So yesterday was my first full day here in Sapporo, and I gotta say this is a great city. Sapporo is the 5th largest city in Japan, and one of the newest. Which means one very big thing - streets here actually make SENSE. Instead of wonderful naming like <bank street> because 50 years ago there may have been a bank, its grid based and divided into N/S/E/W and how many blocks away from city center. Anyways, I arrived here by train and met up with a guy named Neil, from Chicago. Nice chap. Asked him if he was staying at [View Full Entry]

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Writing this from the “Super Hakucho Limited Express 9” train. Probably about an hour out from the Seikan Tunnel, a 54km tunnel that goes 240m below sea level. Last time I was in Tokyo I was fortunate enough / smart enough to never have to ride the Tokyo trains during peak times... this time I've been caught twice, and trust me when I say the stories are all true. Once you get on you'll be pushed up against each other, sometimes rather forcefully I might add. It's tight enough that if someone picked my pocket not only would I be unable [View Full Entry]

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Arrived in　Sapporo... two entries for now that I wrote on the train ride over here.　　I　am going insane with this keyboard at the inet cafe (no inet at the hostel) so hopefully this doesn:t look like gibberish. Keyboards I used last time I was here weren:t nearly this crazed. Thought I'd write a bit about these Ryokan places since I finally got a few pictures up. Essentially they're Japanese bed and breakfasts. When stepping inside you have to remove your shoes and put on supplied slippers that you use for walking around. In the case of Kangetsu which has an o [View Full Entry]

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I'm writing this sitting cross legged on a seat cushion on a tatamai floor. eating rice balls. watching TV and drinking an Asahi beer from the vending machine outside. Ok not very traditional but granted not much is traditional about Tokyo these days. I'm back to my favorite spot to stay in Japan, Ryokan Kangetsu. Unfortunately I keep forgetting to take pictures during the day so don't really have much showing the place... when I leave tomorrow I'll take a few to show how unique it is. LOTS of other pictures for you to peruse tho... If your looking for pictures [View Full Entry]

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Quick first post.... touched down after an uneventful flight over. Good flight, JAL was great as always. Had two options of hot food for supper, I went with chicken and rice and washed it down with some not too bad red wine all complimentary of course. Met a guy from Korea who's heading back there for a bit, and watched the movie Iron Man about 2 and a half times. Made one rather large oops.. I ended up booking the wrong hotel here in Narita for my first night, so now I'm stuck in a very typical business class hotel (aka, [View Full Entry]

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