I didn't even wake up to my alarm this morning. Instead I was wide awake @ 8:15am and just got my butt out of bed and started getting ready for a good days work or hiking and then relaxing in an onsen. I got a shinkansen to Furukawa and then rode out to Naruko Onsen station. It took about a hour and 20 minutes and around ¥2000 to be dropped off and after a few minutes walking around and orientating myself. The reason I wanted to come was to go hiking along the 4km trail along the Naruko Gorge. I had heard good things about it and also how nice the trail is along the river. Just my luck though, the trail was closed today. I never did get a reason why though. Instead I went ... read more

Day 1 After two great nights in Hakodate my parents and I headed out on the 3 hour journey to Sapporo. Hokkaido doesn't have a shinkansen system so all the trains are super express. We passed by many places that I would love to visit but will have to wait until another holiday vacation. It was rather odd to be in Sapporo without all the snow that was there the last time I was there. After we got to the station we headed into the depths of Sapporo station to find some lunch. Sapporo station has an additional basement that is full of nothing but restaurants. They have a selection that goes from traditional Japanese all the way to Mexican and Italian. The ever present Starbucks held it own for a bit of coffee and snack ... read more

Well, we left Sendai at 8:37 this morning. I got myself out of bed by 6:45 and had everything ready to go and meet my parents at the meeting place. I grabbed some food from 711 before walking down to the station. They had been up for a while in Starbucks and we just met, chatted, got a last drink and headed up to our shinkansen. My parents have the Japan Rail pass. This means that they prepaid for the pass and just pick up the tickets where ever they are going. There are numerous levels of passes, the highest being the Green Car passes. They have the Green Car passes. I have never ridden in such luxury before. There was an beautiful lady who came over for a complimentary hand towel and took our orders ... read more

It is that time of the year in Japan, Hanami, or flower viewing. All over Japan the beautiful sakura, or cherry blossoms, start to bloom and the Japanese celebrate with afternoons in the park, drinking, and karaoke. The cherry blossoms only last about a couple of weeks and traditionally they were viewed to remind us how fleeting our lives really are. The blossoms are short in beauty but last longer in memory. The Japanese national weather center has an equation so they know when the blossoms will bloom. This way companies can plan flower viewing parties where everybody from work gets together and drinks their stress away. While remembering how fleeting their lives are. Many parks put out blue tarps for people to claim and enjoy a lazy afternoon with family or friends. The blossoms started ... read more

What a weekend! So much happened and so many pictures were taken, well into 200 of them. I will do my best though! So On Saturday my co and I left Sendai at 11:30 on the sleeper train and headed into Hakodate. The sleeper train was pretty nice. You get your own little bunk in a small compartment of 4 bunks; 2 on top and 2 on bottom.I had a top bunk for both trips. The train gives you a really thick blanket, pillow, hanger, and yukata to sleep in. My co and I headed straight to bed and tried to sleep through the bumping and moving train. I got lucky and ended up sleeping for about 5 hours but my co wasn't as lucky. We arrived in Hakodate @ 6:30am on Sunday and headed straight ... read more