Matt Does Japan

Tokyo is on the main island of Honshu. Sapporo is on the north island of Hokkaido. They are separated by about 23 kilometers of open ocean. I took the train.

Yes, believe it or not, you can travel the hundreds of kilometers between Tokyo and Sapporo, over mountainous terrain and the ocean, in the comfort of a train. Although, at over 10 hours of travel time each way, the journey isn’t practical when for about the same cost you can fly from Haneda to New Chitose (Sapporo’s main airport southeast of the city) in under two hours. It’s one of those things you do when you’re not in a hurry, you’ve already spent your money on a JR rail pass, and you want to be able to tell all your smug former-European-exchange-student friends that no, their TGV trip through the Channel Tunnel wasn’t actually the longest rail tunnel ride in the world. The Seikan Tunnel, connecting Honshu and Hokkaido, is.

Completed six years before the Channel Tunnel, in 1988, the Seikan cost $3.6 billion US. But enough about the tunnel; I’m sure you’ll read all about it on Wikipedia.

The journey started very early in the morning, before 7 am, with the Tohoku Shinkansen from Tokyo to Hachinohe. While waiting on the platform, I saw a two-level shinkansen train.

The shinkansen doesn’t actually go through the Seikan Tunnel to Hokkaido. There are a couple of train transfers after Hachinohe, where the Tohoku Shinkansen stops. However, I got a glimpse at construction of the system’s extension north, eventually to Sapporo. The elevated shinkansen track was being constructed several hundred feet to the left of the regular train tracks, running parallel for several miles at a time. The terrain on this part of the island was hilly enough that I went through several long, overland tunnels before we reached the Seikan.

There was a transfer from the end of the shinkansen line at Hachinohe to a line northwest to Aomori.

The Hakucho train from Aomori (Honshu) to Hakodate (Hokkaido) goes through the Seikan Tunnel. The following pictures were taken from the moving train while on Hokkaido. I resolved to take pictures from inside the undersea tunnel on the way back to Tokyo, since I seem to have slept through it.

The port of Hakodate. The hilly tip of the peninsula marks the eastern end of the harbor. The city is visible on the horizon to the left.

In Hakodate, there was another transfer, the last before Sapporo. I arrived in Hakodate around 1:00 pm and I was ready for lunch. At lunch time, vendors set up shop in the center of the train platform, selling lunch boxes (bento?). I grabbed the first thing I saw that looked fresh. Of course, the packaging had no English on it whatsover, and I wasn’t conversational enough in Japanese to ask what it was. By 1:00, the boxes had been out in the cold for a while, so I don’t know if this was supposed to be hot. It definitely was fresh, though. Marinated fish, kelp, and eel over rice, I think. It was quite good.

The food service menu on the train. I had something that looked almost just like the “Sakuramasu Oshizushi” for breakfast on the shinkansen earlier that morning.

Komaga-take volcano, southeast of Mori, north of Hakodate. It is one of the most active volcanoes on Hokkaido. The crater at the top is obscured by the low clouds. The last major eruption was in 1929.

My new home for the next few nights, the Sapporo International Youth Hostel. Upon arriving at Sapporo Station, I walked from the JR platforms downstairs to the Sapporo subway. The hostel is in central Sapporo on the east side of the river, directly east about one block from Gakuen-mae station on the Toho (blue) line. This hostel was the newest, cleanest, and most professionally-run hostel I stayed in the whole time I was in Japan, and it didn’t cost much more than any other. And they co-locate the motorcycle parking with the showers.

Since I arrived at the hostel around 6:00 pm, I just dropped off my packs and took the subway back Odori station, on Sapporo’s central park, Odori Koen. I was in search of food. One of Sapporo’s famous symbols is the TV Tower, marking the east end of Odori Koen. Thanks to Wikipedia, I know that it was destroyed by Godzilla in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. For my own safety, I decided not to go to the top. Many have pointed out that bears a strong resemblance to a certain landmark in Paris, but after 10 days in Japan I was drawing more comparison to Tokyo Tower, whose design is based on the Eiffel Tower.

There is a great chain of ramen restaurants around Sapporo called “Aji no Tokeidai.” I found out about it from the Rough Guide. The restaurant’s logo is a combination of the Sapporo Clock Tower and the five-pointed star logo representing Hokkaido and also used by the Sapporo Beer brand. And wouldn’t you know it, “Tokeidai” means clock tower. I found this one near Odori Koen in the basement of an office building. The atmosphere was very cozy.

I ordered bata-kon ramen, which has yellow corn and lots of butter. It was the best ramen I’ve ever had. I would go to Sapporo again if the only thing I would be allowed to do there is eat bata-kon. Yum. Just look at it. Oh, I ordered water, too. Cool glasses.

The Sapporo Subway is almost unique among subway systems in that the rolling stock (the cars) run on pneumatic tires, like a car. The trains are guided by a vertical guiderail in the center, but there are no traditional train rails. This makes for a smoother ride and a very different sound when trains arrive and depart from station platforms. I contributed some of my pictures to Wikipedia. Read more about the subway there. Sapporo Municipal Subway.

My Sapporo Subway fare card.

And Pocky, for good measure.

After seeing the snow monkeys at Yudanaka, I took an afternoon shinkansen from Nagano to Tokyo.

Japan Rail’s equivalent of Sky Mall, “Train Shop,” is like a glossy fish market in your lap. It sorta smells like it too (though this smell is probably from the last reader’s bento lunch).

Ah, an onsen. Remember, a “human is a kind of the monkeys”:

This one explains itself. Or does it?

Home, sweet home. The shinkansen platform was in the bowels of Ueno station, about three stories underground (there are at least two train lines running immediately above this platform).

From there, it was a quick ride on the Yamanote line to Akihabara, where I would transfer to the Sobu line one stop to Asakusabashi, where I was staying another night in the youth hostel. But first, I spent some more time in Akihabara, and had dinner in an Irish-like pub. I’ve never actually been to Ireland, so I’ll have to take your word for it, Japan.

There was a multi-story Apple store, probably not run by Apple. They had an iPod DJ mixer, which at the time wasn’t yet available in the United States.

And of course they had the 20″ iMac. Not unique to Japan, even then, but still special.

A healthy selection of used G4s, G5s and Apple LCDs. Check out the old old old iMacs on the top shelf in back. Remember when Apple sold high-end CRT monitors? (Bottom left, below the table.)

Octopus Ball. Too bad I already ate dinner. I’m serious.

Just outside Akihabara station, the largest pick-up truck you’ll ever see in central Tokyo. For size comparison, look at the street marketing women in hot pink body condoms with baskets, to the right. There is a Dell retail store on the second floor of the building on the right, something they still don’t have in the US, and the entrance to the station is just out of view to the right, behind me.

Back at the hostel, uploading a few more pictures before bed. The computer is called “Prius.” I wonder if I can get a “Camry” laptop, or an “Accord” workstation.

Along the path past the entrance are a few ryokan and other nice-looking buildings.

After a short walk, there are two guardian deity statues (”Deva”) on either side of the path:

I had previously seen Deva in the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and these were just as fierce. They always appear in pairs. As I walked past the Deva gate, my timing turned out to be perfect. A uniformed police officer was standing on the path waiting for the procession to emerge from the monks’ quarters to the left. Less than a minute later, there they were, the leader dressed in red and gold, with an attendant carrying a bright red umbrella behind. There were five in all. From here, they walked through the main Zenko-ji gate (under renovation and completely covered with white panels) and into the main temple, escorted by the cop. I followed a respectful distance behind. There were less than 10 other people in the area on such a brisk January morning.

I went back to the inn to get my ski boots. As I was putting on my shoes at the door, the staff member I had tea with the day before brought me a white take-out box and called it “breakfast.” The side of the box said “Italian Tomato Restaurant [and] Coffee House,” and he explained that the inn is owned by the same company. It was free. Well, to my surprise, the box contained not one, but three slices of ice cream pie. It wasn’t my idea of a healthy breakfast, but I was in a hurry to get to the bus terminal in time for the Hakuba bus.

The bus to Hakuba Valley, where I would ski at Happo-one, left from the south side of Nagano Station at 8:40 am. Hakuba Valley is west of Nagano in the heart of the Japan Alps. When the Winter Olympics were held in Nagano in 1998, Hakuba hosted several of the alpine skiing events, including the ski jump. Hakuba Valley from the highway:

Olympic signage. It’s hard to believe it was only 8 years ago that this area was swarming with athletes, trainers, officials, volunteers, and journalists. Notice that they misspelled “gondola” with an ‘r’. The ‘r’-'l’ transition is very common in Japan, jokes aside. Usually the two are pronounced simultaneously, such as in the name of a neighborhood in Tokyo, “Harajuku,” which sounds like “Halrajuku.”

This is the street below the entrance to the Adam Gondola, which takes you to the top of the Happo-one ski area. I rented skis and poles from the “Ski - Snowboard” shop in the 4th quadrant of the picture. The skis were 170 cm Salomon Screams. Judging by the artwork, I think they’re two or three years old.

The bottom gondola house and pictures on the way up:

The lift tag I bought had a 1000 JPY deposit, and it was an RFID chip. RFIDs for ski lifts are starting to become common in the United States, while they’ve been par for the course in Europe and Japan for awhile. What impressed me about this tag, though, was the printed information on the front. It seemed like it was electrostatically set. If you look closely, you can see what look like electrical contacts along the edges. Perhaps it’s some kind of so-called “e-paper,” where the printed information doesn’t need to be refreshed by a power source. Upon returning the chip, it will be reprogrammed, and the print on the front will be modified to reflect a new date, ticket price, etc.

At the the top of the gondola, I saw the start gate for the Olympic downhill event.

More pictures from Happo:

Lunch:

They do eco.

Two-image panorama of Hakuba Valley:

My poor feet…

Around 4:00, I rushed down the mountain, returned my rental skis, changed boots, and ran through the village to the bus station, getting there just in time for the bus back to Nagano.

Back in Nagano, I dropped off my ski boots and backpack at the inn, and went out to find some dinner. Chuo-dori doesn’t actually have a whole lot of dinner options. I ended up at an Indian restaurant called “Joy Guru.” I assumed this meant they were subject matter experts on the subject matter of “joy,” so I thought I’d give them a try. I ordered the chicken tikka, some vegetable samosas, and a glass of mango lassie. I realized that the lassie was overpriced when it was apparent that there wasn’t any real mango in it, just some kind of mango flavoring. The rest of the food was good, especially the samosas.

Walking around after dinner, I saw a salon with water-draped windows,

Engrish:

“Nagano Gondo” shopping area, this time at night:

Harry-san, Harry-san, Harry-san!

The biggest 7-11 in the world! No, actually it’s just a department store.

Back at the inn. I put two juice boxes between the outer glass window and the inner paper window to keep cold until morning. See the snow outside?

A preview of tomorrow: “… the human is a kind of the monkeys.”

“You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!”