Blogs from Nemuro, Hokkaido, Japan, Asia

As mentioned previously, breakfast was illegally early and to make matters worse, the culprit was late. I shared the joke with my new Japanese best friend across our mugs of hot milk, proving once again that some jokes really are universal. Today's chopstick challenge was a fried egg, which despite first thoughts, oddly turned out to be easy once you twigged where to start. Mr Fiennes even went so far as to put his yolk on his toast but I considered this way too risky that early in the morning. The weather had improved immensely, although a light midnight flurry of snow had dusted the scene. Weirdly, the snow looked like tiny white sugar balls ready to sprinkle on your donut. I didn't have time to try this out though as with clear skies, we ventured ... read more

Following some recent comments on my poor spelling, I would like to offer my sincere apologies if this has effected your reading pleasure. I will endeavor to try harder and blame all my errors on the telepathic influence of my mother. We awoke to a white world of snow in Chitose with enormous 6 foot high piles of ploughed up snow lining the streets. We figured we needed to make as early a start as possible on the drive to our lodgings in Nemuro (up the coast from Kushiro), so after a hearty breakfast, we caught the train back to the airport to arrange some replacement car hire.  Unlike the UK, things here do not seize up and stop when it snows (except the odd flight, of course) so all the trains were still running perfectly on time. Clothing-wise, ... read more