24 May 2024, Hotel Classe, Chitose
Our entry into Japan on this, our 10th trip, has been, as usual, smooth and trouble free. Formalities at Narita on arrival were fast and efficient. We exited the plane, got through Immigration and Customs, picked up the shuttle bus to the Tobu Narita Hotel and were checked in within 30 minutes.
After a good night's sleep and a great buffet breakfast, we were back at the airport to activate our JR Rail Passes and pick up our pocket wifi before our flight to Hokkaido. As luck would have it, our particular flight had been selected to celebrate Jetstar Japan's 50 millionth journey. In true Japanese tradition, there were uniformed staff waving flags, large balloons and, of course, the mandatory company mascot, a cute little bear-like creature. The press was there in droves and we may well have become unwitting Japanese TV stars.
This afternoon, we shopped for the night's meal as well as some staples and were happily surprised by how cheap everything was. We are on a “roadie” which will take us around Hokkaido for the next week.Our first experience of driving in Japan was equally pleasant, with little traffic and very courteous drivers. Compared to our recent experiences driving in Greece, this was heaven!
We don't usually do hotel reviews as part of our blogs, but tonight's accommodation in Chitose is so good we just have to comment. Free parking, large room, in-room washing machine and cooking facilities were amazing, even though there were no pans, plates or cutlery to cook with. Most impressive was the most helpful young woman on reception, with whom we chatted. She had spent four years in Australia including two in Brisbane and we happily shared stories.
25 May, Furano Natulux Hotel, Hokkaido
Bad start to the day today, but our fortunes were eventually turned around.
The key fob for our little Japanese Noddy car didn’t work last night, but we weren’t too concerned as we could open the doors and the boot with the physical key. BUT, this morning, only the driver's door would open. Then we tried to start the car. No go. The wonderful receptionist called for the hire car company's road assistance crew to come out. They jump-started the car and attempted to assure us that there was no problem. Not keen on having another breakdown in the wilds of Hokkaido, we returned to the hire location and swapped the car.
The upside was that our first full day of driving in Hokkaido was a breeze! The pace is a little slow, most of the time the speed limits were 50 kph and even on the Expressway the limit was mostly 80kph. No bother for us, we had all day to travel 140 km from Chitose to Furano.
On a whim, we left the Expressway, heading for Yubari, a town we picked at random from the map. After an interesting 30 minute drive through some beautiful forested hills, we came to what can only be described as a “dump of a town.” We drove on, looking for a spot to turn around and noticed a sign for the Coal Mining Museum of Yubari. We drove in through some fairly desolate, closed-up industrial buildings, parked and headed off on foot. Eventually we arrived at a modern complex, paid our minimal entry fee and wandered about looking at the displays which were almost totally in Japanese. Piecing together the photos and what we could translate with our translator app, we worked out that Yubari had once been a major coal producing town. However, like similar towns in the UK, as the coal was depleted, the town slowly died. From a population of 160,000 in its heyday, Yubari had shrunk to 7,500 people by 2012. There were no figures, but there isn't much left of the town today.
The museum, however, was magnificent. From the two floors of static displays and video presentations, a lift took us down to a reconstruction of the working mine, taking us through the mining techniques from the early days of mining in the late 18th century to a live display of original equipment used in the 1980s and 1990s.
Before heading back to the Expressway and resuming our journey, we turned off and visited what once was the vibrant main street of old Yubari, now a Japanese ghost town.
26 May, Kuretake Inn, Asahikawa
Furano isn't a very big city, even by Australian standards. In comparison to cities on Honshu, it is more like a big village, so we weren't too surprised that our eating options last night, Saturday, were very limited. However we had scouted the town late in the afternoon and found a couple of options that looked promising. We were a little concerned though, as our hotel's restaurant guide showed many establishments as having “irregular" closing times. It all turned out well as we found one that was open and, after struggling with the electronic, all Japanese, ordering system, we called for a waiter, who was most helpful. The meal was fine, not spectacular, but the atmosphere was very traditional and the bill had us rushing out the door, because we felt we had robbed them. AUD35 for two enormous beers, a large salad and meat skewers. The last were disappointing, but what the...
Walking back to our hotel, which was only about 750m, we didn't see a car or another person.
An easy driving day today. As the crow flies, and there are crows in Hokkaido, it was about 100k between our hotels, but we had some attractions to cover in between. This area of Hokkaido is famous for its fields of flowers. Sadly, we are a little early to enjoy the full effect of the fields in full bloom, but we got the general idea at our first stop, Farm Tomita, a touristy flower growing enterprise, also famous for its lavender ice cream.
We spent the morning and early afternoon cruising through rolling hills, which were being planted in the early weeks of Hokkaido's short, summer growing season.
By chance, we found our way to the “famous" Ken and Mary poplar trees. We had no idea what these trees were all about, in fact, we pulled up simply because there was a car park and a small number of people gathered around the trees. A sign at the site informed us that the trees had featured in a 1972 commercial. At first we shrugged and headed back to our car, but, this is Japan and we have seen crazier things than this, so we went back and took a picture. This is a true “only in Japan" thing. Later we found a video online of the advertisement. It was for a Nissan Skyline car. The trees were in shot for less than 10 seconds!
Next stop was Blue Pond. Obviously, well known in Japan, there were tourist buses and scores of locals about. Blue it certainly was, but not a natural phenomenon. The colour was created by chemical contamination when a nearby dam was constructed.
We have to note that in our travels today, we saw only one westerner. There were plenty of local Japanese and possibly some Chinese, but numbers of visitors at every place we went to were tiny. We’re enjoying being off the tourist track.
Arriving in Asahikawa a couple of hours before check-in to our hotel, we visited the Asahikawa City Museum. Yet another surprise. A well-presented walk through the history of Hokkaido, almost totally in Japanese, but we understood most of it.
27 May, Asahikawa, Hokkaido
First experience of city driving around Asahikawa today was easier than we expected. Not a very big city, it is the biggest we will have to contend with driving in Hokkaido. Traffic is highly regulated, with well-controlled intersections and low speed limits. Drivers are extremely courteous and law abiding and tail-gating doesn't happen. Even when stopped at the lights, most drivers leave at least half a car length. Nobody passes, even on straight roads. The only exceptions we have noted is for slow-moving farm machinery. The culture of respect is uniform in this country.
Some light rain greeted us this morning, but it only lasted a short time as we drove to the base station of the ropeway at the foot of Mount Asahidake, the second highest mountain in Hokkaido, in the Daisetsuzan National Park. Heading into the park, we got a real feel for how untamed this part of Japan is. Thick forest covers the land for hundreds of kilometres and is home to a large population of brown bears. It's a stark contrast to the heavily-urbanised coastal strip on the eastern plains of Honshu between Tokyo and Osaka.
As we ascended to the upper station of the ropeway for the start of our walk, we crossed into areas where Spring was yet to “spring.” The temperature dropped to 8C, not cold by Hokkaido standards, but we were reaching for another layer of clothing.
This time of year, the ropeway is far from busy, with no more than ten to twelve fellow hikers. As there was still plenty of snow covering the boardwalk on the trail, we restricted ourselves to the 2km circuit, rather than completing the trail to the summit. That was well and truly enough! Hard-packed snow covered a lot of the track and it was slippery and difficult to manage with any speed. Softer snow in places was revealed by 30-40cm holes created by hikers who'd stepped a little too far off the path. The parts not snowed in were rocky, with puddles, requiring us to exercise our best clambering skills, but it was worth it. We made it to the foot of the mountain, where jets of steam escaped from underground hot springs were quickly swept away by the increasingly strong winds.
Prime times for doing this walk are a month or so before now and a month or so after. We figure we got some of each season, with enough snow on the mountain and a few areas of green and alpine flowers.
As the wind picked up, we were glad to make it back to the ropeway station without a fall, though we had come close several times. Greeting us was a sign indicating that the ropeway was temporarily closed due to strong winds. As the wind outside howled, we settled in, anticipating a long stay, but luckily there was a break in the wind and we were soon able to descend.
On the way home, we had our first experience of buying petrol in Japan. Well-prepared as always, we knew to pick a self-serve station, where the fuel was much cheaper than the full-service version. Some of us remember this from our younger days at home, when your tank was filled, your oil, water and tyres checked and you were sent on your way with a friendly wave. The petrol we bought was cheap, very cheap in fact, at around AUD1.65/lt compared to the current price at home of AUD2.00+. We had viewed several youtube videos on Japanese petrol stations, but the system at the one we pulled into wasn't like any we had seen. Noticing our confusion, an attendant arrived and all was fixed. Got to love Japan!
28 May, Route Inn, Abashiri, Hokkaido
We had planned to take the Sounkyo Ropeway to the top of Mt Kurodake today, but luckily we checked on the web and found it was closed for repairs. It was a lesson that we are now starting to learn when travelling in mid-season in areas like this. It was a bit of a blessing in disguise though, because it would have made for a very long day.
The purple, red, pink and white Sakura flowers are everywhere here this time of the year, but the best viewing of them is Shiba Sakura Park, where there is a commercial enterprise that has planted a whole valley of the flowers. It is touristy, but spectacular nevertheless.
The small port town of Abashiri is well-known throughout Japan for all the wrong reasons. For westerners, it is probably best described as the location of a gulag. Conditions here were harsh when the prison was established in the 1880s. Prisoners were used as forced labour to build one of the first roads through the Hokkaido wilderness in this desolate part of the country. Over one in six prisoners died during these early years.
The museum is an extensive reconstruction of the prison as it was, captured in static and multi-media displays of the history of this harsh penal colony. There was sufficient English around the display, and Paul's work in Corrections made it interesting for us.
Light rain and fog patches greeted us today as we headed out to the Shiretoko National Park in the very north of Hokkaido. Shiretoko is on the World Heritage List as one of Japan's real wilderness areas, with wildlife, untouched natural forest and beautiful, sweeping coastal vistas. Just the wrong day for us.
We made a stop at the Oshinkoshin Waterfalls which were fairly impacted by the weather, but we had to use our imagination for the rest of our long drive.
As is often the way, the day brightened significantly and sunlight broke out. What a difference it makes.
30 May, Comfort Hotel, Tomakomai, Hokkaido
Last day on the road today. We drove along the east coast, on probably the best day, weather-wise we have had, taking in picture-book perfect scenery. We had no real agenda, so after 50kms or so,we headed inland and picked up the Expressway. All went well for the first few kilometres until we hit an expressway junction and accidentally took the wrong direction. Sixty kilometres later, we found our way back to the junction and what turned out to be a very long drive. However, it was not all bad news. The scenery was spectacular, with multi-green shaded forests covering mountains that opened up to small valleys and lush green fields of rice and vegetables. The traffic was very light and we made good time despite the low speed limits on the expressways.
Tomorrow we drop off the car and hit the rails for Sapporo before starting our train journey through north-western Honshu.
30 May, APA TKP Hotel, Sapporo
Just travelling today. Returned the car without complication and caught the train from New Chitose Airport, about 35 minutes from Sapporo station. We always warn people to know which exit to take from major stations. We did know our exit number today, but were unsure which gate we needed to use to find that exit. As is often the case, a helpful local helped us out and we were fine.
We drove just over 1200km in a week. Hokkaido is not a very big place! Our total fuel cost was AUD135, the pre-paid expressway card was well worth the cost, even though the expressways are not as modern as most western motorways being generally single lane.
1 June, APA Hotel, Sapporo
We took a long, local train trip to the outer suburbs today to the Historical Village of Hokkaido, a large collection of traditional and historical buildings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Some extremely substantial buildings were moved to the site and rebuilt. There were also scores of smaller, original traditional buildings that are representative of many facets of life in Hokkaido. We have visited many of these outdoor museums all over the world and this is well up there among the very best.
The whole complex is set in a large forest reserve with walking paths, ponds and a large variety of old growth trees. Hidden deep in the reserve is the relatively small but extremely well presented Museum of Hokkaido that featured displays on the indigenous Ainu, industry, wildlife and the environment in modern Hokkaido.
Back in the city on an increasingly warm day, we visited the oldest building in Sapporo, the Sapporo Clock Tower which looks very much as though it should belong in a mid-west American town. Originally the Sapporo Agricultural College, today the building is listed as a National Important Cultural Property. Just around the corner, we took the lift to the top of the Sapporo Tower for a great view of the city on a bright, warm and sunny afternoon.
2 June, MyStay Hotel, Aomori, Northern Honshu
Our JR Pass was activated today, giving us free travel on JR lines across the whole of Japan. Until recently, this pass was an absolute bargain, but a 50% price increase last September made the pass uneconomical for most travellers. We costed out our planned train journeys and we will be close to breaking even. We would have persisted with the pass even if we lost a bit, because of the convenience of being able to insert the pass at the gate and take any JR train.
Travelling by train in Japan often feels as though we enter a portal into “train world,” riding the rails, changing trains, buying meals, getting lost in mammoth stations, sometimes doing a bit of shopping and finally emerging at our destination, all within the confines of the entry and exit ticket gates.
Our first leg today was from Sapporo to Shin-Hakodate on a limited express train to connect with the relatively new Hokkaido Shinkansen line which crosses to Honshu under the sea for 23km to reach Aomori. By 2030 this line will extend to Sapporo.
On our last visit to Aomori, we were caught in a sleet storm and ducked into the nearest building for cover. It turned out to be the Nebuta Museum, where the famous Nebuta Festival floats are displayed. Words really can’t do justice to these works of art, so we rely on the pictures to tell the story. Again on this visit, we were lucky enough to catch the lively traditional drum and flute performance that is part of the festival.
3 June, Aomori
A forty minute train ride to Hirosaki today and for the first time on this trip, we missed our train. Not a problem in Japan, five minutes later we were able to catch an even faster, express train. Getting about Hirosaki was made easy by a municipality loop bus that covered the major tourist areas. While waiting for the bus we teamed up with a Melbourne couple who, to our advantage, were keen navigators, which freed us up from working out where to go.
Hirosaki Castle is fairly small, but is notable because it is one of only a few in Japan that has not been rebuilt in modern times. The original castle burned down in 1627, just 16 years after it was built. It was not reconstructed until 1810. In very recent times, the castle has been moved about 50 metres to allow for repairs to the building's foundation.
A long walk through the gardens of the castle was a little disappointing, partly because of the rainy, overcast weather, but also because it was a little early in the season for some of the flowering plants to be at their best.
Off to Sakata in western Honshu tomorrow.
5 June, Alpha-One Hotel, Sakata, Western Honshu
Travelled most of the day yesterday, much of our trip along Honshu's beautiful coastline, through small farming communities and fishing villages. For most of the day, the weather was good to us. Yesterday and today, we again enjoyed bright sunshine and temperatures in the low 20sC.
We had scheduled this stop as a bit of a rest stop between Aomori and Nagano and so we had very little planned. Some quick research turned up a couple of interesting things to investigate. The Sakata area is a major rice growing area and many Australians will know Sakata Rice Crackers. We were a bit surprised to discover that these crackers are not made here at all! There is, however, a long row of 19th century rice warehouses situated on the river bank and backed by a long row of beautiful, old trees. We walked the 2km to the warehouses through almost deserted streets. We have spent a lot of time on this trip in smaller cities and towns, particularly in Hokkaido. These peaceful streets, where school kids scoot off to school on pushbikes and a few older citizens walk their dogs, represent a very different Japan to what most people see further south on the densely populated, eastern plains of Honshu.
Later in the morning we found the original historic home of the original ruling family in this area, the Homna. Entry was only available for cash, which we were short of this late in the trip, so we gave up the visit to the home and chose instead to visit the Homna Museum, Villa and gardens. While the museum didn’t mean much to us as it focused on Japanese documents and art, the Villa, and the surrounding gardens were just fantastic.
Having done all that, it was midday, so a lot of the day was left to kill in a small city of around 120,000 people. What else could we do? Take a train trip. A bit of research informed us of an “historical park,” in Fujishima, a village about 20 minutes from Sakata. Flashing our JR Passes, we were off.
The train was a local, all stops, journey through villages so small that some stations were no more than elevated steel platforms. Fujishima is just one of thousands of villages we have passed through on previous trips, often on high speed shinkansen trains. It was a different experience today. All we saw as we wandered the streets on our way to the “ historical park,” were a few farm workers coming and going, a couple of workers digging a trench, one man walking a dog and one or two cars lumbering past.
Finally, the “historical park.” Not what we expected. All that was there were an old, un-Japanese 19th century community hall and a traditional regional administration building. It was still well worth the trip, especially as it included the slow local train trip through the rice fields and a stroll through a rural Japanese village.
More great coastal scenery on our three-leg trip to Nagano today through Niigata and Takasaki, before arriving at our destination. Nagano is a city of about 400,000 people, the second biggest city we have visited, after Sapporo, which has a population of 2 million . There is a lot more to Japan than the “Golden triangle,” of Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka and we still have a lot more to discover and visit on future trips.
7 June, Toyoko Inn Nagano eki Zenkoji guchi, Nagano
After an hour-long bus journey from Nagano, we arrived this morning at the small town of Yudanaka, the start point for the forty-minute walk up into the mountains to the Snow Monkey Park. The climb was gentle and on a nice warm day like today, a pleasant walk-through mature forests. Not sure if the walk would be so pleasant in the winter when the “snow" part of the Monkey Park title would make the walk far more difficult.
When we reached the starting point of the final leg of the trail, we were a bit disappointed to see a sign stating that the monkeys had not come down from the mountain this morning. Irrespective, we pressed on, happy to enjoy the forest environment. When we reached the entry to the park area proper, the woman in the ticket office told us that the monkeys were on their way down. We were just in time to see scores of monkeys leaping between rocks and sweeping down the steep drops to the edge of the thermal pools that attract them in the depths of winter. Today, the attraction was food being scattered by park staff.
The monkeys move comfortably among park visitors, ignoring us as though we weren't even there. All the females had little ones in tow. Some still cling to the mothers' back, others scamper around exploring for themselves.
We had purchased a Monkey Park Pass (4000 Yen each) that gave us transport to and from the park on our choice of an Express Bus direct from Nagano Station or by rail and bus using the private Dentetsu Line. The pass also gave us free access to the Dentetsu Line for two days. We utilised this benefit to stop off and visit the Zenkoji Temple which we thought we had visited before. We quickly realised that it was new to us and probably the most extensive temple complex we have ever visited anywhere in Asia.
A short Shinkansen trip tomorrow back to Tokyo with half a day to kill around town before taking the NEX train out to Narita for our return home.
8 June, Narita Airport.
With most of the day to kill, we took a trip out to the outer 'burbs to visit the Kato Model Railways Hobby Centre. Paul gave up his decades' long model trains hobby a few years back, but he has always maintained a small layout to amuse the grandkids. Riding about in so many trains this last week has got him thinking about doing some more work on the hobby, so...
Review
Our intent, on this, our tenth trip to Japan, was to discover and experience different aspects of this great country. We believe we have achieved what we had hoped. Driving in Japan for the first time was easy and flexible, allowing us to get further off the beaten track. Throughout Hokkaido, we found small towns and villages that we would never have found using our usual modes of travel, train and bus. Even back on the trains and buses for the second week in the relatively less populated areas of north and west Honshu, we have been able to get about more freely in a part of the country not overrun by the current flood of tourists that have been flocking to Japan, Like us, they have been finding Japan an attractive travel destination, probably mostly due to the extremely low Yen and particularly for Australians, the extremely high cost of travelling in most other countries.
Will we be back? Silly question.
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