Comfort Hotel Kitami

... It's amazing how beautiful Japan's countryside can be. I don't know why, but it's when I travel that I actually remember I'm living in Japan. Working at school can be so busy and since it is an English only environment, sometimes I forget that I'm actually living overseas.
Day 2 was a very productive one. Day 3 however was a short one because I had to make sure I get to the airport in time for my flight at 7pm. I thought I'd rise and ...

... stray thoughts. But walking is mindless and my head doesn't stop, so you're replaying all the weird things you come across, the opportunities you didn't take, the failures you could've prevented (lab included). And I was pretty down; maybe the most depressed I've been on this trip so far; I incipient snow wasn't helping.

But it got better once I got back to the hostel and spend a glorious hour in the outdoor bath (rotemburo) which is from a volcanic spring. The ...

Abashiri is famous for having the harshest prison in the country. I think the old version of it was but the current buildings are much better. I visited the prison museum which has removed the old buildings and reconstructed them in the museum so you can see what conditions were like. It was very interesting even if I did get a little spooked ...

Furano: 15-20 January We arrived in Furano in the midst of a three-day blizzard. Just what we needed after riding non-stop powder in Niseko and Rusutsu. We were dropped off in the middle of the village with no idea of where our accommodation was. I walked to the nearest pension to ask directions to our pension and a nice elderly Japanese couple helped by giving us a map of the village. As we started our walk to the lodge another ...

... day, we headed straightaway to the aerial ropeway which took us to about 6,000 feet where we could walk a couple of miles of trails to views of the snow-covered Asahidake peak. There had been some early snow which had begun to melt in spots, so it was a soggy walk for ill-equipped us. Still, the panoramic views of the surrounding peaks and the lowlands stretching back to Asahikawa were splendid ...

... recently constructed hostel provides spacious and sunny western-style rooms and nice traditional baths. Adjacent to the hostel is an affiliated restaurant that serves western-style meals at reasonable prices, but after the two meals we had committed to, we opted to make use of our car and seek out the Japanese food in the nearby town. Lake Mashu partially fills a huge caldera and from the viewpoint along its rim one can take in the lake and the broad plain that surrounds it. As it ...

We flew from Tokyo to Memambetsu in the northeast of Hokkaido, Japan's major northern island. There we rented a comfortable compact Nissan sedan that would lead us on our tour of this part of the island. I say lead because all rental cars here come with a GPS which gives one a great sense of confidence when tooling about. Despite the fact that it speaks and maps in Japanese, we can easily ...

... Hokkaido. 20 horas de barco, pero de ferry custroso, nada. Aqui no hay nada custroso, ni los cubos de la basura, de haberlos, lo serian. Habitacion compartida con 14 japos mas (en realidad, solo con 4 porque el barco estaba medio vacio) todos tumbados sobre tatamis (era la opcion barata) y con banyos comunes, con grandes ventanales al oceano, eso si. 20 horas no dan para nada, entre descansar, escribir el diario, ver partidos de beibol y pingpong de Japon y ...

... a beer in the onsen (Japanese communal bath), a bowl of noodles, and watching The Last Samurai in Japanese. So three days of skiing was perfect. Long enough to enjoy ourselves without getting bored by the lack of stuff to do in the evening, and fortunately short enough to ensure we didn't wrap ourselves round a tree while trying to compete with the Japanese ski team.

... in Hirosaki Toei Hotel on the day, and the next day we headed for Nishimeya via Nishimeya village hall from Hirosaki Bus Station. The terminal was in front of Aqua Green Village Anmon with some tour buses. Then we tried Tsugaru apples at a stall near the bus terminal, because we had found apple gardens on our way and it reminded us of the specialty of Tsugaru (Aomori). They peeled and cut the apple on the spot with a peeler and the apples were really good. Beyond the bridge, we ...