My trip north started early Tuesday morning as I made my way to Tokyo station from Yokohama to catch the Shinkansen. I made it with plenty of time to spare and was getting settled in on the train when I had a surprise visitor. The woman at the JR counter who had helped me make my train reservations to and from Hokkaido had come looking for me to apologize that some of the information she had given me about my return trip was false. Originally we thought that I could return on an overnight train from Sapporo that arrived Tuesday morning in Tokyo, even though my JR pass expires at midnight on Monday. After I had left the reservation office she had checked to make sure that that was the case and it turns out it wasn’t so she got up early on Tuesday to make sure she could catch me on my train to apologize and let me know what I needed to do to get the reservation changed. And she gave me a present as an apology for the situation! She was so sweet and helpful. I’m still just flabbergasted by the courtesy; totally unexpected and a wonderful way to start the trip.

The train ride itself was fairly uneventful. I slept for a couple hours on the first train and spent the rest of the time watching the scenery go by. Very pretty scenery too. Lots of snow-covered rice paddies and old-fashioned houses before going through the Seikan Tunnel, which is the longest underwater tunnel in the world (~57km long under 240km of water and rock). Kinda freaky going through it when you stopped to think about but it’s something that I’m glad I got to do nonetheless. The southern part of Hokkaido looks much like the northern part of the main island with a few more hills and more snow. Sadly by the time the train left Sapporo to continue north it was dark and I spent a good chunk of that ride plotting out my week after having acquired a ton of brochures from the info desk in Sapporo station.

Wednesday morning I was planning to catch a ferry out to one of the islands off the northern coast to do some hiking but a rather sever miscommunication (my Japanese is pretty abysmal) lead me to arrive at the wrong port roughly an hour and a half after the ferry had left. A very nice gentleman who was working at the port I showed up at gave me a lift to right port since he couldn’t explain how to walk there. Can I mention how amazing the Japanese are? Got me to the right port in about a fifth the amount of time it would have taken me to walk there (though I never would have found it, very few signs were in English and I never did manage to find a map the I could read), and helped me find the person I needed to talk to. Finally figured out that the ferry only leaves twice a day and if I took the second ferry I wouldn’t be able to make it back till the next day.

So that plan got scratched and instead I spent the day wandering around Wakkanai. Very slowly, I might add; the sidewalks were covered with a layer of solid ice that was several inches thick in places and I left my ice skates back in the states (silly me, right?). I found a cool little temple up on the side of a hill (after dodging all the heavy machinery that was loading piles of snow into dumptrucks to make room for cars on the roads) and had fun watching the crows that were fighting over something on top of one of the snowdrifts.

 Also made my way down to the rather interesting breakwater dome and seawall. The dome is strange because, well, it’s short and seems to serve no purpose other than to be a strange end to the seawall. Oh well, it was about as strange as the seawall itself. From the land side it looks really normal but the other side is made up of huge concrete jacks (you know, the things that kids try to hit with marbles?). It looked like a group of giants had been playing a game and then just pushed all the pieces in a heap against the wall. Made a really neat sound when the waves hit it though because it echoed up through all the empty spaces and distorted from the normal ‘waves on concrete’ noise. Also found some starfish that had partied a little too hard last night. Remember kids, moderation is key.

For the afternoon I took a bus out to Cape Soya, the northernmost point of Japan. The bus ride along the coast was beautiful and I got to see a sea eagle pull a fish out of the waves and fly off with it. The cape itself was pretty but not all that interesting. If it had been warmer I probably would have stayed longer and explored a little more but as it was I had fun shooting as the wind pushed me across the ice (like a moving walkway, only slipperier). Definitely glad I made the trip out there and I got to go back to the hotel and thaw out with a hot bath and a sushi dinner.

Thursday was another early morning as I hopped a train from Wakkanai to Abashiri over on the eastern coast. The first leg of the trip was really neat because we were speeding through dense forests and mountain valleys in the middle of a snow storm. Parts of it looked a lot like the Rocky Mountains actually; felt like I was taking a train home rather than through northern Japan. Had a brief layover to change trains and ran in to two other Americans, Fritz and Andy (the first tourists I’ve seen in Hokkaido). Turns out they’re doing a whirlwind tour of Japan while taking a break from teaching English in Korea and we had a good time talking about Japan and teaching ESL (I can’t wait to start my course in Thailand). The second leg of the trip was fairly boring, due in part to not having a window seat to watch the world go by, but I got some photos edited and listened to a good chunk of my book on tape (currently listening to “Stranger in a Strange Land” by Robert A. Heinlein; absolutely fantastic novel, I highly recommend it).

Got into Abashiri early afternoon so I dropped my luggage off and managed to track down bus, train, and boat schedules in English so I could make plans for Friday. Having also acquired a map I decided to wander around town a little bit since it was still fairly early. Found the local Mister Donut to grab breakfast for tomorrow (would you believe that the Mister Donut was actually marked on my map along with all the tourist attractions and museums? I was highly amused) and walked through the pretty much deserted central shopping area. It’s interesting that a place that advertises itself as a winter tourist destination was so empty and most of the shops and restaurants were closed. Maybe it’s because it’s the lull between New Years and the Snow Festival.

Found a place that was open and sat down having no idea what I was getting myself into. The place was a yakinikku restaurant where you order raw ingredients and cook them yourself on the grill inset into the tabletop. And the ingredients here? All Wagyu (Kobe) beef. Now, Wagyu is one of those things you see them use on Iron Chef America and you think, right, like I’ll ever be able to afford that stuff (the price per ounce is obscene in the states). And I somehow managed to find a place in the home of Wagyu beef where I could actually afford to eat. Let me tell you, it was divine. The texture is smooth and buttery because of all the marbling and it just sorta melts in your mouth. And I proudly managed to not screw up cooking it (I had no idea what I was doing, never been to a restaurant like that before and there were no instructions). It was a fun and truly tasty experience and man, I could really get used to eating meat like that. Maybe I’ll move here and live of Wagyu and raw fish (the quality of fish here is amazing as well). Hmm, sounds like a plan to me!

Monday was Coming of Age Day in Japan; which means that everyone who turned twenty in the last year gets dressed up and celebrates. Monday was also the day that my sister and I went to Disneyland. Put the two together and you have one of the coolest, and oddest, visual experiences. Only in Japan can you go to Disney and see bad tourist fashion, crazy street fashion, and women in expensive silk kimono with elaborate obi and professional hair and make-up.

It was fascinating to watch them over the course of the day as they went about visiting Disney like everyone else (though they did get extra help getting on and off the rides because, well, kimono were not designed for clambering in and out of strange ride vehicles). Just getting to see all the different kimonos was spectacular, there were so many different designs and colour schemes and they were all amazing. And really, how many times do you get to see a woman in a kimono posing with the seven dwarves?

Disney itself was also amazing. The rides here are more low-key than the ones in the states but the emphasis is on the technology and creating the Disney experience. The technology is pretty impressive, especially on Pooh’s Honey Hunt. The ride takes you on a journey with Winnie the Pooh as he searches for the all-important honey and at one part takes you into this strange ‘dream’ world. The nifty part is that there are no tracks for the cars to run on, they are all controlled through a GPS system that prevents them from colliding but makes it appear that all the movements are random. Very, very snazzy.

And then there was the Haunted Mansion, which is a pretty spiffy ride under normal circumstances. But we happened to be there while they still had the special holiday edition of the ride up. Which meant that the entire ride was Nightmare Before Christmas themed! My glee was intense. And the ride itself was better than the original, with the decorations both inside and outside the mansion being totally over the top and fabulous.

We spent the rest of the day wandering around the park doing rides like Pirates of the Caribbean, Buzz Lightyear’s Astroblasters, Monsters Inc., Big Thunder Mountain (which had signs for Colorado farmland in the queue), and of course, Space Mountain.

We also marveled at the interesting varieties of popcorn including honey (which was amazing), chocolate, and curry. And there were the funny hats. Big, fuzzy hats that came in designs ranging Stitch with the bog blue ears, to Tigger with stripes and a tail for a scarf, to Sully and the Cheshire cat. There were also your ‘basic’ mouse ones which were most commonly either grey or pink leopard print faux fur. And everyone was wearing them, not just the kids. Granted it was cold and they were quite warm (we tried some on just for the fun of it) but they were honestly rather silly looking and not something that I can see being real practical in the real world, even in Japan.

Tuesday was our day at DisneySea and all I have to say is that if you ever have chance to go, take it without hesitation. Seriously, the place is amazing. The place is themed down to the trash bins, water fountains and walkways. Disney at its best. The entire park is built around the central lagoon and the massive volcano that houses the Mysterious Island and each area is called a ‘port’ in keeping with the sea theme.

My favorite port was undoubtedly the Mysterious Island, which is a steampunk paradise designed entirely around the works of Jules Verne. There’s even the Nautilus docked next to one of the restaurant and the 20000 Leagues Under the Sea ride features small subs as the ride vehicles. The queue for Journey to the Center of the Earth is as spectacular as the ride is, featuring labs and schematics that make you feel like there really is an expedition going on around you. You even take an elevator to the staging point with depth gauges to show you how deep you are below the Earth’s surface. And then there’s the ride, which starts of nice and scenic as you go through some of the areas they’ve discovered to see the strange flora and fauna that live there and then turns into a swift rollercoaster ride through scarier places and pitch darkness when your vehicles gets diverted onto the wrong set of tracks. It offers a spectacular, if brief, view of the park as you shoot out the side of the volcano before plunging back into darkness.

Other ports included the Cape Cod (filled with shops devoted to the Japan-exclusive Disney bear Duffy), the American Seaside featuring a full-sized steam ship and the imposing Tower of Terror (same ride, totally different story line), Port Discovery with its idealistic view of the future, the Arabian Coast with its two-story carousel, and the immaculately and overwhelmingly detailed Mermaid Kingdom, which is all indoors and designed to make you feel like you are under the sea.

There was also the Lost River Delta, home to the Indiana Jones rides that was tragically closed when we were there and the only rollercoaster in Disney featuring a loop; as well as the Mediterranean Harbour, which serves as the entry way and main shopping area of the park.

The rides at Disney Sea were a blast and the lines were pretty much non-existent due to that fact that it rained all day.  There were more odd flavors of popcorn including strawberry and soy sauce; and more funny hats (though fewer than yesterday due to the weather). The day ended with the spectacular night-time show on the central lagoon recounting the tale of love between a water spirit and a fire spirit and featuring amazing effects true to Disney style. And after that we managed to sneak one more ride on Journey to the Center of the Earth (our fourth) before heading back to the hotel to thaw out.

All in all, Disney never fails to impress and a good time was had by all.

Wednesday morning was early. As in, checking out of our hotel at 5 am and having to take a taxi to the station because the buses weren’t running kind of early. But it was worth it to find ourselves at Tsukiji, Tokyo’s central fish market, just as the sun was making its first appearance.

I’m a firm believer that if you are in Tokyo there is no excuse for you not to put a morning aside to experience the insanity that is Tsukiji. If it lives in the ocean you can find it here and there are a lot of things that you question whether or not they’re actually edible. Also being there so early, a fair amount of stuff was still alive (hey, at least you know it’s fresh).

We wandered around for a good hour snapping photos and marveling at the strange variety while dodging motorized fish carts and trying not to get in the way of the people doing business. This experience was followed by a spectacular breakfast of tuna and salmon sashimi over rice and a hot bowl of miso soup.

Then we made our way over to a rather pretty garden near the market that houses a nice little tea house on a lake so that Tara could experience a simple form of Japanese tea ceremony. I personally am less than fond of green tea but it was a fun experience and a nice rest after the insanity of Tsukiji. The afternoon found us experiencing a traditional Japanese bath house and let me tell you, it was quite the experience. We kind fumbled our way through it and it sure was nice to just soak in the hot water. Then it was off to acquire donuts and dinner before returning to the guesthouse to pack.

Thursday was Tara’s flight back to states and we got the joy of dealing with our rather silly amounts of luggage on a packed commuter train (we called them sardine trains). But after dropping my stuff of in a locker in Ikebukuro, things went a little smoother and we got to the airport in time to grab lunch before she boarded her flight. It was sad to see her go; we had a fantastic time and got to see a lot of neat stuff. But it’s on to the next part of the adventure. I’m working on figuring out my trip to northern Japan (I’m stolidly ignoring the fact that’s it’s really, really cold up there) and will hopefully be heading up there on Tuesday.

Sp stay tuned for updates from the land of the frozen sea!

Yay for another long over-due post. I promise I’ll get better about posting regularly.

Anyway, where did we leave off? Oh yeah, off to Kyoto. No photos from monday since most of it was spent on the shinkansen (bullet train) from Tokyo and the rest was spent wandering aound the endless shopping arcades. Seriously, they never really end, they just run into a different arcade. They were interesting though; a little bit of everything with the high-end kimono dealers next to the trendy clothing shops and the kitschy souvenier places with a handful of restaurants thrown in for good measure.

Tuesday morning we hopped an early train out to Hiroshima and then a ferry out to Miyajima to see the floating temple at high tide. The huge red torri gate is truely impressive standing out in the water supported only by it’s own substantial weight and the temple itself is beautiful. The buildings are essential just a collection of bridges built just over the high tide line so it appears that everything is pretty much floating in the ocean. I was here two years ago but it was during low tide and, while still beautiful, wasn’t nearly as stunning as it was this time. It also helped that the weather cooperated; it was cold but sunny. After a warm and satisfying lunch of tempura shrimp udon we took the ferry back to Hiroshima to visit the Peace Memorial Park.

The a-bomb dome there is one of the few buildings that remained standing after the atomic bomb was dropped and is still an impressive and grisly reminder. The museum also serves as a reminder by exlpaining the events leading up to the bombing, the bombing itself, and the aftermath, including the lasting effects on survivors. The stories shared by those survivors are truely heartbreaking and visiting the museum is a sobering experience, even seeing it for the second time.

Wednesday was a late start as we made our way out to Fushimi-Inari, the fox shrine and graveyard that sprawl over the side of a mountain. The shrine is famous for it’s paths covered by long rows of red torri gates (if anyone’s seen Memoirs of a Geisha, the scene where she is running through all the red gates was filmed here). It’s one of my favorite shrines and the weather was good as we hiked up the first loop. We didn’t make it to the top of the mountain this time but one day I’m sure I’ll managed to set aside an entire day to do the whole thing since it’s supposed by be a pretty spectacular hike.

Thursday was really cold and fairly cloudy but we still went to see Kinkakuji, the golden pavillion. It was still beautiful and we had fun marvelling at the sheer amount of ice cream they sold there. Between the ice cream stands and the vending machines there must have been fifteen different places to by ice cream. And people were eating it even though it was like 35 degrees out!

From there we just kinda wandered around Kyoto since Ryoanji, the rock graden, was closed for renovations. That night we did a short (once the sun went down, it got even colder) walking tour through old Gion on a search for geisha and maiko (apprentice geisha). And we found one who was nice enough to let us take her picture before she hurried off to her next appointment.

Friday was our last day in Kyoto and we visited Nijo-jo, the castle with the singing floors. And they really do sing when you walk on them. The paintings on the wallscreens inside are stunning; the level of detail is just mindboggling and the care with which each design was chosen is very apparent.

Next stop was Heian-jingu. Though the gardens were mostly dead since well, it’s the middle of January, it was a nice walk and we sat on the bridge over the lake for a while to enjoy the sunshine and the scenery. Then the sun went away and it quickly became too cold to sit on the bridge so we packed up and went off to the train station to explore. Kyoto train station is a hyper-modern structure that is amazing to look at but incredibly confusing to navigate. Somehow we managed to find ourselves in what was essentialy an eight-story food court/ grocery store where you could get just about anything edible that you could ever want and most of which feature free samples. It took us nearly two hours to get through but we came out the other side with all sorts of goodies for the train ride back to Tokyo.

Saturday was the grand quest for dishes. See, when I was here two years ago I bought a set of dishes but only enough for two people. Well I kinda had the realization about a year ago that I really should have enough for four people. So Tara and I went to Kappabashi, THE street for anything kitchen-related from knives to dishes to uniforms. The dish shops were an experience unto themselves. They were so crowded and so disorganized. One shop we went into  my feet were too wide for the aisles at points and I had to carefully manuver around towering stack of plates and bowls. It was definetly a nerve-wracking shopping experience but a fun day that ended with seeing Tokyo Tower and night and marvelling over the sheer urban sprawl that is Tokyo.

Today found us back at Harajuku to explore Meiji-jingu. It was still incredibly crowded but not quite as bad as last week and there were ice sculptures. I have no idea why there were ice sculptures but the main path leading up to the shrine was lined with them. They really are amazing works of art and it made me even more excited to go to Sapporo for the start of the ice festival where they do hundreds of these sculptures all over the city.

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around Harajuku people-watching and eating crepes before hopping over to Shinjuku in search of a store I wanted to check out and finding dinner to take back to the guesthouse.

The next update will hopefully be on Thursday after I put my sister on a plane back to the states and find my way out to my friend’s apartment where I’ll be staying for the rest of my time in Tokyo. So check back then for stories of Disney, fish markets and hot springs!

Sorry for the long gap between posts, life here has been pretty crazy. I’ll make up for it today though with lots of new pictures.

So let’s rewind to new year’s day and recount our adventures in kimono-wearing. Tara, Maiko, Michael, and I got all dressed up in our kimonos to go to a temple and have lunch with Maiko’s mom in Kamakura. It took us almost two hours to get dressed because Maiko was the only one who knew what they were doing and well, kimono are complicated. It was really cool to learn how to put one on though and I look forward to using the knowledge to do some more kimono-themed photoshoots in the future.

Actually wearing the kimono out though was definitly an experience I won’t soon forget. Normally the Japanese don’t give a second look to foreigners but put those foreigners in kimono and wow, suddenly it feels like everyone is staring at you. It also probably didn’t help that Kamakura is on the beach and was incredibly windy the day we were there. Wind + Kimono = very cold legs and an intense desire for a safety pin to keep the bottom part closed.

After lunch we went to go see one of the largest outdoor Buddahs in Japan. The statue it self was quite impressive but the coolest part was getting to go inside. The interior walls are scatterd with coins that people have lodged there with prayers for good luck and good health. The rest of the temple complex was pretty but nothing overly special except for the fact that it was out of the wind.

Our next stop was going to be a garden in Kamakura but it was getting dark and after a warm, tasty stop at a Mister Donut, we decided that it was time to call it a day. We even splurged and took the green car (quieter cars with nice comfy seats and fewer people) for the train ride back to Maiko’s apartment. The expense was totally worth it and made for a pleasant end to a very fun but very cold day.

The next day was the emperor’s new year’s address to the people and is one of the two days a year that the Imperial Palace is open to visitors. So of course we went. The palace is beautiful once you get past the incredible amount of security (bag checks, pat downs, and a large number of what I can only guess were Japanese federal service agents). We then got to stand in another large, non-moving crowd (felt like new year’s eve all over again, only warmer). When the imperial family came out you could barely see them for all the flags that the crowds were waving. Makes me glad that I’m taller than most Japanese people. The emperor is a tiny, frail-looking old man but he stood up there and waved and waved before giving his address, which was short and entirely in Japanese so we have no idea what he said but the crowd seemed to like it so it must have been good. We just thought it was cool that we got to go into the palace and see the imperial family really, how many people can say that they’ve gotten to do that?

The rest of the was spent wandering around Ginza and Shibuya, window-shopping and people-watching. Ginza was amazing simply due to the buildings and the names on them. How about a Gucci skyscraper? Or a two-building Hermes skyscraper made out of translucent glass blocks? Or the 8-story Sony building complete with 3-d movie theater? Shibuya was amazing in a different way. We ventured into Shibuya 109, which is one of the biggest department stores for young, trendy fashion, on January 2, which is the biggest shopping day of the year. The place was packed and in front of every store there was a girl with a bullhorn yelling about their new year’s sale. Total sensation overload. We made it out alive though and sat on the second floor of Starbucks to enjoy a chai and watch the sea of people cross the largest crosswalk in the world.

Sunday found us in Harajuku in search of street fashion on the bridge in front of Meiji Shrine. When we arrived there were only two people dressed up among the masses that were making their way to the shrine. So we abandoned our original plan of exploring Meiji (we decided that next weekend would be a better time to do that once the new year’s celebrations were over) and went for a walk around Yoyogi park, which was pretty but not very interesting. Then we went in search of the architectually-interesting Prada building, which was cool but alot further away than we thought. The walk back took us past an absolutely amazing cake shop so we stopped in for a snack and to give our feet a break before continuing on to La Foret (another young, trendy department store) and Takeshita-Dori (the alternative fashion street of Tokyo) for some more window-shopping and people-watching. Dinner was street food from the vendors that set up shop for the week after new year’s followed by Harajuku crepes (which I’ve determined are among the most amazing foods known to man).

That’s all for now, we’re off to hike Fushimi-Inari today so stay tuned for the next update, which will be all about Kyoto and Hiroshima.

Happy New Year from Tokyo!

So we arrived safely on the 30th, managed to find our guesthouse (out in the middle of a local neighborhood and shall we say a rather interesting experience), acquired dinner and then promptly passed out. The 31st found us kimono shopping with my friends Maiko and Michael, who live in Yokohama. Tara found an absolutely amazing kimono and obi that, while beautiful and a screaming deal, were very heavy. So we took a quick detour back to the guesthouse to drop off our new kimonos and change into warmer clothes for the new year’s eve celebrations.

Maiko took us to this fantastic ramen place in Shibuya for dinner and then we walked up to Meiji Shine, which is one of the biggest and most famous in Tokyo. The place was packed. Thousands of people were there to celebrate the new year by tossing small amounts of yen as offerings and making a wish for the coming year. It was really cold and there was alot of time just spent standing around waiting to move but it was fun and was definitely an interesting way to bring in the new year.

The only problem was that the train back to our guesthouse had stopped running by the time we got there at around 2. Needless to say we were a little panicked. But an incredibly nice old Japanese man who spoke a little English helped us by directing us to another train that would get us closer to home and saying that would could get a taxi from there. Getting the taxi was another cold and interesting experience  but we made it home finally and, after figuring how our heater worked, went to bed.

Well, we’re off to the Imperial Palace right now so I’ll post again later about our adventures in kimono-wearing.