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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Although the journey was not to bad for the Shinkansen is very fast and comfortable. Though we noticed there is less room on the Shinkansens leaving Tokyo, compared to for example the Shinkansens in Kyushu.
To get from Kanazawa to Aomori involved two Shinkansens, then a transfer at the end to a local train.
The first Shinkansen was the Kanazawa Shinkansen & the second was the Tohoku Shinkansen.

Catching the Kanazawa Shinkansen to get from Kanazawa to Aomori

Transferring to the second Shinkansen to get to Aomori in Japan.

Once we got to the Aomori train station June realised that she was not sure if she had booked the hotel accommodation, for the website she had used had crashed during the booking. She checked online and yes the booking had not gone through. Not a problem through Aormori was not busy and the Onsen Hotel we wanted had plenty of availability.

Arriving at Aomori station in Japan

Finding out that we had no hotel reservation in Aomori, Japan.

As mentioned we were staying in an Onsen hotel, interestingly enough the Onsen is actually open to the public at a reasonable price. So it was quite busy. Nige also noted that Aomori people seem to like their TV for there was one in the Onsen sauna.

Next we tried to find a local restaurant preferably iszakaya (pub food). Unfortunately the area we were looking at was full of Japanese chain izakaya’s and we ended up going to a Kagoshima chain izakaya, which was a little overpriced and not so tasty.
Again they had TV’s in the restaurant booths.

Having Kagoshima izakaya chain restaurant food in Aomori, Japan.

Walking around Aomori town centre at night time.

Everyone in Aomori used different accent of Japanese, called ‘Tsugaru-ben’. Aomori dialect.

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Nagano is about 2 hours away from Saitama and 3 hours from Tokyo.
 

Nagano station was completely new after renovation.
 

Lots of delicious Nagano fruit and food.
 

We went to Soba (Japanese buckwheat noodle) restaurant in north of Nagano. Soba is speciality food in the region. Delicious!
 

Then we went to our first Onsen (natural hot springs) for the last one year. There was a lot of snow here yet.　
 

You can see superb view from the Onsen as the bath is located outside. Onsen water makes you keep warm after while you hop out, it has serveral good health effects.

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