The JR Pass

Wednesday 28th April
This is really the last word, I promise.
I thought I should mention the sensational value that we got from our JR passess. We purchased the 'all regions' passes for 14 days at a cost of about Australian $600.00 each. The cost of the shinkansen journeys that we made during the 14 days would have been $840.00 each if paid for individually, so we more than recouped the cost just on those trips. In addition to the shinkansen, we made a number of long distance trips on express or limited express trains as well as many small local trips within the cities. These trips would have totalled a few hundred dollars more, so we really got great value from the passes. JR passes cannot be purchased in Japan. They are only for temporary visitors and the 'exchange order' for the pass must be purchased in the country of residence before departure. The exchange order is then swapped for the actual pass after arrival in Japan.
Travelling with a pass is so easy - we just flashed the pass at the staff on the gates and they waved us through. For the longer trips, including the shinkansen, we were able to go to the booking office a day or two before the trip and booked seats in advance (no cost to do this).

THE END

Summary of Scooter Trip

Wednesday 28th April
During the scooter part of our holiday we covered about 850km in 12 days. This allowed an easy-going pace with plenty of time to stop off for rests and sightseeing along the way.
John rode a Honda Spacy 100cc 4-stroke scooter and I rode a Suzuki Address 100cc 2-stroke. Both scooters performed well and didn't give us any trouble except for the time when we expected them to go up an almost vertical road on the first day. The Address needed a bit of a firm hand and got there in the end. Most of the time we were riding on fairly flat or more gently sloping terrain and the scooters handled that very well.
Most of the roads that we travelled on, even though they were highways, had a speed limit of 50kph, or 60kph at the most, so we didn't have the worry of speedy vehicles blasting us off the road. People who want to get somewhere in a hurry use the expressways where little scooties aren't permitted to travel. The Japanese are very considerate drivers and we've already noticed how rude and pushy Australian drivers are in comparison.
We were a bit slack about keeping records of the fuel costs as they were so minimal. Both scooters used regular fuel which cost about 130-140 yen per litre, which at the current exchange rate is about $1.50 - $1.60 (Australian dollars). The Address used one small can of 2-stroke oil for the journey.
The scooters were hired from a business in Osaka called "Asit". We asked Mr Tanaka, the proprietor, where the name came from and he said that it doesn't mean anything, he just chose a name that would be listed at the beginning in the telephone directory.
The hire costs were as follows:

2 scooters 33600 yen $392.00
2 locks 600 yen $ 7.00
2 helmets 3000 yen $ 35.00
2 top boxes 4000 yen $ 46.70
1 portable GPS 1800 yen $ 21.00
Insurance 2600 yen $ 30.35
2 x deposits 60000 yen $700.00 (refunded in full)

The hire company's details are:
ASIT, 1-7-1 Nakazaki, Kita-ku, 530-0015 Osaka
Phone +81 6 63771110
http://http//www.asit.co.jp/rent/English/English.htm

The website is a little tricky to follow as it has been machine translated. Online translators don't cope very well with Japanese to English, but the prices and contact details are all there.

Our route was as follows:

Day 1: Osaka to Nara (via Route 308, an old road which now has little use)
Day 2: Nara to Otsu
Day 3: Otsu to Kyoto
Day 4: Kyoto to Hikone
Day 5: Hikone to Ano (near Obama)
Day 6: Ano to Amanohashidate
Day 7: Amanohashidate to Toyouka
Day 8: Toyouka to Himeji
Day 9: Himeji
Day 10: Himeji to Kobe
Day 11: Kobe to Osaka
Day 12: Returned scooters

Overall, the scooter trip was great. The one day that was cold and rainy, when we nearly froze off our extremeties, was really unpleasant, but one day out of 12 was better than we might have expected. The scooters allowed us to go to places and experience things that the average tourist can't manage due to transport restraints.
If we do return to Japan in the future, we'd both be happy to use Mr Tanaka's service again.

We're back!

Wednesday 28th April
Well, it's all over :-(
My theory about staying awake so I'd sleep from Kuala Lumpur to Adelaide turned out to be unsuccessful. I already knew that I can't sleep on planes, so I don't know what I was thinking. By the time I remembered that I had sleeping pills in my bag, it was too late to take one. Our flight was delayed slightly, so arrived a little later in Adelaide than expected, but our dear friend Colin turned up as promised to bring us home. Marie (our friend who looked after the house) left it in a cleaner, tidier state than it's ever been in and it was lovely to walk in through the door and not see our usual mess and clutter!
Everything seems so very quiet here - which is just what we need after such a full-on month. There really is no place like home, but I'd be happy to go back to Japan anytime. The whole trip was a real blast. We came in well under budget, so the next holiday fund is already underway.
Here is a list of the things I'll miss about Japan:

• Warm toilet seats
• The huge variety of food choices
• The uncluttered life of travelling
• Polite ATMs that say "Thank you, we hope we can serve you again"
• Super-convenient public transport
• Vending machines in every nook and cranny
• Genuine customer service
• The multitudes of fashion queens
• Calpis soda
• 100yen stores
• Pedestrian crossings that make bird sounds
• Talking elevators
• Talking emergency vehicles (I don't know what they were saying, but it was probably something like "Please excuse me, I need to get to the hospital rather urgently. I hope you will forgive my intrusion")
• The lovely friendly, polite and helpful people

This won't be the last blog after all, as I'm going to post a summary of the scooter part of the trip, but for those who aren't really interested in such details, sayonara. Thanks for all the comments that we've received along the way. We hope you've enjoyed travelling with us.

Kate & John xx

Greetings from steamy Kuala Lumpur

Monday 26th April
We were up and at 'em bright and early today to have a quick breakfast and jump on the shuttle bus to the airport. We had a bit more of a shop at the airport (sorry everyone, not in the Gucci shop or anything remotely like it). We eventually got on the plane and had a very 'good fright' to Kuala Lumpur. I made a big effort to stay awake, in the hope that I'll sleep on the second leg of the journey. I watched 'The lovely bones', followed by 'Sherlock Holmes' and then a bit of 'Toy Story 2' (this one in Japanese, which was interesting!). John watched something else, which I can't remember, but I'm sure he enjoyed it whatever it was. He also took a few good photos from t window to remind us of the final stages of our adventure. I had to battle the eyelids, but made it to Kuala Lumpur without snoozing. At the airport I made a very feeble attempt to do some of my homework, but I'm too tired and there's too much going on. I'll tell my teacher that the dog ate it. If I tell her that in Japanese, I'm sure she'll forgive me. We were pleased to discover that the Hotel within the airport allows non-checked-in guests to have a shower (for a fee) so that's what we're about to do. It's very hot and sticky in the airport so a shower will be very welcome. The next post (the last post?) will be from Adelaide.

Our bags are packed, we're ready to go

Sunday 25th April
Well, here we are at the Narita Airport Hotel. I'm having a Sapporo Beer while I write and John is getting his last dose of Japanese television.
We had a bit of concern this morning. We logged into the Malaysia Airlines website to check our flights and found that there wasn't one coming up for Monday 26th April. Aaarrrgghh!! We tried to call the Japanese office of Malaysia Airlines, but got a 'call back later' message. I tracked down the Australian office and gave them a call. It was really strange to hear the Australian accent! Anyway, all is apparently well and the flight is going ahead as scheduled.
Crisis averted, we checked out and made our way to Harajuku. Harajuku is the place for fashionable girls to be on a Sunday. They come out in their droves to show off their latest fashions, including the 'cosplay' outfits. There were squillions of shops selling clothing, accessories and various knick-knacks, including a second-hand shop that sold everything for 700yen. We strolled the length of Takeshita Street (I kid you not!) and then back up again. We have almost perfected our precision pedestrian skills by merging into the human traffic and crossing over without bowling anyone over. We saw a number of shops with interesting names. I can only put a couple of them here, but there were many more that made us smile. The banner above the ILL Store says "Extra Dope Wear Select Shop". (Who knows??) We finished off our Harajuku experience by buying a decadent crepe each. John's contained custard, slices of banana, caramel, whipped cream, a slice of cheesecake and ice cream, all wrapped up into a cone shape in a thin crepe. Mine wasn't quite so spectacular - it was just fresh strawberries and ice cream, but was really nice anyway.





Our next adventure was to Ebisu, which has the largest English-language bookshop in Japan. John had finished the book that he brought and wanted one for the flight home. When we came out of the railway station, we were uncertain about which way to go, so we asked at the little police box nearby. I'd been told that the police in these mini police stations can always be relied upon to give directions, but the largest English-language bookshop in Japan was beyond their knowledge. We took a punt and walked off down the street, only to be waylaid by a Subway store. We went in for a cup of tea and a Veggie Delight and when we came out, John looked a bit further down the road and saw a big sign that said 'BOOKS'. There it was, just around the corner and down the road a bit from the police box! We went in and found the science fiction section and John soon found a suitable book for 630 yen (around $7), which was considerably better than if we'd bought one at the airport.
We then went back to the hotel in Ikebukuro to collect our baggage. John noticed that the little pocket in the strap of his pack was unzipped and his mp3 player wasn't in its correct place. We checked around the floor where the baggage had been stored and asked at the desk about it, but it had disapeared. A little disappointed that our last day should end like that, we made our way to the railway station. As we were walking along, I had a sudden brainwave, and checked the little pocket in the strap of MY pack and felt a little rectangular shape. There it was, in my pack! Our apologies to whoever we were thinking badly of! At the station, we discovered that not only do Japanese people use their train journeys to catch up on their sleep, they can even do it while waiting for the train. The woman on the opposite platform was having a good snooze while standing on the platform!
We got onto the Narita Express train and had an 80 minute ride out to the airport. For the majority of the journey we saw kilometre after kilometre of tall buildings in all directions, but about 15 minutes out from the airport we started to see big areas of rice paddies. The hotel runs a free shuttle bus service between the airport and the hotel, so we had a 5 minute wait and were then driven to the hotel, where we had a pleasant surprise. The Toyoko Hotel chain has a loyalty points system which offers a free night for every 10 paid nights. Because we had accumulated 12 points, we were entitled to the price of a single room off the price of the double room which we had booked. Not only that, tonight was 'discount night', so the double room price was discounted, and then the price of a single room was taken off, which left us about $35.00 to pay for a night in the biggest hotel room we'd seen on the trip so far. Then the receptionist pointed out that dinner of curry and rice was included in the cost! All Toyoko Hotels also include a free breakfast, so our $35.00 bought us two dinners, two breakfasts and a big hotel room. We're a couple of pretty happy customers. (I'm even happier now as I've just finished downing my can of beer).
After checking in, we rang our friend Colin to make arrangements for him to collect us on Tuesday morning. We made a Skype call, and it was fun to be able to chat with Colin and see him as well. Before making the call, John couldn't find the little earphone that we use when making Skype calls, which has its own special pocket in John's pack - but this time we had a good idea of where to look - and there it was in my pack! It seems that our little gadgets are playing games with us.
Once we'd had our curry dinner, we went for a stroll to the local convenience store to buy ice creams and my can of beer, so we walked off a little bit more of our crepes but I still think I'll be needing to put a bit of effort into my flab when we get home. We then sorted out all our goodies and distributed them between our bags in readiness for the journey home. We'll have quite an early start tomorrow, but I'm hoping that this will mean that I can sleep during the night-time leg of the flight between Kuala Lumpur and home.
The trip has been a fantastic adventure with so many new experiences. To finish off our story, I'll write a bit of a summary once we get home. But for now, it's good night. xx

Shop till you drop

Saturday 24th April
We started today by booking tomorrow's 'Narita Express' tickets to get to the hotel next to the airport. From there, we went to Akihabara. We had decided that if we were going to do some shopping, it would have to be somewhere less known than Shibuya and Shinjuku. I did some research on the Internet and found that there is a chain of discount stores called 'Don Quijote' (yes, that's how it's spelt). The stores are commonly know as 'Donki' and I found that there is one at Akihabara. Our main aim was to find a small bag which we could put our gifts and souvenirs into to bring home, as our baggage is now over the 5kg each limit for carry-on baggage. We were able find a decent bag at a Duty Free shop that we passed on the way to Donki. The shop also sold some very nice souvenirs, so we had a good time selecting some things for ourselves, family and friends. When we'd finished, we were given a free voucher for 1000 yen to spend, so we were able to go back for another round! We had fun browsing at Donki which is like our discount stores (Cheap as Chips, Neds, Cunninghams, etc.) but BIGGER (of course) and we picked up a couple of novelty items. We then got back onto the train and stopped off at Tokyo Station to look for a toy Shinkansen for my grandson Jake. I really didn't expect this to be a problem at the Tokyo Railway Station, but there seems to be a distinct lack of toy Shinkansens. Several places sold plastic Shinkansen tape measures, but I didn't think these would be of much interest to Jake (not for a few years anyway). I finally found one at a kiosk which sold mainly snacks, drinks and newspapers. Then it was back on the train again to the Shimbashi Station. From here we changed to the new Yurikamome Line which runs a train service to an island in Tokyo Port. The journey over was a sightseeing experience in itself, with many futuristic looking buildings and interesting things to gaze upon. The railway station was anther example of the Japanese art of making the most of available space. It sits above the road in a suspended box with escalators to take passengers to the terminal. The island is the location of The Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation. We spent some time browsing there, but our legs were quite worn out so we probably didn't make the most of it. Maybe one day they'll develop technology to enable middle-aged tourists to walk around sightseeing all day without wearing out. John did manage to make a couple of new friends, though.
We made our way back to Ikebukuro and after a rest, decided to try a different direction for dinner. Just around the corner from the hotel we struck it lucky once again (yes, it was good and yes, it was cheap).
We had a bit of a sort out of our new purchases and discovered that they fill more than our new bag! Hopefully we'll be able to squish everything in somewhere.



Tonight is our last night at Ikebukuro. We then have one night at Narita and it's up, up and away.

Shagged out in Shibuya

Friday 23rd April

We started out the day by catching a train to the Mitaka Station. From there we had a pleasant 15 minute walk to the Ghibli Museum. Mitaka is a very nice area with larger houses and gardens than those usually found in these parts. Studio Ghibli is the company which has produced many animated films which have gained popularity outside of Japan including Kiki's Delivery Service, Spirited Away and My Neighbour Totoro. Most of the studio's films have been produced by Hiyao Miyazaki, who is the Executive Director of the Museum. There were many young children at the Museum and they were having a ball climbing all over the 'cat bus'. The cat bus was a character from the film My Neighbour Totoro. The Museum had some very interesting exhibits showing the processes involved in making an animated film, as well as a huge robot (from 'Castle in the Sky') on the roof. We also saw a new short animated film. The laughter of the group of young school children in the cinema was priceless! The Museum visit was something I had been looking forward to and I wasn't disappointed.

From Mitaka we caught the train to Shibuya Station as we planned to do some shopping. I did the tourist thing by posing for a photo next to the statue of Hachiko, the faithful dog who waited at the station every day for his master to come home. I'm a bit lost for words about Shibuya. If we were there to buy Louis Vitton or Gucci products, we would have done very well, but we were only after a few souvenirs. Still, the sight of just another ordinary day in Shibuya was worth the time spent. Shibuya has an enormous intersection criss-crossed with pedestrian crossings. The lights for all the pedestrians change at the same time, so when the 'green man' appears a HUGE wave of people surges from the footpaths and swarms across the intersection. Then the cars get their turn, and by the time the pedestrian lights change again another huge crowd has accumulated ready for the next swarm. I can't imagine how these people can live here without going absolutely mad. Anyway, after browsing in a few shop windows, we realised that this wasn't going to be the place for a few souvenirs. Although we were quite tired by this time, we decided that we should visit Roppongi, which involved a change to the subway system. Roppongi turned out to be more of the same - noise, people and shops. There were more karaoke bars than I could have imagined, but we were a bit early for the night-life to have started. After walking around Roppongi for a while I had really had all I could take for one day, and we still had to get back to Ikebukuro, which involved going by subway back to Shinjuku, then changing to a JR train to Ikebukuro. John did his civic duty again by waking a man up when we reached the Shinjuku Station. The man had been snoozing with his head back and had been snoring loudly, much to the amusement of his fellow travellers. John made the assumption (correctly, as it turned out) that this man might have wanted to get off at Shinjuku as this is the station where many lines meet and transfers are made. John gave him a shake and said 'Shinjuku' and the man woke up and bounded out of his seat. You didn't know that John could speak Japanese, did you! Maybe Shinjuku is Japanese for "Wake up and change trains". We finally made it back to Ikebukuro Station and found a nice place for dinner (it's getting a bit monotonous saying how good and how cheap it is). By the time we dragged ourselves back to the hotel, I was ready to collapse in a heap. Which I did.

Tired out in Tokyo

Too pooped for a bedtime blog today. Will have to be a breakfast blog tomorrow.
Goodnight! xx

Morioka by Batcycle

Thursday 22nd April

We had a really interesting morning in Morioka today, even though we didn't visit a special place mentioned in a brochure. It is called Koiwai Farm and is apparently the largest ranch in Japan. Our brochure says "enjoy some quality time with the sheep and cows". Very tempting, but our bicycles were calling. We checked out of the hotel but left our baggage for later collection and made our way to the bicycle hire shop. All we had to do was write our name and address in the book and the dear old guy running the shop let us ride off on two of his bicycles. I did a little bit of showing off by writing my name in Japanese! The arrangement was 'ride now, pay later'. I don't suppose we would have got far if we'd decided to do a runner with his bikes. John's bike had the Batman symbol on the wheel hub and the frame, so I felt like Robin tagging along after the Caped Crusader. We had a recommended route map to follow, which we varied a little by adding a few places that sounded interesting. We started with a ride down a little street of shops which was typical of one of the smaller Morioka streets. John filmed the street as he rode which was a bit hair-raising for me as I could see the car that came up behind him while he was riding down the middle of the road. We then strolled through the grounds of the former castle. The castle was burnt down in the conflicts of the 1800s, but the gardens remain as a park with walking tracks. We then went to the Rock-Splitting Cherry Tree. This tree is approximately 400 years old and is growing through the middle of a huge granite rock. Sadly for us, the cherry blossom front hasn't reached Morioka yet as we could see that the tree would be stunning when in full bloom. We then rode to the Morihisa Iron Studio. The Nambu Ironworks was established in the 1600s and the art of iron casting has been passed down through the generations. The studio sells exquisite iron teapots, cooking pots and knick knacks. They were really beautiful, with a variety of patterns including cherry blossoms, animals and swirly markings. I would love to have brought something home, but the price was way beyond budget, not to mention the weight!

Our next visit was to the Gromwell and Madder Dyecrafts. Although Gromwell and Madder sounds like a old British firm, they are actually plants which were traditionally used for dyeing cloth. The Dyecrafts shop displays and sells beautiful items made from fabrics dyed with purple (made from the gromwell plant) and red (from the madder plant). Before dyeing, the fabrics are lightly printed with a pattern and then tied into tiny little 'knobs' by a team of skilled workers. It takes about a year to tie one bolt of cloth which is then dipped into the red or purple dye. The resulting patterns are very beautiful. The traditional fabrics are now used for making contemporary items such as handbags, table runners, purses etc., and rolls of cloth can also be purchased. We have forgotten the price of the rolls of cloth, but it was thousands of dollars. We invested in a little book mark which was more suited to our budget.

We then wound our way back through the streets, including a ride along the edge of the river. We passed a park with trees that were covered in pretty blossoms and discovered that they were 'ume' (if you've been following the blog all along, you may remember that this is that dreaded plum that John ate). The trees were actually ornamental plums and were very beautiful. They bloom earlier than the cherries, providing a bit of colour while the city awaits the arrival of the cherry front.

We returned the bicycles to their rightful owner and paid about $12.oo for the two bikes.

We walked to the railway station and had a nice lunch in the bakery and then filled in the remaining time by browsing in the shops. I found a nice handbag which I had to have. Although it was made in China, it will still be 'the bag I bought in Japan'. We were intrigued by the display for a band which has a new release. The band's name is 'Bump of Chicken'. Must be another of those 'lost in translation' things! We then collected our bags from the hotel and made our way on to the shinkansen bound for Tokyo.

The journey back brought an unexpected sight. After leaving Morioka, we dozed for a while. I woke up when we stopped at Sendai (about a third of the way to Tokyo) and saw that the ground was covered in fresh snow! This should not be happening!! The forecast for today predicted rain, but no mention of snow, so I think it took everyone by surprise. Still, it was a beautiful sight, especially the 'Christmas tree' look on the pine trees. The area of snow overlapped the cherry front, so we were seeing snow-covered cherry trees. Very strange indeed! The cherries would probably not have bloomed if someone had told them they were going to be snowed upon.

After reaching Tokyo Station, we changed on to the JR train bound for Ikebukero, where we will be based for the next three nights. Once we were settled in to the hotel, we went out on our nightly search for dinner and found another surprise. We noticed that there were rather a lot of places offering massages and places that said 'Japanese only' and only then did we realise that I'd managed to book a hotel right next to the red-light district! Most surprising for me was the group of GORGEOUS young men who appeared to be for hire, all accumulated around one particular intersection. I wanted to bring one home, but John wouldn't let me. As we gawked at them, one of them got a message on his mobile phone and off he went to do his duty. Anyway, we did find a nice noodle shop for dinner and had a meal of soup with various toppings to add in, and a bowl of noodles, followed by a 'creme caramel' type of dessert - all for a total cost of about $22.00 for the two of us.

That finished off another busy day. Tomorrow we're off to Studio Ghibli.

If it's Wednesday, this must be Morioka

Wednesday 21st April














This photo is of me enjoying the cutest little can of Sapporo Beer last night (Cheers, Matt!!)






We're starting to get a bit confused about what day it is at the moment, but as the only cure for that is getting back to the Monday to Friday routine, we'll put up with it for now.
As we were on the train for most of the day, we only have a few photos taken from the train window (not the ideal way to get a good photo). They do give a bit of an idea of the scenery that we passed, so here they are.


We arrived early at the Sapporo Railway Station as planned and after a false start, managed to line up in the right place for the unreserved carriage. It turned out that the carriage had very few people in it, but that wasn't a gamble we wanted to take, as this leg of the journey took 3 1/2 hours and we didn't fancy doing it standing up.
We had to change trains in four minutes at Hakodate, which would have been quite OK except, for the first time in all of our train journeys, the carriage numbers were not marked on the outside of the carriages. A massive swarm of passengers was disgorged from one train and headed across the platform for the other one which was waiting - and then we all started walking rapidly in all directions trying to work out which carriage to get in. We had a seat booked in carriage 6 which could have been one end or the other. Eventually we had to ask and managed to find our seat. The first half of our carriage was occupied by some young high school children on an excursion so it was quite lively until they reached their station.
We were rather puzzled when going through the undersea tunnel between Hokkaido and Honshu. For some reason which remains a mystery, the train stopped at the Tappi Undersea Railway Station, 230 metres below sea level. As far as we could see, nobody got on and nobody got off and it all felt a bit odd. I was very pleased when we started moving again, as a tunnel under the sea is not one of my favourite holiday destinations.
When we surfaced on the Honshu side of the tunnel, we immediately began to notice the change in terrain. Whereas Hokkaido was still mostly snow-covered, or at least slushy from the melting snow, Honshu had drier rice paddies and people were out and about doing the preparations for the coming season. There was still snow in the mountains, and the occasional clump of unmelted snow by the side of the tracks, but generally spring has sprung in Honshu. On tomorrow's trip back to Tokyo, we will pass back through the cherry blossom front. We think that we might have seen one tree in bloom today, but we're expecting a feast of blossom tomorrow.
Morioka is cold, but not the 'to the marrow' kind of cold that we experienced in Hokkaido. The forecast for Tokyo is for 12, 13 and 14 degrees for the next three days, and then gradually becoming warmer over the next few days. Yes, once we've left! That'd be right!
We had dinner in an Italian pasta place tonight and found that it was more expensive and less satisfying than the Japanese meals we've been enjoying. We therefore just had to follow it with an ice cream and a sultana bun. There were some interesting flavours of ice cream to choose from including pumpkin, green tea, black bean, red bean and broccoli. We settled for a strawberry and a blueberry.
Back at the hotel, we switched on the TV and found a program which was discussing bowel problems in Japanese women, including little cartoon graphics of what goes on in there. A good excuse for an early night, I think! Tomorrow we plan to explore Morioka by bicycle.

A surprising find in Sapporo

Tuesday 20th April
We started the day with a visit to the railway station to book seats for tomorrow's trip to Morioka, the first part of our journey back to Tokyo. It turned out that all reserved seats for the first leg of the journey were all booked, so we'll have to make sure we get to the station early to get to the head of the queue for non-reserved seats.
We then went by subway to the Sake Museum which turned out to be a bit of a let-down. It was really a bottle shop with a few items on display and a video showing. Despite being something that would obviously be of interest to visitors, it was very foreign-visitor-unfriendly. The brochure, signs and staff were all Japanese with no English, so we didn't understand anything we saw. We don't expect a non-English-speaking country to pander to our lack of language skills, but a bit of assistance at tourist locations would be surely be helpful on both sides. Some of the places we visited earlier in the trip had brochures in several languages, but we've found a general lack in Hokkaido.
We thought about going to the Beer Museum, but decided that if we want to see beer made, we can see this at home. We walked to the Sapporo Factory, which was previously a beer factory and has now been converted into a huge shopping centre. Some of the old buildings still remain, but the converted part is just amazing. It includes a beautiful atrium with a garden, water feature and cafes. We browsed around the shops (probably more to remain warm than any other reason) and I bought myself a Japanese children's book which is above my current reading level so I've got something to aspire to, and we then had lunch at one of the cafes in the atrium. We just happened to walk in as one of the staff brought a tray of savoury pastries straight from the oven. It didn't take long for the first two sales! There were lots of young mums with their toddlers running this way and that and we enjoyed sitting back watching them dashing around. Japanese toddlers are SO cute! (John probably thought the same about their Mums too!)
Our next stop was the Sapporo TV Tower which looks like a little stubby version of the Eiffel Tower. We went up in the elevator to the Observation Deck. I found the journey up quite scarey as the elevator has glass walls, but once we got up to the deck, it was worth the fright on the way up. The view went forever and included a view straight down Odori Park, the big boulevard where the Snow Festival is held.





Speaking of Festivals, one thing we missed during our visit to Hokkaido was the Swan Festival which is held near Wakkanai. Apparently it features raffles, bingo and a speed-eating competition. Sounds like a real blast!!
After our successful descent from the TV Tower, we went back to the hotel to recover from all the walking we had done. A few cups of tea later, we ventured out again, firstly to visit the railway station again to book seats for the following day (having learnt from this morning's visit that we need to get in early) and then we went for dinner in a large shopping mall nearby. The mall is divided into 'streets' with names like 'Joyful Walk', 'Fashion Walk' and 'Food Walk'. A nice young lady working in a shop in Fashion Walk kindly posed for a photo. She looked so cute in her boater hat which are all the rage here at the moment. But Food Walk was the one for us! We found another excellent restaurant and had a great meal for a great price. I had fried rice this time and found it very tricky to eat with chopsticks as the rice doesn't stick together as the boiled or steamed Japanese rice does. Not being one to eat slowly, I had to eventually resort to my soup spoon. On the way back to the hotel, we came across a shop selling items from different countries including Betty Crocker cake mixes, German deli items, corn flakes, Spanish olives, Campbell's soup and ... Vegemite!!


We relaxed for the rest of the evening. As I write, John is flicking through TV channels. He doesn't understand what anyone is saying, but there doesn't seem to be anything that he'd usually choose to watch anyway. Tomorrow we take on the crowd battling for non-reserved seats on the train. I hope we win!

Bus trip to Cape Soya

Monday 19th April
Bless the Japanese hot spring baths! If you suffer from sleep problems, I have found the answer. Those baths knock me out for hours. As before, I had the whole bath, which is like a small swimming pool, all to myself. What luxury! Before I got in, I did have a naked conversation with a Japanese lady who was just leaving and she managed to communicate that the bath was great. She was so right and I slept like a log.
Well, as you can probably tell, we made it back from Cape Soya and we can now boast that we have stood at the most northerly point in Japan. We went to the bus station and I asked in my best Japanese for two return tickets to Cape Soya, and much to my delight, the man at the desk gave us two return tickets to Cape Soya. Wow- I'm getting braver by the minute! He told me in Japanese that the bus leaves from Gate 2, so that's where we went and hey presto the Cape Soya bus arrived and off we went. The bus followed the coast from Wakkanai to the Cape giving us a great view of the calm ocean along the way. The day was fine and slightly sunny so the 45 minute bus trip was very enjoyable. At Cape Soya we stepped back out into the chilly air (3 degrees at 9.00am) and did the necessary photo shoots to prove we'd really been there. We visited the souvenir shop, as you do in these places, and hopped back on the next bus back to Wakkanai.
When we got back we had a few hours to kill before catching the train back to Sapporo, so we went for a stroll around the town and observed the locals going about their daily lives. There were many snow mounds around the town where the ploughed snow had been banked up, and also large piles of snow between the houses which are very close together. It will probably take weeks for all of this snow to melt. Eventually, and only because I was looking for a loo, we found a coffee shop which turned out to be a bit more than that. It had a very nice lunch menu but, as expected in Wakkanai, no English-speaking staff. There was a photo of something yummy looking on the menu which John fancied, so I was able to ask what it was. I needed the phrase book for the answer, which turned out to be 'sea urchin'. John turned that one down in favour of a burger patty with salad. I don't know what his problem was - sea urchins don't have tentacles! I order the noodle and rice ball lunch, which involved some sign language, pointing and a bit of amateur Japanese. The girl at the counter was asking me what I wanted inside the rice ball and she was suggesting 'ume' (sounds a bit like oomay). I had no idea what that was, but the older lady at the counter suggested I have salmon, so that's what I ordered. When we got back to our table, I looked up 'ume' in my dictionary and found out that it was that pickled plum thing that made John pull an awful face a few days ago. Phew - lucky escape! We had a relaxing time over lunch, watching the boats in the harbour and generally taking it easy until it was time to wander over to the railway station. As we were leaving the cafe, John tried to tell the staff that we were from Australia and they had no idea what he was saying, so I pronounced it Japanese-style and they suddenly understood. John's kangaroo impersonation helped to reinforce the idea. The 'ume' girl also mentioned koalas, so I gave her a koala bookmark from the stock I keep in my bag for just such occasions. She was delighted and we didn't need to speak the same language to have a very friendly exchange.
I had planned to use the journey back to Sapporo to have a good snooze, but, even though we'd seen the snowscape the day before, we were still fascinated by it, so no snooze for me (John is another story). We had to stop again for deer on the tracks - several times on this journey. I'm not sure, with all the space they have to roam, why they want to be on the railway tracks, but they were busy getting in the way today. At least they redeemed themselves by posing for a photo. Much of the land is open agricultural land, but how they grow things in these parts I don't know. They'd have to really get cracking once the snow melts to raise a crop before the next snows arrive.
Back at the same old Sapporo hotel, we caught up with the washing, checked train times for Wednesday and generally blobbed around. Tomorrow we're taking on the beer factory and/or sake museum. Kampai!!

Snow further to go!

Sunday 18th April

Well here we are at the top of Japan, very close to Russia, writing a blog and drinking Calpis!

We had a speedy start today to catch the 7.48 train to Wakkanai. The scenery was amazing and certainly not what I had expected. I remember saying to my workmates before we left that "it's a bit cooler in Hokkaido". I'd like to revise that statement. It's REALLY cold in Hokkaido! The landscape was much more open and snow was all around us, even at ground level. At one stage the train driver braked quite heavily and tooted his horn (it sounded a bit like Thomas the Tank Engine) and I saw a small flock of deer go scampering off up the hillside. We also saw a sign that indicated that some sheep had strayed far from home, too.

We struggled to stay awake on the train as we'd started early and the motion of the train is very hypnotic, but we were fascinated to watch the world go by and didn't want to miss any of it. The regular visits by the food and drinks trolley girl was enough to keep us awake. The trolley service girls are so lovely. As they leave each carriage, they turn around to face the passengers and bow before moving off to the next carriage. Just imagine an Aussie doing that!

We arrived in Wakkanai around lunch time. The train station was a very 'one-horse town' type of station. They had a tourist information office, but nobody staffing it and no brochures in English. Unlike other parts of Japan we have visited, there are very few signs in English and we quickly got the impression that we wouldn't find too many English-speaking people here. Time to put those lessons into practice! I've been very lazy about speaking Japanese as we can so easily make ourselves understood in English. We took what we could from the Tourism Office and headed out into the cold to find the hotel. Luckily, there aren't too many buildings around these parts, so the hotel stood out like dogs ears. Although we were very early, the staff let us check in so we could go exploring without our packs. We walked down to the waterfront to gaze north towards Santa's abode. Behind the town is a big hill covered in snow. As the wind was blowing from that direction, the air was super-chilled. We had a look at the Roman-style structure which was built in 1936 to protect the town from the big waves which sometimes managed to go over the top of the existing sea wall. There were a couple of official-looking ships in the harbour. We were a bit puzzled about their purpose until a friendly guy who could speak a little English came out and had a chat with us. It turned out that the were coast guard ships. The crew were just warming up to go on a training run and invited us to join them. We politely declined their generous offer. Before we parted company, the English speaking guy informed us that the temperature was about 3 degrees, but I don't think that took the wind-chill factor into account. We also passed the town's public baths, but our hotel has a hot spring bath on the 10th floor, so we'll be visiting that shortly. We dropped into the bus terminal to see if we could find information about the bus to Cape Soya which is actually the topmost point of Japan. Tourists are keen to visit Cape Soya, but the staff at the bus terminal spoke no English and the signs were all in Japanese. I hesitantly asked in Japanese "How long does it take to get from Wakkanai to Cape Soya?" and the receptionist produced a timetable. She circled the appropriate departure and arrival times, and then I managed "How much does it cost?". She wrote down the answer on the timetable and our mission was accomplished. Only tomorrow will we find out whether we actually understood each other. We might find ourselves at Cape Soya with no way of getting back till July!

On the way back to the hotel, we came across another first. There is a small Japanese-style restaurant just opposite the hotel, which would have been our first choice, except for the sign on the door which said "We speak only Japanese so please do not enter our restaurant if you do not understand Japanese". We were quite stunned by this, as we have encountered only friendly, helpful and considerate people all over Japan and they are always willing, no matter how limited the language skills are on each side, to try their best to provide good service. After a brief thawing out in the hotel, we happily took our money to another restaurant (where the staff also didn't speak English but were very pleasant and welcoming) and we managed quite well with my little bit of Japanese. The menu was only in Japanese, but I was able to point to a likely-looking dish and ask "What is this?" and we understood the answer well enough to know that it wasn't anything unpleasant. Now I know I can do it if I try. As I write, I am stuffed full of ramen noodles and about to go and scare all the other ladies in the public hot spring bath.

If you don't hear from us again, You'll find us in Cape Soya looking for transport back to Wakkanai.

A strange place to do homework!

Saturday 17th April
Today's train journey was on an ordinary train, but it still felt reasonably fast to me - just not as fast as that 'plane about to take off' feeling that the shinkansen produces. The scenery changed quite a bit during the day as we are now entering the part of Japan that has a cold harsh climate and spring has not quite managed to make it here yet. At Hachinohe there were some hedges which were brown, but on closer inspection we could see some tiny weeny little leaf buds which were trying to decide whether to brave the outside world yet. Today's journey involved a change of trains at Hakodate (Hack o dartay) but before that we travelled through the tunnel under the sea. I distracted myself from my niggling fears of being under all that water in the land of earthquakes by doing my Japanese homework which my teacher has been emailing to me as we travel. It's a bit hard to write Japanese characters while clacketty-clacking along the rails, but I did my best. During most of the trip today, there were huge snow-covered mountains on our left(except when we were in the tunnel, of course!) and once we reached the island of Hokkaido, the sea was on the right, so there was always something to look at. I felt that I needed a nap, but, just like a toddler, I feel that if I close my eyes, I'll miss something. We were quite intrigued when going through some of the towns to see some very brightly coloured houses. Most of what we saw, both the buildings and the landscape, was brown, white or grey, but every now and then there was a house of bright pink, yellow or green! They were quite stunning. The house styles are quite different up here as they have been built for a cold and snowy climate. Many of the houses have rows of small protusions on their roofs, which we assume are to stop snow from sliding off in large, dangerous chunks. The further north we travelled, the more snow we saw, sometimes right next to the railway tracks. John said that the scenery reminded him of travelling on the Trans-Siberian Railway.
We arrived at Sapporo around 3.00, so after gathering up some travel brochures and checking into the hotel, we were able to go exploring. On the way to the hotel we saw was a person hanging from a rope cleaning the windows of a large building. When we came back after checking in, the person had just come down from the rope, and we were amazed to discover that it was a woman in her sixties. I hope I won't have a job cleaning windows hanging from a rope in a freezing cold city when I'm sixty!! We saw the huge main boulevard where the annual Snow Festival is held each February. The festival includes stunning snow statues and ice sculptures and attracts about 2 million people to the city. We also saw the lovely old clock tower which is an American designed building from the 1870s when the city was developed with the assistance of the American government.
We then took our chilly selves underground and found out where all the people were! There is a huge underground shopping mall, which is a haven for the fashion queens. Not much there for us, but at least it was warm! We were rather surprised to see a familiar shoe shop. Not what we'd expected in the north of Japan. We surfaced for a while and then found a 100 yen store which was in another shopping mall. We satisfied our need to shop by buying a bag full of 100 yen goodies. They actually cost 105 yen each after tax, but that's a minor detail. The best part of our underground activities was going to a noodle shop where we had another one of those lovely (and cheap) noodle dishes that we've come to enjoy. John passed a few tentacle-looking thingies over to my bowl. We seem to have come to an unspoken arrangement that he navigates through towns, and I eat all the tentacles. If I didn't have my navigator, I'd still be trying to get out of Osaka!
Back at the hotel we checked out the travel guides as we'll be spending a whole day in Sapporo on our way back down through Hokkaido in a couple of days. Tomorrow we head further north (that's a little closer to the North Pole!).

Same old railway station

Friday 16th April



This morning we experienced Tokyo Railway Station during peak hour. Not for the timid! Getting across the flow of people is like driving down a city street. You have to merge into the 'traffic' just like changing lanes. We were quite intrigued by the smoking room which was full of people on show.







We booked seats on all the trains for our trip to Hokkaido and back, then caught the shinkansen for the first leg of the journey. We passed through the cherry blossom front which still has some way to travel north through Japan, and then started to notice snow-covered mountains on our left. It seems that skiing in these mountains continues into May. We arrived in Hachinohe (sounds a bit like 'Hatchy No Hey') around lunch time. We left our bags at the hotel so we could go exploring unencumbered. The lovely staff at the Tourist Information Office suggested we visit Kabushima, which is an island a few stops away on the local train. The name of the railway station is Same (pronounced like 'Sarm-e' with a short e like egg). The island is a breeding place for Black-Tailed Gulls and now is their time to visit, so we were treated to the sight of thousands of gulls doing what gulls do (mostly making a lot of noise). We went for an interesting stroll around the fishing port, took some 'jigsaw puzzle' pictures and saw the preparations for a festival which is being held tomorrow. Just our luck, we'll be miles away by then! We also visited the shrine which is on top of a hill by the sea. The flags were flapping wildly and we were grateful for our new scarves and gloves. While we were there, we noticed a young woman clopping past us in high heeled shoes a number of times. It seems that circling the shrine three times is the thing to do, but I don't think that doing it in high heeled shoes is part of the deal. Not only were we two circuits short, we did it in the wrong direction!


On the way back we passed a couple of old guys having a chat out the front of a shop. It seems that one of them was a bamboo cutter, and as we don't come across them every day, we took a photo of him to add to the collection.
We shared the train back to Hachinohe Station with a gaggle of teenagers on their way home from school which made for a lively journey.
Before returning to the hotel we went for a browse around the souvenir shop. Rather than the usual plastic trinkets, this shop showcased local products and crafts. There were beautiful wooden bowls and carvings, woven and embroidered items and gorgeously presented sweets. We were quite taken with the vacuum-packed squid and other wriggly sea creatures, but decided not to buy any on this occasion.
Back at the hotel, we took a much-needed nap then went down to the dining area for the free curry which was on offer tonight! A quick stroll to the nearby convenience store for an ice cream completed the meal nicely and then it was an easy evening of TV, phone calls and generally taking it easy.