When I signed up for Journo, I neglected to read the fine print. There was a 15 day free trial period and after that you needed to switch to a monthly subscription. It took a few days to sort everything out but now I am back in business.
On the night of August 15 we had our farewell dinner with the Kirtmans. You could really feel fall closing in. The heat wave finally broke and Tokyo was very pleasant in the evening with a breeze, cloud cover and temperatures in the 80s. We went to a yakiniku restaurant that night which the kids absolutely adored because you have a grill embedded in your table and you cook your own meats and then eat them over a rice bowl with a variety of dipping sauces. Both Al and Z are absolute carnivores and have definitely acquired the taste for high grade Japanese beef.
Here’s the whole scene at the restaurant. At top, clockwise left to right you have Mami, Micah, Mira (hiding behind the ever-present Sumikko Gurashi mascot bear bear), Z (with Sumikko Gurashi fuzz), Asa (also equipped with a Sumikko stuffed animal), Alex, Nikki, myself and Khahlil. Below that you have the mandatory silly face pictures. The girls really bonded transforming into the self-appointed Oofa-gang, named after one of the noises their characters make in a video game they all play after said character’s untimely demise. The amount of constant giggling, chatting, texting (while even in the same room) provided a real summer camp vibe. Hopefully the girls stay in touch.
It is crazy to think that Khahlil and I have known each other for over 25 years. From French, Religion, Math and Science classes at St. Mary’s to Peace Child to now seeing our kids build friendships in Japan. It is wild to think how the photos above, and indeed even this whole experience was made possible by Peace Child. I met Nikki on the Peace Child tour to Hungary while during the same summer Khahlil was on his Peace Child trip to Japan. He went on to major in Japanese at Tufts University and the rest is history.
Japan is simultaneously both large and small being an island nation albeit on the size roughly of the state of California. It was important to me that the kids not only experience the fast-paced hustle and bustle of the cities but experience the countryside as well. Our rail passes afforded us the perfect opportunity to do this in Hokkaido, the northern most island in the Japanese archipelago that occupies around 20% of Japan’s land mass with around only 5% of it’s population. But you still gotta work to get there. Our entry point was the city of Hakodate, which has a direct Shinkansen link with Tokyo served by the Hayabusa, the fastest train in Japan clocking in around 200 miles per hour. Below is a screen shot of our itinerary on August 16:
Shinkansen Hayabusa gets you to Hakodate, where you take two more trains (progressive smaller and slower in a dramatic way) in order to reach Kutchan, which is the largest station with the most amenities where we could then take a taxi to our accommodations in the village of Hirafu. We found this place because Hirafu and Kutchan are part of something called Niseko United which is a complex of world class ski resorts that is trying to branch out in the summer season. I found a fly fishing guide, hiking and onsen opportunities around Niseko and figured we’d have an adventure.
The interior of the Hayabusa train. Our rail passes allowed us to visit any JR train station and reserve seats (provided they were available) in the first class Green Car section pictured above.
Information card found in every seat back on the Hayabusa. Note the instructions to be considerate of your fellow passengers. This was definitely observed throughout the journey. Nikki and constantly felt like we were telling the kids to lower their voices, though to be fair they were generally great about occupying themselves via online games, books or movies. We had with us a pocket Wifi device which came in extremely handy save for Hokkaido’s mountain and underwater tunnels.
One of my absolute favorite things about rail travel in Japan are the amount of food choices available to you, either at the train stations or via the food carts that are on the trains themselves. Here is the bento meal Nikki procured for me at Tokyo station. Note the presentation and packaging:
Unwrap the bento and you find disposable bamboo chopsticks, a toothpick, an o-shibori (which is like a wet handy wipe to clean yourself before eating) and in this particular case a tamago omelet over rice, Japanese pickles, pork cutlet or tonkatsu, cold noodles with tomato sauce. Everything was delicious all for around Y1000 or $10.
After approximately 5 hours on the Hayabusa, we arrived at Shin-Hakodate Hokuto station where we had about a 20 minute layover before our next train, the Super Hokuto.
Super Hokuto train arriving into Shin-Hakodate station.
Green car inside the Super Hokuto train. Smaller and less fancy than the Hayabusa but still nice.
One of the many great train station snacks we procured at Shin-Hakodate Hokuto Station- scallop flavored potato chips. Hokkaido has world class seafood and these flavors are everywhere. They are delicious.
The Super Hokuto track follows the outline of Uchiura Bay along Hokkaido’s Pacific Coast. You are so close to the sea that the rocking of the train gives the impression you are on a boat.
Our final connection was made at Oshamambe Station, which was unstaffed and merely consisted of two platforms and a covered walkway/waiting area. Here we boarded the JR Hokkaido local to Kutchan Station. As you can see from the photo of Al and Z below, no reservations required here.
This is Hirafu Station taken from the JR Hokkaido local. Despite the fact that we were staying in Hirafu we did not disembark here but rather continued on one more stop to Kutchan. Most of these JR Hokkaido local stations are extremely small and lack services such as station agents, buses or taxis. Kutchan acts as the region hub because it is central to Niseko, Kutchan and Hirafu.
After nearly 8 hours, three trains, and a 15 minute cab ride we arrived at our cabin (dubbed the Woodpecker) in Hirafu’s East Village Izumikyo 2. The weather was extremely rainy and at 60 degrees almost 30 degrees cooler than what we had been dealing with.
To warm up and recover from such a long journey we braved the elements and walked down to Tsubara Tsubara, our local soup curry joint with the tatami mats, delicious fried chicken wings and Japanese curry soup with meatballs or pork.
