On July 19, the Yamagata Shinkansen debuted a luxury ashiya (foot bath) service. A ticket from Tokyo to Yamagata City, in Tohoku Prefecture, costs around ¥11,000, but 15 minutes in the foot bath car is extra. If Matsuo Basho, Japan's most well-known poet, were to retrace his 156-day-long trek through Tohoku in 1689 — described in his masterwork "Oku no Hosomichi" ("The Narrow Road to the Deep North") — he probably wouldn't spring for the shinkansen, much less the foot bath. He'd likely opt for the comparatively spartan Seishun 18 (seishun jūhachi kippu, literally, the youthful 18 ticket), which gets you five nonconsecutive days of travel on all local and rapid Japan Railway trains for ¥11,850. This five-day ticket lets you bend "your steps in whatever direction" you wish — to quote Basho in "Utatsu Kiko" ("The Records of a Travel-Worn Satchel").

The Seishun 18 is a cheap alternative to more opulent (and expedient) means of transport but requires some patient planning and a high tolerance for complicated train timetables. However, making good time flies not only in the face of the Seishun 18 but also the spirit of Basho himself.

In the opening of "Narrow Road," the poet writes: "When spring came and there was mist in the air, I thought of crossing the barrier of Shirakawa into Oku. I seemed to be possessed by the spirits of wanderlust, and they all but deprived me of my senses." By the time I reach Shirakawa and disembark for lunch, spring is long gone and the air is heavy and humid.