Into the unknown Japan... Hokkaido

Even to Japanese people "Hokkaido" has quite a magical ring. Hokkaido is the empty Japan where nature thrives and life is still slow. Travelling North the Shinkansen (bullet train) line does not go any further than Hachinohe. From there on it's slower train business. As a matter of fact the Japanese are building the Shinkansen line to Hokkaido as we speak so in a couple of years you will probably be able to get to Sapporo without too much delay.

Shinkansen bullet train - to get there fast!

The present train-line, riding through the longest train tunnel worldwide, has some mayor pluses though. On the Shinkansen you sometimes tend to pass bye places well worth stopping at. One of these places here is definitely Aomori where my visit was lucky enough to coincide with the yearly Nebuta festival. Now if you want to see what a "happy Japanese person" looks like, go to such a festival and see them jumping about, cheering, dancing, singing, making music and throwing little presents at bystanders.

Between some Aomori dance/jumpers.

Aomori was packed when I arrived. The wonderful girl at the tourist information tried to help out but even finding a spot for my backpack in a locker and a capsule to stay overnight proofed impossible. In the end I parked my bag at a local green grocer lady - who parked bags as a side-business - and reserved a seat on the overnight train to Sapporo to solve my accommodation problem. I was not really planning to travel onwards so quickly but since I already had a Japan Rail pass, staying on an overnight train was a fantastic free option.
As said, the train to Sapporo is a slow train which gave me just enough time to have a proper nights rest, from about 10.30 pm till 6 am and after thoroughly enjoying the festival and a few drinks with the locals I slept really well that night. Should I add that the previous night I had slept on a secluded beach and the sun rises amazingly early in the land of the rising sun, so I had woken up around 4 am?
Sapporo is partly famous because it is a beer brand. Some Japanese local ruler once (1876) travelled to Germany and brought back it's golden brew that is all too popular nowadays. Mental note; write about Drunk Japanese soon. Since I arrived too early in the morning to enjoy the Sapporo drink I just wiled my time at the train station, waiting for the Starbucks to open and had a large Cappuccino. On my way back south I would probably have a reversed schedule and spend an evening here.
The Northernmost tip of Hokkaido that can be reached by train is Wakkanai. On the train from Aomori to Sapporo I met a group of South Koreans who travelled all the way from Tokyo, in one go, (even I had a stop over) and I met them again on the train to Wakkanai. There they would have 1 hour before they would take the train back to Tokyo. Distance, 1600 km one way. Wakkanai is nothing as a destination on it's own. But it sure has a magical ring to it and does give you that end of the world feeling. From here it is possible to take the boat to Russia, with the right visa.

The name sign IS a destination in it's own.

On the train I also met a bicycle. Standing in a corner of the carriage. And an English white girl. Sleeping beauty deep down in dreamland. After a couple of hours she woke up and chatted along with me and one of the South Korean girls. Her plan was to take the boat to Rishiri island and circum-cycle it before cycling all the way back to Saporro where she worked as an English teacher. The plan of cycling round the island seemed totally appealing to me so of course I tagged along. If you don't have a plan you can tag along with anybody else's, is one of my main travel philosophies anyway.
Hanging out with Kim proofed lots of fun. She is the one who taught me all my Japanese chat up lines. After her long sleep she had so incredibly much energy that she nearly double timed mine.

Pro-biker in front of Rishiri San volcano

Admitted, the bike she used to cycle round the island was so much better than my "momma-cherry" bike but still. She camped outside and had to put up her tent in the storm, hardly slept that night when I spent mine in a hostel. So she had already cycled for some hours before she decided to come and wake me up at around 9am.
Rishiri Island and nature reserve is an awesome place! The dormant volcano in the centre gives spectacular views from any direction and the pace of life is nice, nice and slow. A mayor pass time of the inhabitants this time of year was to collect seaweed from the ocean floor and lay them out to dry. Compared to all the rest of Japan only here did I experience a last remnant of old Japan. The slow world that I had been looking for I had finally found. Unfortunately when I travel I myself always seem to be in a hurry so the next day we sailed back to the mainland where I could continue my explorations.
Somehow I forgot to mention the outdoors Onsen (hot spring bath) we visited, (separate sexes), the most beautiful cloud ever just hanging over the island for some hours and bloodily wrecking my big toe when running up the hostel stairs, causing my thread to go limp for over a week. Also moving house to a very local hostel where inclusive food an accommodation were good and cost the same as just the one mattress in the official hostel. And of course the worst sun-burn since the boatride from Battambang to Siem Reap in Cambodia but that would be side tracking for which I sincerely apologize.

Awe some cloud!

The more I write about Japan, the more I remember and miss it. Maybe that's the whole purpose of writing? And I do solemnly vow, that I will be back some day.

How am I ever going to visit all the world if I need to go back to all places I have already been?

Will dig into that question some other time.
Good travels.
Good readings.

Thanks.

Love Hotels - the budget option in Japan

choose you favourite room

Japan is still expensive. More expensive than Europe and the US. More expensive than Australia. In fact, Japan is quite possibly the most expensive destination you can travel to. And, big surprise... accommodation in Japan is also expensive. This may come as quite a shock for many an experienced traveller, since we are used to finding our way cheap, pretty much where ever we are, right? Now finding cheap accommodation in Japan is possible and the most exciting possibility are... Love Hotels!

In Nagoya, one station from the centre...

Through my blog you have already been introduced to Capsule Hotels. I have stayed in only one and I really liked it. Although I didn't sleep very well, partly due to my jet-lag and getting used to rather thin mattresses I suppose, the general service was quite good. For 3000 yen (about 30 euro's) you get your own capsule in the male or female department. The best part of this particular "riverside capsule hotel" was the "onsen" (hot bath and sauna) with the little roof terrace, overlooking the river. And hosting back-packer like parties, for those back-packers who had not been smart enough to make any reservations at a hostel before arriving, like myself.

One of the reasons why Japan is so expensive is because they are not used to catering for back packers. So there is a big shortage of hostels in places like Tokyo and Kyoto. If you want to find a spot at such a hostel you need to book well in advance, especially during the Japanese holiday season (O-bon) in the Summertime.

much better than a capsule...

Now I am the kind of traveller
who usually doesn't plan ahead and like to just go with the flow but in Japan this is not really the smartest option. Luckily, if you arrive before 7pm at the train station of your destination, there is the possibility of asking the local tourist office to make a telephone call to the place that they might know. I guess there are new hostels appearing very often recently and the Lonely Planet has not been able to keep up. During my trip in Japan I have never been able to stay at one of the places that Lonely Planet suggested. They were always fully booked. A hostel bed would normally set you back about 2500 tot 3000 yen.

By the way, apparently camping wild is allowed in Japan (even sleeping in the park is...) so I stayed overnight on a deserted beach this one night when I had not made any arrangements and when I was not ready to pay 5000 yen for a bed in a hostel. If you may ever be in the neighbourhood; just north of Matsushima you will find some beaches that are excellent for camping, er..., sleeping under the stars. All you need is a sleeping bag... and a dry night.

more expensive room in Morroccan style

Now back to Tokyo. You must have heard about Love Hotels. They are to be found close to many main train stations and are different than business hotels. They are actually, usually also cheaper and therefore an expert budget option... if you bring along a Japanese speaking girl (or guy if you prefer). They would cost about 6000 yen. So twice the price of a capsule... but more than twice the fun! The ones that have a special theme are not the cheaper ones but in a way they all have the same theme anyway... Love. So you will find a soft and large bed and a nice hot shower and bath, all private, nothing shared, like in all the hostels where you pay the same price. You will also find a TV with at least one Japanese porn channel and if you are lucky the bath will be a Jacuzzi and you will find a massage chair or a Karaoke set.

near Hein Jingu Shrine in Kyoto

One of the things about Love Hotels is that they are a public secret. They are not always easy to find an are hardly mentioned at all in the Lonely Planet. They have names like "princess hotel", "penthouse hotel" and such but still... You are not supposed to go into a Tourist information office and ask where you can find a love hotel. I once did... and found out anyway (ask for Rabu Hoteru) but I must admit I do feel along with the embarrassment this brought about. For the girl who worked at the office and for the girl that I was with, who did not dare and go ask for it. Luckily that same girl had the balls to actually go to the hotel and check in. Now this is all very discrete. You get to choose from the available rooms, press the button and go to the counter and pay ahead. You don't see the person behind the counter nor do they see you. You pay through a narrow slide and get your key there too. Sometimes you get the key from a machine and pay at a machine in your room. Mind, this may include that you can not actually leave the room without paying so do bring enough cash (Japanese Yen) along with you.

caters to all needs...

I have also experienced that my girl was leaving for work, earlier than I was ready to wake up, and she really had to convince the receptionist that I would leave before check out time. They were afraid that they could not explain it to me for I don't speak Japanese...

close to Shibuya lies the seedy heart of the Love Hotels

Oh, one last important thing to know about Love Hotels: Check IN time for staying overnight is usually not before 10 pm, so you have to hang out in town until then and often may need to park you luggage at the lockers in the train station. These usually cost about 500 yen. Check OUT time of the Love Hotel is conveniently later than most other places. Around 11AM to 1PM. All and all this means that your daily rhythm might shift to the later hours of the day. I most cities this is not really a problem. It's just a slightly different way of travelling.

Some extra's to be found in your room...

Some of my main highlights in Japan took place in the Rabu Rabu Hoteru but what happens in the Rabu Hoteru... stays in the Rabu Hoteru

Sweet talking Japanese girls

I am an alien. Or all Japanese are aliens. That's a thought that often crossed my mind in Japan. Japanese girls are nice and interesting. Good looking and hip. Sexy and sweet. But most of the time I was totally clueless on how to approach them. They would wave at me. I would wave back. Once a friend and I invited three beach girls to play frisbee with us. They gladly joined in but afterwards our chatting was leading nowhere at all. Their English was hard to understand nor would they understand mine. So after some basics... we pretty much left it there. Japanese girls still are aliens to me...

When I travelled in Japan I met two girls. One was half Japanese, half Afro-American. She had never had a Japanese boyfriend, said she scared them off for she was too big...? Actually she was very exquisite and her half Japanese background really worked for her. She had a lot going for her. To me, not in the last place, because she could speak proper English! She worked as an English teacher with young kids in Tokyo. The other girl I met was your perfect English broad. Pale skin (accept after staying in the sun all day of course) and blond hair. She taught English in Hokkaido's capital Sapporo and was a big hit with Japanese guys. She had had more than one Japanese boyfriend and would teach me some important Japanese sweet talk. Some words that the half Japanese girl did not even know... where would she have picked them up? From me?

If you ever find a nice Japanese girl, try these words. 
Kissu shi tai (I want to kiss you).
Kutshi biru ga ghiree (you have beautiful lips)
Opai wa ghiree (you have beautiful brests)
Oshidi ga ghiree (you have a nice ass)

I did learn some more but unfortunately lost the notes I took. I will have to ask again some time!

The English girl vowed that she would never go back to England. She simply liked Japan too much and found England too normal. As for the sex... I have seen quite some Japanese man in the nude, at several visits to public baths, onsen... And they are definitely not well hung. So there must be something else...

Read more about how you need to be able to speak Japanese or bring someone Japanese if you want to stay in a Love Hotel in my next post.

What happens in Japan...

... stays in Japan, as the saying goes for Vegas.

capsules are designed for 1 only

Long time I have been contemplating, whether all adventures I have had, in Japan or elsewhere, should be written on this blog. I know some of my blogger friends never seem to write about the juicy details about which I hear during booze infested evenings in bars. I cannot vow that I will write all about mine but I will try...

Maybe we should all have a ghost-writer's space somewhere anonymous.

Having said that...

After my last blog from a Tokyo internet cafe things started happening so fast I hardly know how to write about them. The last time I wrote I was still thinking I would be watching the fireworks in Asakusa all by myself, but...

After the Tsukiji fish market I took the metro to find the Government buildings in Shinjuku. Now Shinjuku station is massive and only finding the right exit can take a few hours. So I took the wrong exit and found myself strolling the streets in all directions to find out where on my Lonely Planet map I was. Then I got distracted by this pretty girl, it happens, and decided to ask her the way instead. She first had to take of her headphones before she could even hear me but then she was willingly giving me directions. I walked along with her for a bit and found out where she worked. Later on I went back to take her out for lunch and we ended up watching the fireworks together that night. Hanging out with her was great for she spoke fluent Japanese and was half American too. She even stayed by my side when I found out that, due to the firework crowds, all ATM's where empty and I could not get any yens! The only way to solve this problem was changing some Euro to yen with a complete stranger in a restaurant. Luckily I had my trustworthy blue-eyes on me...

That night the metro's were totally overcrowded so she decided to stay overnight in the capsule hotel. Although she lives in Tokyo she had never slept in a capsule before, so this was her little adventure for that night too! We slept like babies, both in our own capsules mind, for a "party in the capsule is prohibited". It also helped that some drunk Japanese had given us their left-over bottle of wine.

The next day we parted but luckily we had agreed to meet again later to hang out a bit more. Turns out she had already one week of holidays planned... but her ex-boyfriend would not be joining any more. So she might as well join me on part of my Japan-discovery trip. And all of a sudden, within the time span of about a day, I had gone from totally lost in translation to having found a personal guide for a full week.

and I can cook too!

Later on I may write more about our all-you-can-drink-Karaoke sessions. Still contemplating on whether what happens in Japan should stay in Japan.

Catch you later!

Japan photo's online!!!

Some really cool shots and stories to go with them are to be found here!

It almost seems like a dream now (October 21, 2010), looking back about a month after coming home from Tokyo. I have not had time to write since then but luckily my Autumn Holidays have arrived. Once again, some time to write about new-world-adventures, that are already in the past. To get an overview of my latest Japanese adventures, just click on the photograph. This week I will ad some new posts. Let me know what you think!