For the first time

For the first time in three years, Japan's trains let us down.

We were on our way to a party in Kisarazu, Chiba prefecture (the "state" to the east of Tokyo). It's about an hour and a half away by train, or only an hour if you catch the Sazanami express train.

Kisarazu is "in the middle of nowhere" and trains stop running at about 10:30, so this would be an early party for us. We planned to arrive around 8, spend two hours then head home in time to make all our connections.

But yesterday evening, the trains from Tokyo were running 90 minutes late, due to signal problems. Our plan to catch the 6:30 Sazanami was thwarted. The next train was due to leave at 7:00, but when it didn't turn up by 7:20, we bailed and called in our apologies.

So we missed the party and disappointed our friends all because the trains were late.