The Tourist and the Stuffed Animal Photo 1

The Tourist and the Stuffed Animal

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November 11th 2007
Left Hakodate in excellent spirits, hoping to reach Biei and then to access the Daisetsuzan National Park (see last journal entry). For this I had to change shinkanzen at Sapporo and Asahikawa, in eight hours of train travel (there's a lot of land up here). The scenery is quite wonderful - deep fir woods with patches of the trees in autumn umbers of pale yellow and others of vivid green - with ... read more

Asia » Japan » Hokkaido

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In 1603, a Tokugawa shogunate (military dictatorship) ushered in a long period of isolation from foreign influence in order to secure its power. For 250 years this policy enabled Japan to enjoy stability and a flowering of its indigenous culture. Fol... ... read more