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Japan North to South
  • Patrick Vorsteveld

Japan North to South

Une aventure de 53 jours par Patrick En savoir plus
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  • Début du voyage
    9 mai 2016
    Patrick VorsteveldJapan North to SouthPatrick Vorsteveld

    Gate C10

    9 mai 2016, Pays-Bas ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Got to Schiphol Airport with plenty of time to spare. So it's time to start of this vacation with a traditional cold one. :-) This set of flights to Sapporo will take just over 18 hours so maybe i'll have another one just to be safe.En savoir plus

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  • Patrick VorsteveldJapan North to SouthPatrick Vorsteveld
    22

    Transfers and noodles`

    10 mai 2016, Japon ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    With all the flying and transfers and time difference going on it took me from monday morning to tuesday afternoon local time to get to my first destination, Sapporo. Because Sapporo airport isn't serviced by European airliners i had to transfer at Nagoya airport which cost me about 5 additional hours.
    Nevertheless it was a good trip and since the transfers were pretty short it wasn't really a problem. After all i'm on vacation right? :-)
    After taking care of mobile internet and the Railpasses for the entire trip i figured i just as well get me a Kitaca card. This is a chipcard you can use for checking in and out of subway stations as well as paying for food and drinks at stations. This can save you a lot of work and headaches if you know the subway system and how payment works here. Especially if you have 273 subway stations like in Tokyo for example.
    Getting the card however turned out to be a challenge. The guy behind the counter didn't speak English and since my Japanese consists roughly of being able to say "i speak a little Japanese" it took a lot of verbal and non verbal communication (including the help of Google translate) to get the card. Even a simple form with questions like name, birthday etc takes a lot of work. But in the end we even managed to get my name written in Japanese on the card, Peturiku. A train trip and 10 minute walk finally got me to the hotel where i checked in and took a long shower and short rest before heading of to a noodle bar that was recommended by the Khaosan hostel's receptionist. For only 760 yen you get a huge bowl of miso noodle soup (or whatever other flavor you wish) and it's insanely good! I will probably visit this place a couple more times. Now i'm in the hostels common room typing this short report before i'm off to bed. I think the jetlags kicking in right now...
    P.S. Did i mention already that the toilets are awesome here?    En savoir plus

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  • Patrick VorsteveldJapan North to SouthPatrick Vorsteveld

    Sakura

    11 mai 2016, Japon ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    One of the first things on my wishlist for this vacation was to watch the sakura trees. Not in the least because most of them have already finished blooming. I took the subway and then a local bus to Moerenuma Park where some of the last blooming sakura trees were. I took a half an hour walk to get to the cherry blossom trees but i was rewarded wit some great looking and smelling sakura. I strolled around the park some more and climbed up the vantage point which had 211 steps to take a panorama picture of Sapporo. I walked back to the busstop and when i got in the bus i realized i was the only adult passanger in a bus packed with schoolgirls and boys. All giglling and laughing and trying not to look at me. I got back to the hostel to relax a little and work on my blog. I got to talk with some fellow travelers and we decided to go into town to the arcades. It's just the same as the fairground in Holland only a lot more noisier. One thing that really stood out for me were the Purikura machines. It's like a photobooth only with special effects you can apply to the picture. Once i get a decent copy i will share it with you. :-) We had some more beers at the hostel before i went to bed. The jetlag is still not entirely gone. ;-)En savoir plus

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  • Patrick VorsteveldJapan North to SouthPatrick Vorsteveld

    NIkka

    12 mai 2016, Japon ⋅ 🌙 10 °C

    I managed to wake up just a little bit easier today and figured it would be a nice day to go to the town of Yoichi where the original Nikka whisky distillery is located. (Yes, they do make whisky in Japan)
    An hour long train ride with a tranfer at Otaru took me to Yoichi station from which the distillery was only a short walk. To my suprise the distillery tour was entirely free and i was actually able to see things like the kilm and the copper kettles itself where the whisky is actually distilled. By this time the weather had cleared up and it was actually sunny and fairly warm. As an utter bonus there was a bar at the distillery where you could actually taste the various whiskys for yourself. For free! After that it was time to get back to the hostel to meet up again with Jonny and Rachel, whom i met yesterday. We had plans to do karaoke but ended up grabbing teddy bears out of machines and playing Mario Kart. Well actually mainly trying to find out how to play the same race together. Finally with the help of one of the supervisors we managed to play a round together and i ended up last, as usual. All of a sudden it was half past 4 and a lot of beers later and i nearly literally crashed into bed.    En savoir plus

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  • Patrick VorsteveldJapan North to SouthPatrick Vorsteveld
    1

    Laundry day

    13 mai 2016, Japon ⋅ 🌙 6 °C

    I left the alarm off to sleep a little more since i figured i would be needing it. And since i needed to do laundry i decided to stick around in Sapporo and just relax a little bit. I went straight from the laundromat to Odori park which is in downtown Sapporo and took a nice nap just like the locals were doing. I walked to the old city hall to find some of the last blooming sakura and took some great pictures of it. I explored the local shopping arcade and the rest of the day was mainly spent doing lots of nothing which was good for a change. In the evening i went out for some yakitori and had some nice skewers with chicken skin and beef tongue which actually tasted surprisingly good. Really!En savoir plus

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  • Patrick VorsteveldJapan North to SouthPatrick Vorsteveld

    Snow and Onsen

    14 mai 2016, Japon ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    I always try to incoporate some national parks into my travels to get away from the busy and crowded cities and just enjoy a little bit of hiking. Hence i boarded the Okhotsk Express train to Kamikawa and then a local bus to Sounkyo, a lovely little Onsen town in a beautiful gorge. I had to get a ticket for the local bus at the trainstation and somehow the friendly man behind the counter already knew i was going there. I gues it's the main attracton of the area. ;-) Today's goal was to climb Mt. Kurodake, a 1980 meter high mountaintop. A cablecar and chairlift would bring me up to 1500 meters from where i would climb the remaining 400 meters to the top on a well marked trail. At least that was the plan. Since it was the end of the skiing season and the summer season hadn't officialy started, the chairlift was out of commission due to maintenance. This meant i would have to climb 200 meters extra. I was in a good spirit and decided to give it a go anyway. Yeah right. From the end of the ropeway there was quite a thick layer of snow still remaining and it was really slushy due to the high temperatures of the last couple of days. It took me over an hour to just get to the top station of the chairlift and from that point the climb got even steeper and the snow deeper. I tried to climb it but after a couple of minutes getting stuck up onto my knees in the slushy snow i exclameted some words i can't really repeat here and decided to get back down and enjoy the onsen i so rightfully earned. ;-)
    Obviously the walk down was a lot easier and within half an hour (after taking of my socks and shoes to let them dry a little bit) i was back down in the town of Sounkyo. I found a nice and small onsen and enjoyed the hot springwater. It's hard to describe the soothing feeling if you have been walking around all day and then to let your body relax like that. :-)
    Since the climb took a lot less time than planned i had time to visit Mt. Moiwa in. It has a great view of the city of Sapporo. I stayed there from dawn til darkness and had a delicious crayfish soup while enjoying the view at night. Back in the hotel it was straight to bed and i fell asleep almost instantly.    En savoir plus

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  • Patrick VorsteveldJapan North to SouthPatrick Vorsteveld

    Hell Valley

    15 mai 2016, Japon ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    I originally planned this day for tomorrow, the last day of my stay in Sapporo but weather conditions made me change my plans. The town of Noboribetsu onsen is said to be one of the best onsen towns in Hokkaido so naturally i had to give it a try. Not only does this town have a lot of different hotsprings with various water compositions (ie. sulfurous, rich in mineral, calcious) but it's also famous for its gorgeous and easily reachable geothermal source for all it's spring waters. Once you get of the bus you are immediatly greeted by a gorgeous sulfurous smell. Did i say gorgeous? I meant awful. :-P The walk to the geothermal site was a short and easy one and it's a spectacular site. In the middle of a green gorge there is a barren and rocky area where nothing grows. Colums of steam and small strangely coloured streams complete the picture. I just stood there for a while and looked in awe. The pictures on this post don't do it justice. It's truly mesmerizing. From the vantage point there were several tracks to lead you around the area for more wonderful sites and attractions. One of which is a small stream which looks like any mountain stream with cold water, only this is nearly 50 degrees celcius. Perfect for making a footbath the locals must have thought. And boy it is! Just take of your socks and shoes and soak your tired feet in the creek. Delightful! I got to talk with a nice family from Taiwan who were there with their parents and kids. It was really fun and they wanted to take a picture with them and me. :-D.
    Once back in the onsen town i went to the Daiichi-Takomotokan onsen resort. By far the biggest one in Noboribetsu-onsen. With 7 different baths boasting different water compositions and temperatures and hence various health benefits. It was a great experience. It even had an outside bath with view over Jigukodani (Hell Valley). Unfortunately no pictures of the onsen for obvious reasons but trust me if i tell you it was brilliant. I can't tell you much about the ride back since i slept practically all the way. The evening in the hostel was spent with a wonderful couple from Sweden/Norway and a Canadian while trying to watch my soccer team progress to the next round for European football. Just a perfect day!    En savoir plus

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  • Patrick VorsteveldJapan North to SouthPatrick Vorsteveld

    Rounding up Sapporo

    16 mai 2016, Japon ⋅ 🌬 11 °C

    This last day in Sapporo i really had no big plans. One thing i had to do was my laundry, one of the consequenses when you travel light without too much clothing. I also wanted to get a new handwritten seal from Hokkaido shrine in my shuencho so i figured i'd do them in one trip. Dropped of my clothing and walked through western Hokkaido to Maruyama park where the shrine was located. Because Sapporo is built like a modern American city it consist of a grid of streets and avenues. This makes for easier navigating but the amount of crossroads with traffic lights can become frustrating. Especially since they take a long time to turn green. Although maybe my slight hangover might have to do just a little bit with it too. ;-) I got a wonderful new seal in my book and continued to walk through the park as i heard chanting in the distance. It turned out to be a highschool baseball tournament. The entrance fee was only 500 yen so i decided to check it out. I've watched professional baseball games here before and wat striked me the most was the chanting of the fans of either side. They keep singing and dancing for as long as the game lasts, which can be up to 3 hours. Talk about loyalty! It was really cold and windy in the stadium but the atmosphere was great so i stayed till the very end. I walked back again to the hostel and after a great and filling dinner at a kaiten sushi restaurant with Japanese speaking but very helpfull staff, I met up with Ronja, Ole and Stephen again. I wanted to go to bed early since i wanted to get a good headstart on my trip to Hakodate but that kind of failed because we had way too much fun. :-)En savoir plus

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  • Patrick VorsteveldJapan North to SouthPatrick Vorsteveld
    1

    No smoking, no perfume, no curry

    17 mai 2016, Japon ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    I set off early today towards Hakodate, my second and last stay in Hokkaido. Since there is no Shinkansen train (yet) between Sapporo and Hakodate it would be a 4 hour long trainride on a Rapid Express train. I therefore planned a short stop in Onumakoen, a quasi national park, to stretch my legs and get some R&R. I can't tell you much about the trainride since i was asleep for almost all of it but i woke up just in time for the station. A short walk took me to the entrance of the park wich had 2 different tracks. One of about 15 minutes and one that would take roughly one hour. I passed al the Chinese tourists taking pictures of themselves with selfie sticks and went on to do the short route first. The weather was really sunny, especially for Hokkaido standards this time of year and so the walk was short but very pleasing. So i decided to do the longer route as well. Despite the heaps of tourists, the track was very quiet and relaxing and offered some nice viewings of the two lakes of onuma, it's islands and the mountainous backdrop. I sat down on a bench and took the time to enjoy it all. Halfway through there were two girls struggling to take a picture of themselves on a bridge so i offered to take the picture for them. I guess i must be a really good photographer since they kept saying "sugoi!" which means something in the lines of "awesome". After finishing my walk i took a short nap in the grassfield near the entrance of the park and after that headed back to the station. The train was a whopping 15 minutes late but i guess nobody really cared because the sun was shining and some people just started taking pictures of the squirrels in the trees. As i arrived in Hakodate it was of to Goryukako park, a city park with loads of colorfol trees and restored buildings from when the park was still in function as a fortress to protect Hakodate from invaders.
    It was getting late in the afternoon so i walked to the Aozora Inn, where i would spend the next two nights of my stay. The Innkeeper, a lovely old lady who only spoke Japanese, showed me all about the Inn and my room. The fact that I almost don't speak any Japanese did not stop her from talking and we somehow managed to figure it all out together. The one thing she did know how to say in English was "No smoking, no perfume, no curry". I guessed she just doesn't like strong smells. :-) I took a short nap and a short stroll around the area but there was not much todo so i just went back to my room and watched some baseball before i finally fell asleep.    En savoir plus

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  • Patrick VorsteveldJapan North to SouthPatrick Vorsteveld
    1

    20 kilometers

    18 mai 2016, Japon ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    Today was the day of visiting the old city center of Hakodate and the nearby Mt. Hakodate, the namesake of the city. The friendly lady from the Inn gave me some good tips on shrines to visit and advised me to go to the tourist information center for a map of Hakodate in English and some more tips on things to visit, which i did. There are several people at the station wearing blue jackets with buttons that said Tourist Information and English speaker. I adressed a really friendly lady who gave me some great tips on things to visit in the old city center, like the old foreign merchant houses. Hakodate was one of the first cities to be opened to foreign traders after a period of seclusion that lasted more than 200 year and where only the Dutch had a small trading post in Nagasaki. The weather was really nice and so i decided to just walk around and just enjoy the scenery. I found 3 different churches in a small area which is no surprise with all the foreign traders from Russia, the US and France amongst others. The place was filled with schoolkids who were obviously enjoying the warm weather and possibly the fact that they didn't have to be at school that day. I continued walking south to Hakodate park for a brief nap and after that went looking for the Hakodate shrine to get some new seals in my book. It wasn't really hard to find because it had a huge orange Torii gate in front of it. After getting the seal i strolled around the area a bit and decided it was about time for lunch. I noticed on the way that there were some old red brick warehouses that were converted to a shopping and dining district and that it had a nice little ramen noodle shop. I got me a big bowl of noodles and slurped my way through until the bowl was empty and i was full.
    I had heard many good things about the night view of Hakodate from the top of the mountain and thought it would be a good thing to get there a bit early to make sure i had a good spot for taking pictures. These things can get kinda crowded. I took the cablecar to the summit and after taking some daytime pictures i got me a good window seat at the bar in the summit station. I ordererd a beer to kill the time and was joined by a family from Thailand. I had a great talk with the mother and son about vacations and Europe and whatnot. After saying goodbye i went back outside to get some nighttime pictures of Hakodate. It was really beautiful but also really crowded. I decided to head back down to the city and go back to the hostel to get a good nights sleep.    En savoir plus

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  • Patrick VorsteveldJapan North to SouthPatrick Vorsteveld

    Nekkodon

    20 mai 2016, Japon ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    I had seen all i wanted to see in Hakodate so it was time to move on. So i got on board the newly built Hokkaido Shinkansen which would take me to Morioka, with a short stop in Aomori. Ronja and Ole, whom i met in Sapporo, told me about this fishmarket in Aomori when you can make your own bowl of donburi, called Nekkodon. You buy a number of coupons which you can trade for all kinds of seafood freshly caught. It's even cut into nice convenient slices so it's ready to eat. It's so incredibly fresh and delicious that i finished the bowl before i thought of taking a picture of it. After having a cup of tea on the seaside it was time to go our own ways. We said our goodbyes and i boarded the Shinkansen again after getting a seat reservation. This was actually a first since there had been no need before. Luckily it's free of charge and the people behind the counter usually understand it when you say "seat reservation". :-)
    The trainride with the Shinkansen was smooth as always and i quickly arrived at Morioka. I got a riceball and OJ for lunch and went to the remains of Morioka castle, which is made into a city park. It was so good to sit in the shade for a bit cause the sun was really beating down. I am really considering buying some shorts even though the added extra weight give me the shivers (pun not intended ;-)) I went to the hotel to check in and get a short nap since i really started to feel that i woke up at 5.30 this morning. Yes yes i know, i am getting old...:-P The nap turned into a 2 hour sleep and i already felt a lot better. I went outside for a short walk through the city center and got me a "Cup of Noodles" to eat in my hotel room. I watched some crazy Japanase gameshow and finally crashed at around 9pm.    En savoir plus

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  • Patrick VorsteveldJapan North to SouthPatrick Vorsteveld

    Recovery market

    20 mai 2016, Japon ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    First thing on my to do list today was Gebikei gorge. I got there a little late because i slept way to long but luckily the trainride wasn't too long. A short walk from the trainstation and i could immediately step into one of the flatboats that would take me and about 15 japanese people through the gorge. The boat is pushed forward by a man with a large pole (definitaley no pun intended!) and although he explained everything in Japanese, it was easy to understand whith help of the english brochure. It's a absolutely beautiful gorge and since the river is slowly and calmly flowing it makes for an easy and relaxing trip. At the end you get to leave the boat and try to throw some stones into a hole in the cliff on the other side of the water. Pretty hard to do and considering and for only 100 yen per 5 stones a pretty sweet deal (for the person selling them :-)) on the way back you are treated to a wonderfull (and slightly harrowing) local folk song.
    We got back to the pier and i had to make a run for the train. Normally i make it a thing not to run for public transport but since the next one would be 2,5 hours later i decided to break my own rules and make a run for it. As i got to the station, which is basically just a narrow platform with a booth on it, i could see the train coming. I got onboard al panting and sweating and sat down for about an hour until the train would arrive at Kesennuma. This place was very badly hit in march 2011 when the tsunami struck. A big part of this town, along with a lot of inhabitants were completely washed away... And although streets and buildings were being rebuilt, it was still easy to see the damage that the tsunami left behind.
    Now i wasn't there to witness the destruction because i don't like to prey on other peoples misfortune. And therefore you won't see any pictures of destroyed buildings and such. But i really wanted to visit one of the "recovery markets", a place they have setup with local shop owners who lost all of their belongings (and possibly even more) and who are recovering through tourism. A wonderfull and inspiring way of recovery. After a half an hour walk from the station i found one and was initially dissapointed to see it was nearly all closed. They would open later in the evening but that was too late for Morioka. Fortunately a couple of shops were open and i struck op a conversation with the friendly locals. Almost none of them understood english so i quickly found myself surrounded by around 15 Japanese trying to make conversation. My question in Japanese if anyone spoke English or even Dutch got some laughters but we had to reside on google translate to communicate. Which i have to admit worked wonderfully well. I ordered a chocolate and whipcream pancake and got a lot of laughs trying to eat my pancake in a very messy way. :-) We spoke about my vacation and the situation in Kessennuma. Unfortunately i had to get back to the station to catch the last train and so after a quick picture we said our goodbyes and i went back to the station. I slept all the way through on the train (it was one of those shaky local trains which always make me fall asleep right away) Back in the hotel i got a small glass of the whisky i got from the Nikka distillery and fell asleep.Truly awesome day!    En savoir plus

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  • Patrick VorsteveldJapan North to SouthPatrick Vorsteveld

    Craft beer

    21 mai 2016, Japon ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    I like to incorporate a bit of nature and park things into my itinerary. I find it relaxing to just walk around in a forest or just stare at mountains in the distance. So today i chose to go to Tazawanuma a caldera lake east of Morioka. The trip would be a fairly easy one, just one ride with the Shinkansen to Senboku station and then a short 12 minute bus ride to the lake. I got out of the bus and the tourboat was already waiting and so within 5 minutes i was cruising the lake. I can't tell you much more about the lake except that it's 442.3 meters deep since all the explanation was only in Japanese. Nevertheless it was a nice boatride and since the weather was really sunny and clear we had some nice views of the surrounding mountains. There were two short stops along the way, one for a shinto shrine and another one was a famous statue of a local girl called Tatsuko. According to legend, Tatsuko was a beautiful girl who prayed to retain her beauty forever but was instead cursed and turned into a dragon and eventually sunk to the bottom of Lake Tazawa. After that it was back to the pier and i took the bus back to Senboku station. I checked the timetable for the Shinkansen that would take me back to Morioka. The train arrived and i was kind of suprised since i expected the train to come from the opposite direction but since i have this all the time here in Japan i did not think very much of it and boarded the train and fell asleep. After about an hour of light napping i was surprised to hear the anouncer call Akita as the next and final station. I got into the wrong train! At first i wanted to take the next train back to Morioka but i figured i could just stroll around Akita for a bit and take the next train back. That turned out to be a good choice. A local TV station held a small festival there with music and i believe some famous comedians. And of course plenty of food stalls with all different kinds of meat skewers, noodles and whatnot. And somewhere tucked in between was a stall from a local Akita craft beer brewery. They use rice as one of their ingredient and it gives their beer a wonderfully refreshing tast. Of course i had to try all three beers they had on tap and meanwhile i had a nice talk with Ikukosan from the brewery. Slightly inebriated, I got to the station and actually took the right train back to Morioka. I watched some crazy karaoke show in my hotel room for a while and went to bed.En savoir plus

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  • Patrick VorsteveldJapan North to SouthPatrick Vorsteveld

    Sendai

    22 mai 2016, Japon ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Oh where to begin? These 5 days in Sendai have been a real boost to my spirits. After staying in Hakodate and Morioka in hotels and not meeting many english speaking people i got worn down a bit. And since i hadn't been to Sendai before i did not know what to expect. The first day i arrived somewhere early in the afternoon and i decided to just go for a walk and get a feel of the city. I bought a pair of shorts (lightweight of course) that suited the warmer weather of the last couple of days and had a short nap in a small park and went to find the huge Buddha status i had seen when i came into Sendai with the Shinkansen. With a little help from the people at the busstation i figured out which bus to take and 30 minutes later a was looking at a 100 meter high Buddha statue. This thing was huge! I walked around it and found the entrance at the foot of the statue. You could take the stairs all the way to the top where you could touch the head and belly of a wooden Buddha statue for good luck. On the way down my vertigo kicked in because i could see all the way down inside the statue. And so so i found myself clinging to the walls more and more. I got back to the bus stop and a 20 minute walk took me to the hostel. The Keyaki hostel is located in the bustling red light disctrict of Sendai with plenty of things to see and do. ;-) I checked in and Mumi, the girl at the reception showed me the facilities of the hostel and my dormitory and introduced me to Nozomi, the owner and Mae and Natsumi who also worked there. The hostel use to be a restaurant and breathed the cozy atmosphere of an old style japanese house. I felt right at home. I took a quick shower and joined some fellow travellers from Germany who where playing cards. After a while the people from the staff joined us and we had a great evening talking about whatnot. I turned to bed late already feeling better than the last couple of days. This was going to be good!En savoir plus

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  • Patrick VorsteveldJapan North to SouthPatrick Vorsteveld

    Loople

    23 mai 2016, Japon ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    One of the consequences of staying up late is that getting out of bed gets to be a bit harder. I therefore decided to change my original plan a bit for today. Natsumi advised me to take the loople line, a bus that stops at all the interesting places. I was a bit hesitant at first but i decided to go for it. Since Natsumi pointed out the best attractions i figured it was a good way to check out the best things Sendai had to offer without having to sit in the bus all day. I visited a shrine and mausoleum from the Date clan, the founders of modern day Sendai. The remains of Sendai castle weren't that spectacular but offered a great view over the city. Unfortunately the botanical garden was closed so i figure i have to go back another day. The sun was really beating down so i got myself a couple of cold ones and cooled down and chilled with the German travellers again. Natsumi was also there and although her English was not that good we managed to have a great talk throug google translate and had quite some laughs with the dodgy translations sometimes. She told me she started studying English since yesterday. :-) Later in the evening Eric from Norway arrived at the hostel and he joined the party. We both had plans on visiting Matsushima together the next day and so we decided to go there together. But not after having more brewskis and fun obviously. Sendai just kept getting better and better!En savoir plus

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  • Patrick VorsteveldJapan North to SouthPatrick Vorsteveld
    1

    Islands

    24 mai 2016, Japon ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Yesterday evening i talked with Eric from Norway about Matsuhima and we decided to get there together and watch the beautiful island dotted bay in front of Matsushima. We met up early at eight and took a nice stroll to Sendai station since the weather was good and we had plenty of time since Matsushima was only a 30 minute trainride through the mountains. We got off at the wrong station but quickly noticed that it was just a short 20 minute walk to the Matsushima harbor and decided to go on foot and enjoy the surroundings. We got to the harbour and bought a ticket for the boat that would take us around the bay. The boat had just left and the next departure time was in one hour. We saw a long red bridge connected one of the closer islands and since we had enough time we crossed the bridge and took a nice stroll on the island. It was a lot bigger than we expected and so we had to rush back to the boat because we only had a couple of minutes before it left. Unfortunately our 5 minute sprint didn't help because just as we arrived the boat left. So we had to wait another hour for the next boat. We went for another short walk to a smaller shrine on another island and made sure to keep a closer eye on the time. ;-) We met a nice girl from the US who also bought a ticket for the same boattrip and so we decided to go together. The boattrip passed several islands on the way and we got a great explanation about the area in Japanese. Which was really useful. ;-) After the boattrip we said goodbye to Ashley and Eric and I went for a decent lunch at a local lunch. We were the only ones in this huge restaurant and so we were served very fast (even for japanese standards). I wanted something more homeley so i went for pizza. We walked back to the station and all of a sudden were surrounded by schoolkids saying Hello! and Konnichiwa! If we said Konnichiwa, hajimemashite back we would get a lot of laughs and so they kept saying it until we were at the station. We got the train back to the hostel where we sat down with the hostel staff and other guest before getting out for some Karaoke and since i wanted to do this for a long time i was really anxious. Because we had a mixed Japanese/European group the song selection was very diverse. We went from Sukiyaki to Final Countdown, from Finger 5 to Carpenters and whatnot. Especially my singing was horrible but luckily that is not really important in karaoke. It was just awesome and i will definitely do it again. We got home to the hostel and i tought Natsumi some new words while drinking some tasty beverages before going to bed.En savoir plus

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  • Patrick VorsteveldJapan North to SouthPatrick Vorsteveld

    1057

    25 mai 2016, Japon ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    I told Natsumi about my plans to go to Yamadera to see a temple on a steep mountainside. She had the day off and had never been to Yamadera so we took off together. The trainride took about an hour, so i tought her some new English words and she tought me some Japanese. A five minute walk took us from the station to the start of the climb. Which was primarily a lot of stairs through a forest. It's been said that there are 1057 and there are signs along the stairs that you only have 650 steps to go. Very encouraging. The first couple of hundred steps were allright but after that it became steeper and steeper and we had to take regular breaks to catch our breath. After about an hour we reached te top of the stairs and the view of the temple from the top made the climb well worth it. Natsumi reminded me to get my goschuincho for a new seal but after rummaging through my backpack i discovered i forgot to take it with me. As i told her i forgot it she just bursted out laughing. The day before i told her i always forget or lose stuff. Like my toothbrush in the shower, my jacket in the onsen and my phone nearly three times in the toilet of a konbini. She said and i quote "No surprise!" and just laughed more. :-D
    It was time to go down again and the descent was a lot easier. The sun had begun to shine and so the climb up would only have been harder. We got back on the train to Sendai to get some beef tongue for dinner becaus the climb made us both hungry. We talked about stuff and she tought me some new words of which "hetakuso" was the one i remember best. According to the translation app on her phone it means "incompetent shit". I bursted out laughing loud in the train before telling her i would use this word a lot from now on. Back in Sendai we got back to the hostel to drop off our stuff and wait until the Gyutan restaurant opened at five. Gyutan is ox-tongue and it is a local specialty in Sendai. It's hard to exactly describe the tast if you never had it yourself but it's a bit like steak only far more succulent and tender. On Natsumi's advise i took the thin sliced Gyu-tan and it's utterly delicious. You get thin slices of tonge with almost no added flavors and it's unbelievably good. I now the idea might gross you out but do yourself a favor and try it at least once. And maybe the biggest surprise is that all this goodness will set you back 1600 yen, which is roughly 12 euros, an absolute bargain.
    Back in the hotel we had another great evening with the staff and some new guests. I gues you are beginning to understand why there was a lack of updates these last few days. ;-)    En savoir plus

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  • Patrick VorsteveldJapan North to SouthPatrick Vorsteveld
    1

    Pond

    26 mai 2016, Japon ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Shunsan, a guest from the hostel invited me to join him to the onsen town of Sakunami. I had no other plans yet and it would be nice to just take it easy after al these hectic days. At Sakunami station a free bus picked us up and brought us to Ichinobo onsen, one of the bigger onsens in the area. After all the rituals of taking of shoes, changing into a yukata and cleaning and washing it was finally time to enter the baths. The advantage of bigger onsens is that they have multiple baths with different water compositions but more importantly different temperatures. I myself like the 'colder' baths with temperatures of up to 41 degrees but there are baths of 45 degrees and up. Now four degrees might not sound as a big difference but trust me it is. :-) They have some nice inside baths but the one that won this for me was the outside ones. There were 4 outside baths together with various tempatures but the view was absolutely gorgeous. A huge rock in the middle with trees clinging on its's sides and a river with waterfalls meandering past the baths, fishes swimming in the river and crickets and birds in the background. Just awe-inspiring. After an hour or so we figured it was time to relax in the common area with a cup of tea. I noticed another bath and asked Shunsan what type of onsen this was. He said "No, this is just a pond". Woopsie! :-P
    We planned to leave at one but got a message that the train had an accident and we had to wait at least two hours before it would be fixed. So we decided to do another round in the onsen. After two hours the train was still not fixed so we grabbed a bus which would take a bit longer to get back but at least we would get back. As the bus arrived in Sendai i said goodbye to Shunsan and went back to the hostel for the big farewell dinner. I met up with Natsumi and Mae again and went shopping for ingredients at the local supermarket. I let Natsumi do all the shopping since i had no idea what was what. Kanji is still a challenge for me. ;-P
    Back in the hostel we started cooking and made home-style okonomiyaki and temaki sushi with salmon, egg, natto and other things. It must have looked really funny to see me pretend to know what i was doing. ;-) As we were about to eat a girl from Hong Kong, Vanessa, checked in and we invited her to join dinner. Some more guest came in and i had a great last evening at Keyaki guest house and it's awesome staff. :-D I know already i will definately be back. Definately!    En savoir plus

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  • Patrick VorsteveldJapan North to SouthPatrick Vorsteveld

    Thank you Keyaki

    27 mai 2016, Japon ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    I allways hate these days. You have a great time with wonderfull people in a cool place and then you have to leave. It just plain sucks. :-( This was one of those days. I know it's a sign that you had a good time and made some great memories but still. Meh.
    I slept in untl around 9 o'clock and even decided to take a later train to Suzaka but the inevitable had come. I had to say goodbye to Nozomi and Natsumi whom, together with Mae and Mumi, i had so much fun with. I always find it hard to find the right words so i just gave them a big hug and a heartfelt thank you before i set off to my next destination. We didn't stop waving to eachother until i was around the corner. As i walked to Sendai station i felt sad and grumpy. But i had to move on. Next stop on my trip would be Suzaka and that would make up for a lot since the owner of Kura Guest house is a very warm and welcoming person. I primarily slept in the train and after walking around downtown Nagano for a bit, i took the local Nagano Dentetsu line to Suzaka. I picked up some beers at the local Aeon supermarket and walked to the guest house. I was not really paying attention and was about to pass the guesthouse when i heard an excited Marina shout "Paturiku!!". I felt a lot better right away. I gave her a big hug and was introduced to another guest from Nagano. Two girls from Australia joined us later. It was so good to be back again! We just talked about the past 18 months and just about everything else. I went to bed feeling a lot better than when i woke up.    En savoir plus

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  • Patrick VorsteveldJapan North to SouthPatrick Vorsteveld

    Bears

    28 mai 2016, Japon ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    One of the things i was most anxious to see in the Nagano area was Togakushi. A shrine in a forested mountainous area just about an hour away from Nagano. Marina helped me out with all the bus schedules and gave me some great tips on where to get some delicious cold soba noodles. The busstop from Nagano station was a bit tricky to find but i got there on time to buy a busticket and be on my way. There are a total of 5 shrines to be visited and i had planned for at least 3. The first two are just a straight 30 minute walk away from the entrance of the park and consisted mainly of a beautiful walk on a path through gigantic, hundreds of years old trees. The sunny weather made it even better. I got some nice seals for my goshuincho and walked back to the big entrance gate where the paths split up to some nice single tracks through the woods. An absolutely wonderful walk, that is until i saw the big sign with kanji and hiragana printed big and red and a picture of a bear. Now i would not say that i was nervous or scared but i walked the trail roughly twice as fast as indicated on the map. After a while i calmed down a bit and actually enjoyed the wonderful sight of some small lakes and shrines right in the middle of the woods. I ended up at the last shrine and after seeing what i believed was a wedding, i headed to the restaurant that Marina recommended to me. Now cold soba is a specialty of that area but this one had also a dipping soup/broth/sauce that was made of ground up walnut. You just pick up the soba and dip it into the walnut mix. It's so incredibly tasty. The people at the table behind me must have heard me grunt of joy while is was eating. I got back just in time for the bus to Nagano and after a day of walking i just fell asleep in the bus. (just like most locals. When in Rome... ;-)) Before heading back to the guest house i made a quick stop at Zenko-ji temple. I had been here befor at my first stay in Suzaka but had not been able to get a seal for my book. After that it was off to the guest house where some new people from Germany and Canada had arrived and another great evening with talks and beers followed. This is getting repetitive. ;-)En savoir plus

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  • Patrick VorsteveldJapan North to SouthPatrick Vorsteveld

    Tanjoubi

    29 mai 2016, Japon ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Today no trips or trainrides. Today is the day i celebrate my birthday! I told Marina a while ago and she suggested to have a big party with barbecue, music and drinks. I didn't have to think long about an answer. :-) I decided to stay in the hostel and when the first guests from Tokio came I helped them build up the tent and bbq. The sunny weather and the good mood made for a good atmosphere. The food was delicious but I expected that there were going to be things I had never tried before. I was not disappointed. Some of the more exotic ones were fried grasshopper in soy sauce and a salad with jellyfish. You might not expect it but both tasted pretty damn good! Meanwhile Ryo, one of the guests from Tokio had been drinking in a pace that even i couldn't keep up with. Eventually the alcohol caught up with him and he decided to lay in the garden and eat some flowers. After about 30 minutes he was back to his old self and joined us in the party. After the barbeque the party went on inside and even more guests and local people joined the party. I got a cake and so many nice presents. Ryo had heard of my small backpack and so he bought a bucketload of potatochips in real small packages that would never fit. I also got a japanese version of a knapsack with beautiful decorations. It was so great, i got lost for words and that doesn't happen a lot. The party went on long with lots of beer, sake and a lot of laughs. Thank you Marinasan for such a wonderful party! I will remember this for a long time!En savoir plus

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  • Patrick VorsteveldJapan North to SouthPatrick Vorsteveld

    Monkeys

    30 mai 2016, Japon ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    After yesterdays party we agreed to take it easy and so Marinasan suggested we go to this special onsen in the mountains. The other guests had already left and so it was just Marinasan and me. The onsen was not too far from the hostel and as we arrived we were the only ones there. This onsen, like most onsens in Japan is gender separated and agreed to stay inside for about an hour and then meet again at the entrance. I got into the dressing room and there was no one there. Usually it's not allowed to take pictures for obvious reasons but since there was nobody there i figured also nobody would mind. ;-) Eventually one other person got into the onsen after me but he only stayed for 15 minutes so i had the whole place to myself for 45 minutes. And if that wasn't enough it was an outside onsen with a great view of the surrounding mountains which were fully covered in trees. Only thing was that the water was rich in iron and sulfur and so the air smelled a bit like farts. But that was a small price to pay for the awesome experience. After the time was up we got back in the car to Suzaka but Marinasan made one stop underway to a really cool and noisy waterfall. I guess that's why it's called thunder waterfall. We got back in the car and after some time were greeted by some of the snow monkeys i had seen in the onsen last time i was here in the winter. I took some pictures from within the car because even though the monkeys are small they are still wild animials and can be pretty strong. Marinasan dropped me off at Suzaka station since i wanted to explore a little bit of Nagano. First i went to a Ghibli exhibition with all kinds of sketches and drawings from all the Ghibli movies. It even had a scale model of the onsen from the movie "Spirited Away" or as the Japanese call it "Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi" (Yes i have practiced a lot on it haha) I walked to Zenjo-Ji temple to get the seal in my goshuincho which i didn't get the first time and got back to the hostel where i actually took it easy on the beer since we had to wake up early for the bamboo picking tomorrow.En savoir plus

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  • Patrick VorsteveldJapan North to SouthPatrick Vorsteveld

    Bamboo

    31 mai 2016, Japon ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    As you may now i am not a morning person and so getting up this early was quite tough. My original plan was to get up not to early and take he train to Tokyo. But Marinasan suggested to us that some of her friends were going bamboo picking and that if we liked, we could tag along. This was an opportunity i did not want to miss for the world and so i changed my plans to go bamboo picking and eating first. We met up with Marinasan's friends in front of the hostel and headed off into the mountains. A short stop at a konbini store provided me with necessary items and some items i just forgot to take with me from the hostel. I seem to forget or lose a lot of things this vacation. Anyway armed with gloves and a makeshift hat we got back in the car and a short while later we were at the top of the mountain, ready to pick bamboo. A short explanation from Senseisan on which bambooshoots to pick and we were off. It was obviously not Senseisan's first time up here since he came fully prepared with insect repelling clothing and stuf like bearbell and a flare gun to ward of any bears. We walked around the mountain and suddenly all the Japanese people stepped into the bushes. Not knowing exactly what to do, me and the other guest decided to just follow them and step into the bamboo bushes where the best bamboo shoots were to be found. It was there that i found out that just a tshirt and some shorts are not the best gear for walking around in bamboo forest. It was hard to find the first shoots but after a while you know what to look for and i actually picked quite a lot of bamboo. After bringing the bamboo back to the car we went for a second session but apart from a very steep climb and almost getting a treebranch in my eye it was fairly uneventful and we got back to the car since there was not much more bamboo to pick. At the parking spot the cooking gear was installed and we had a fantastic picknick with soup made with the bamboo shoots we had just picked. After all this hard work it was time for an onsen (obviously) to soothe al the aching muscles. We got back in the car and i guess Senseisan must really like "Call me maybe" because he played a soundmix version of it about 6 times in a row. Back in Suzaka we counted the bamboo shoots and apparantly we had picked for over 200 euro worth of bamboo shoots. Not bad for a days work. It was almost time for me to go but not after helping to peel the remaining shoots and getting some slices of bamboo pizza, which is truly delicious. I said goodbye to everyon and gave Marinasan a big hug and I had to hurry to get to the train. Takasan was so friendly to bring me to the station in his bright yellow Twingo. We said goodby and with a sad feeling i got on the train to Tokyo, my next stop.
    I directly went to the hostel and after checking in found myself talking to some guys from Germany and Switzerland and even a Dutch guy. Only the second one i've met so far. We decided to go to Shinjuku to go out and find some nice bars but we were obviously to late since most of the bars were closed. We took a taxi ride to Shibuya to try our luck there but that was not much better. I'm guessing tuesday night might not be the best night. We too another taxi back to the hostel and that was it for today.    En savoir plus

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  • Patrick VorsteveldJapan North to SouthPatrick Vorsteveld

    Otaku

    1 juin 2016, Japon ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    Whenever i am in Tokyo there are always some places i just have to visit. Akihabara is one of them. It's the area around Akihabara station with everything from the biggest electronics shop you can image to small shops that sell trading cards or little plastick figurines. A real Otaku (or geek as we call it) heaven. On my first trip i discovered a great tshirt shop called Kamikazestyle and really wanted to get back to get me a new crazy cool tshirt. Now they have some designs in their collection that are way to offensive to wear in Europe (Don't mention the war!), but i found a great tshirt in size XL, the biggest they had there which fits me just right. It would be a large M or small L in Holland. Happy as a geek i continued to walk around the area, mainly in the backstreets and found, amongst other things, a yoyo shop, Melon books, trading card shops, a shop that sells model airplanes etc. You name a geek hobby and there was a shop for it.
    I was slowly making my way back to the station as i saw a group of people patiently waiting in front of the AKB48 cafe. AKB48 is an idol group consisting of 48 beautiful young Japanese women who perform and sing all over Japan.
    I had gotten curious and so i bought myself a beer and some snacks to see what was going to happen here. All of a sudden two girls came out of the cafe and started pulling numbers out of a box. Each time a number was called somebody walked up from the group to the girls and got a stamp on his hand. After the last lucky number was called the rest of the group split up and left. Meanwhile a dutch couple standing next to me had explained that this was a lottery to get entrance to the small theater where some girls of AKB48 were about to perform. Being hungry and curious i decided to enter the AKB48 cafe and order me some food and drinks. I just started eating lunch as the big screens where the videoclips of the group were display switched to a live connection to the theater that was just on the other side of the wall. I could see that three girls got on stage under loud applaus and a lot of cheers from the predominantly male fangroup. Everytime a joke was made the crowd laughed out loud. Even some people in the cafe next to me were enthousiastically joining in the cheering. You gotta love these people for their dedication. I finished my beer and had seen enough so i took the next train to the hostel to do some laundry and get a refreshing shower before the hostels 10th anniversary party started. I got back from the shower and the party had apparently already started so i decided to jump straight in with a glass of plum wine. ;-) Jimmy, Rob and Philip were already there and we basically did what we did every night only now with more people and music. I left about a half an hour before the party ended to meet up with some of the guest i met at the guest house in Suzaka. I had a great time with them right from the start and we were eventually joined by the other guests from the party. This is exactly what i like most. Such a great party with locals and people from the rest of the world! Arigatou everyone!    En savoir plus

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  • Patrick VorsteveldJapan North to SouthPatrick Vorsteveld

    Hello Kitty

    2 juin 2016, Japon ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    I promised several of my friends to bring stuff from Japan. Things like tshirts, whisky etc. But i knew beforehand that the bulk would be Hello Kitty items. No, not for myself but for 2 of my friends. (Honestly!!) I figured Tokyo, being the city where you can buy anything there is to buy, would be the best place to score some nice Hello Kitty stuff. The biggest shop was a short walk away from the hostel so i set of to the Tokyo Skytree. There is a big shopping mall underneath the Skytree with a lot of touristy shops but also a store specialized in Hello Kitty. They have socks, chopsticks, mugs, teddybears, food, pencils etc etc.
    It was still early in the morning in Holland as i sent a message to my friends to get ready for the shopping spree. The next hour and a half i was running through the shop looking for items and then taking pictures to let them choose the one they liked best. I ended up paying exactly 15000 yen which is roughly 120 euro. Not bad for an hours work. :-) I even got a clubcard so now i am an official member of the Hello Kitty fanclub. :-P
    I had already visited the Tokyo Skytree the first time i was in Tokyo so i thought it would be a nice idea to go to Tokyo Tower instead. It's not as tall as the Skytree but it's located in a totally different part of the city and so gives another nice view of Tokyo from above. From the subway it was first of to Zojo-ji to get a seal for my gochuin and then straight on to the Tokyo Tower. A short elevator ride took me to the 1st floor at 150 meters. It had a nice view of the city seaside. Unfortunately Mt. Fuji was nowhere to be seen due to the haze in the distance. It was getting late in the afternoon and i went back to the hostel for a quick shower to rinse off al the sweat. (the last couple of days have been really hot and humid). Jimmy wasalready waiting to get to Nui hostel again where we met Megumi and her freind. Megumi works for Sennheiser in Japan and told me there was a Sennheiser demonstration the next day in Shinjuku where you could listen to a 6 million yen headset. :-P She gave me the address and we again had a great night in Tokyo. So much for taking it easy this evening.:-)    En savoir plus

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