Catching the train from Aomori to Hakodate in Hokkaido, Japan.

We finally arrived at Hakodate station. We spotted support beams holding the roof of Hokkaido station so that it did not collapse. It looked very make shift and seemed to be put there as an emergency measure, not very reassuring.

View of the rail tracks from inside Hakodate train station in Hokkaido, Japan

Outside the station it was very spacious and wide though a little quiet. It was also quite chilly as to be expected when you travel north of Japan.

View of Hakodate train station from outside in Hokkaido, Japan

We had found a very good rate on our hotel room, after checking in we found out why, there was a large construction site outside but the room was soundproofed so it did not worry us.

We made our way to a ramen restaurant, as Shio (salt broth) ramen is famous in Hakodate. It was tasty & delicious!
It was a basic looking dish though very satisfying to eat.

Having Hakodate shio ramen in Hokkaido, Japan.

Views of Hakodate town in Hokkaido, Japan.

After spending the afternoon at a large spacious Starbucks, we took a tram to go to ‘Yachigashira’ Onsen (hot spring) on the edge of Hakodate. It was really, really nice onsen with a good selection of hot indoor and outdoor baths at varying degrees of temperature. We spent one hour there but wished we had made it longer.

You can communicate with the tram driver with pen and paper.

June buying tickets in Yachigashira onsen in Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan.

Heading back to catch some dinner in Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan.

We finished the day with Hakodate Izakaya town.

Having some dinner at a izakaya in Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan.

It had been a long but very nice day.

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Catching Thunderbird Express from Kyoto to Kanazawa

The train station at Kanazawa was nice and modern and had recently added a Shinkansen line (Bullet train).

Arriving at the nice modern train station of Kanazawa

Unfortunately it was raining in Kanazawa which limited our opportunities to have a look around.

Exploring Kanazawa in the rain

The hotel was a bit larger and more comfortable than your average business style hotel.

We decided on choosing a Yakiniku restaurant close by because of the weather.

The Yakiniku restaurant offered all you can eat course (tabehoudai). We decided on the 1980 yen course and it was with the price!
Beer was also reasonable price and Nige decided on the trying a dai nama for his second beer and showed the difference in size between a chou nama (medium beer) and dai nama (large beer).

Having all you can eat barbecue (tabehoudai) and drinking chu & dai nama. (medium & large beer)

Small streets in Kanazawa were are authentic Edo style and are very beautiful to walk around.

We made a note to visit Kanazawa again to spend more time to proper explore and experience what Kanazawa has to offer.

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After the trip to Nara, we had built up a healthy appetite for some lunch & June was keen to try some Kyoto ramen.
We found a place on the 10th floor of Kyoto train station that was popular with Japanese and foreigners alike. Unfortunately we did not spot the ticket machine prior to waiting in the long queue. It was only after a long wait getting to the front of the queue that we realised this and June ended up with having a heated argument with one of the restaurant staff while attempting to explain our mistake. Unfortunately even though we were at the front of the queue the staff member kept on bypassing us by bringing in the customers behind us.
Japan has a reputation for unrivalled customer service but in the case of this particular staff member it was seriously lacking.

After lunch we went down from 11th floor to ground floor by long escalator. We also had a bit of a scare when Nige’s new shoes slipped at the top of the esculator. If you make it to Kyoto, we recommend the train station escalator journey from the 11th floor.

The escalator journey on the way down from the top of Kyoto train station.

After that it was time to find a cafe to catch up with the video edits and stuff. All the cafe’s around Kyoto train station were full, so we recommend finding a cafe in the centre of town, where they are not so busy.

View of Kyoto tower in Japan.

Finally it was time to head back to the hostel. It was modern and nice hostel with a very nice cosy room that also included basin. The toilets were also on our floor but all the showers were on the ground floor.
That night there was an event of making Temari Sushi. Temari means Japanese style small handball. It was fun to make it, looked nice and delicious and a bargain at 500 Yen per person.

Temari sushi event at the hostel in Kyoto, Japan.

Hostels can offer a great alternative to business style hotels and in this case the hostel was modern, clean with good buffet breakfast and the bed was very comfortable.

We had good sleep at the nice hostel room.

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We left Kochi for Osaka, but would be stopping at Okayama for a look around on the way.

Train from Kochi to Okayama, Japan.

Again the train journey back to Okayama was spectacular with the highlight being the crossing of Seto bridge.

We decided to walk in Okayama city. Unfortunately there was not enough time to look at Okayama castle, Korakuen Japanese Garden etc,so we decided to walk around the Shotengai, the local shopping street.

Okayama is a bit of a quirky city with interesting bits that stand out like the police office at the side of a canal and some of the street clocks.

Views from the centre of Okayama, Japan.

We entered local small canteen style of restaurant and had udon noodle and curry rice. Reasonable price and homemade taste and the restaurant had a nice authentic retro style to it.

Authentic style restaurant near Okayama station, Japan.

Along the walk Nigel’s shoes decided to die with the sole detaching, so we both decided it was time to upgrade / replace our shoes.
Because we gave our shoes to the shop for recycling we were awarded a 5% discount. We also attempted to get the shoes for duty free but made the mistake of wearing the shoes prior to claiming the duty free discount, which made duty free null.

The correct procedure would have been to take the shoes in their box to the duty free first and then changed the shoes at the shop and handed the old shoes over for the 5% discount.

We also noted that the Okayama’s restaurants and bars looked very affordable and good value.

After that it was time to move to Osaka.

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Train station to get to Kumamoto

We transferred to Shinkansen and were very impressed by the style of the kyushu Shinkansen’s. They were very new with stylish wooden chairs.

The interior of the Shinkasen that travels through Kyushu, Japan.

Unfortunately we arrived at around 5pm on a Friday where everybody was either heading home or going out for a good night out.
So there was a healthy queue to get onto the tram, which would take us to our hotel. It was impossible to get off the tram for the first four stops due to the amount of people on the tram. But we managed it on the next stop.

We then did our routine room tour vlog, and then had to get our laundry out of the way.
After that it was time for us to sample the Kumamoto nightlife.

Kumamoto has a large impressive shoutengai (entertainment district) and it was buzzing with Japanese salarymen and many hostess’s looking to entice them into their bars and clubs.

Kumamoto’s impressive night district area. One of the best places to party in Kyushu, Japan if you don’t mind raw horse meat.

We went to sample Kumamoto’s local food – Baniku or Sakura-niku which is horse meat. Japan has two areas which pride themselves on the quality of the Baniku, one is South Nagano and the other is Kumamoto.

Kumamoto, Kyushu, Japan is famous of it’s sakuraniku, raw horse meat.

We found a local kumamoto horse meat restaurant down one of the side roads of Shoutengai which was basically a Baniku restaurant and offered if in several styles.
Both of us unanimously agreed that this was the best baniku we had ever tasted.

Kumamoto’s restaurants are also very good value, and this one offered nomihoudai (all you can drink) for 1000 Yen. An offer that we could not refuse.

After a delicious and enjoyable meal we realised that we had been doing nomihoudai without taking an ukon prior to drinking.
So in the spirit of better late than never we found the local convenience store which had more than enough selection of ukon for us to select. Ukon seems very popular in Kumamoto.

After the last ditch attempt to remove any potential hangovers we then retired to the hotel room.

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The carriages were to be separated at Okayama station, the first half carriages go to Shimane prefecture (Sunrise Izumo) and Second half go to Takamatsu, Kagawa prefecture (Sunrise Seto). We took the Sunrise Izumo one.

You can choose from several types of carriages. One is a private room type with bed, one is upper version of it and one is a relaxing seat. The last one you don’t need to pay any extra and can use an ordinary ticket along with a reserved seat ticket.

You can lie down at the relaxing seat however there’s no mattress. You have sleeping space but It’s like sleeping on the carpet. Blankets and sheets are provided though.

For the budget minded the relaxing seat is good option. If you prefer more luxury then go for the upper version which involves extra cost.

We took the basic relaxing seat option. Its recommended to take sleeping bags which will make it more comfortable.

Although both of us slept quite well even without sleeping bags.

Entry into the carriage we would be spending the night.

Nige waving goodbye from his bunk bed.

View of the upstairs and ground floor bunk beds from outside

Interior view of the carriage bunk beds

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Nagano station had spent a long time refurbishing and recently reopened into a modern sophisticated station. Lots of different kinds of Nagano food and suvenior shops in the station buildings.

There were several big mascots there to promote new national park in Nagano. Nige was so excited that he ran up to dance with them.

We had nice Japanese style lunch with friends too. Try Nagano food if you have chance, it’s delicious

Fish market inside Nagano station buildings, these are carried from Japanese ocean.

Had nice dinner with friends, this is called ‘Kushiage’ or fried skewers.

We had a great Japanese lunch and dinner, met some very nice new friends and finished up with a coffee at Nagano station’s starbucks while waiting for June’s Mum to pick us up.

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