the right bus is a challenge and requires Google Translating images.
@eloy Technically returning from whence you came (Den Haag)
