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A Month in Japan
  • Lynne Schroeder
  • Richard Schroeder
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  • Lynne Schroeder
  • Richard Schroeder

A Month in Japan

A slow paced stay in an almost wintry landscape. Keen to discover the delights of glass, autumn colour, and Japanese seafood. Read more
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    Sapporo
    A Month in Japan

    Sapporo to Otaru

    Yesterday in Japan ☀️ 10 °C

    Our short stay in Sapporo is coming to a close. Glorious sunny morning greets us and our short train ride to Hokkaido University and the famous Ginkgo tree boulevard. Only just turning. Will definitely return in a couple of weeks to get the full autumn colours. We head of to the station at 11.00am. Catch the 11.30am train to Otaru. And it was packed!

    Alexis insisted we must buy Onigiri. Mission completed. I believe we have found our go-to snack while on the go.

    After checking out we make our way to Sapporo station and the JR line. We decide to purchase an IC travel card and after much fumbling eventually succeed and make it on to the train either minutes to spare.

    The journey to Otaru begins with the suburbia of Sapporo. As we reach the outskirts, apartment buildings become standalone dwellings interspersed with open spaces and light industry before suddenly there is the sea!

    The train line hugs the shore for about ten minutes before the port infrastructure of Otaru begins to appear.

    The train terminates at Otaru station and we wait on the platform allowing hundreds of people to go ahead of us. We have more than two hours before we can check in to our accommodation so we find a cafe to park ourselves in for a while.

    After toasties and salted caramel lattes topped with whipped cream Richard goes exploring and reports back on the local shopping centre and fish market.

    A short bus ride gets us to within a five minute walk to our accommodation    Read more

  • A Month in Japan

    Shopping

    October 17 in Japan ⛅ 13 °C

    Today we were tasked to check out a couple of furniture stores for the house in Otaru. Nothing much we could find in the price bracket we set. Nice coffee though.

    The free hotel breakfast buffet is really good and we get to experience foods we are very unfamiliar with.

    Our mission today is to organise delivery of a mattress that Nicholas has already picked and placed in his online shopping cart. Two lovely ladies in a store very much like David Jones, with the help of Google translate on an iPad helped us establish that this was not going to work out for various reasons.

    We checked out two Daiso stores and Book Off and came across a building with four levels of poker machines before heading to a coffee bar. I chose the latte with read bean.

    Sapporo has a streetcar loop that does a circuit of the south west area of the city. It’s just one carriage but there’s about five or six circuiting at once. The loop takes about an hour and after the commuter crush gets off, it’s a pleasant way to see that part of the city.    Read more

  • A Month in Japan

    Ramen Yokocho

    October 17 in Japan ⛅ 13 °C

    One item high on our list was a ramen meal at a cosy little ramen joint in one of the many laneways we’ve heard about. There is a well-known one just a few minutes walk from our hotel.

    The one we’ve heard about has a queue already forming so we opt for another. Just nine seats at a bar watching the preparation, we are offered a menu with eight choices. About five minutes later we are served; huge bowls filled with noodles, various toppings and the signature broth. The meal is delicious.

    Our return walk takes us past places that specialise in lamb and beef    Read more

  • A Month in Japan

    Sapporo

    October 16 in Japan ☀️ 15 °C

    Quick flight 2.5 hour to Sapporo. As soon as we touch down and switch our phones from flight mode everyone's phones simultaneously start sounding an alarm with an earthquake warning!

    On clearing customs and immigration we were set upon by a couple of people who wanted to interview us. Asked where we’re from, our plans for our visit and so on. So we had to ask for a selfie.

    Before finding the train we wanted to eat. The food hall here is pretty amazing. We ended up with snack foods that were pretty filling, things on sticks mainly.

    Sunny day. Easily Navigated the train ticket machine, and we take the all stop train to Sapporo Central. The buildings, fields, forests remind me so much of Germany. We get to our Holiday Inn and settle in. Decided to get some sandwiches from a 24 hour sandwich shop we saw on YouTube. Grabbed some beers and red wine from one of many convenience stores nearby, and dinner in our room. Our first glimpse of Japanese love of technology was found in the bathroom. The shower options were many, with spray nozzles a surprise.    Read more

  • A Month in Japan

    Incheon Airport

    October 16 in South Korea ⛅ 22 °C

    10.5 hour trip. What a drag. No inflight entertainment, but that’s ok, I brought a book and Ive got my phone & headphones. couldn’t read much as we probably had 8 hours of turbulence, and the noise in the cabin was so loud, couldn’t hear the podcasts I had. Meals were ok. One thing I hate now these days is flights are turning day flights into night. So we spend 80% of the primarily daytime trip in darkness. One good thing is that we booked the transit hotel so we could crash straight away. Ie. Didn’t need to go through immigration. Morning saw us in a better frame of mind and we grabbed an excellent buffet breakfast right next door. Not cheap, but all you can eat and as much wine and beer you could drink. And a lot of travellers did. 😳Read more

  • A Month in Japan

    Leaving

    October 15 in Australia ☁️ 17 °C

    Ok. At Sydney airport. Raining and misty. Check in went about as quick as we’ve ever experienced. Airport is quite busy for a weekday. Not sure why. Probably lots of people taking advantage of shoulder season.Read more

  • A Month in Japan

    Too Cute

    October 15 in South Korea 🌬 21 °C

    We're beginning to realise that travel is not as easy for us as it once was. And this flight presented some challenges. It did have its plusses; the 2-4-2 layout was definitely a bonus. And there were two meals included in the fare. The downsides included a total lack of of entertainment of any kind, a lot of turbulence, and the manufactured night flight during daylight hours. This meant that after the first meal was served at around 3:00pm, all the cabin lights were turned off and sleep was encouraged. around five hours later we were served breakfast while watching the sunset. This is really quite discombobulaing, especially since we were flying into darkness and arriving at around 11:00pm.

    We now needed to find the transit hotel. We knew we needed to stay within the secure immigration zone which obviously meant not passing through immigration. The only other choice offered was "Transfer". Everyone we asked had no idea where the Transit Hotel was located and there was no signage for it.

    So we followed the signs for "Transfer", had to scan our passports to enter, then found ourselves in the Duty Free shopping area of the airport and still no idea where the hotel was located. We found it eventually thanks to an information desk.

    The Transit Hotel is functional, nothing flash. Breakfast the next morning was a very good buffet heavily discounted for hotel guests from $US45 to $US 18 per person. There was an excellent choice of both Korean and western foods, including a really good Bibimbap station and an ingenius beer filling contraction that filled the glass through the base.

    After checking out we came across a helpful robot that led us to our departure gate.    Read more

  • A Month in Japan

    Unexpected Showers

    October 15 in Australia ☁️ 15 °C

    We had planned to head for a cheap breakfast. Walked outside the hotel to rain so chose the hotel breakfast buffet instead. We may have taken full advantage of all you can eat. The hotel booking included free airport shuttle.

    I sat behind the driver.
    The driver had window about a third open.
    A van passing us drove through a puddle.

    After a really smooth check-in we had loads of time to kill.

    A dropped boarding pass caused a moment of anxiety. It was found and handed in but also reprinted.

    The flight had a 2-4-2 layout and generous leg room. We had two meals but no entertainment, and they did that weird thing of manufacturing a night flight during daylight hours so we had breakfast while watching the sun set.

    We land at Seoul and go in search of our transit hotel which is not signposted and no member of staff seems aware of its existence.    Read more

  • A Month in Japan

    And We’re On Our Way

    October 14 in Australia ☀️ 18 °C

    Our trip to Japan begins today, the day before our flight. Rather than drive to Sydney and pay a fortune for parking we have chosen to take public transport. The trip is almost four hours and we need to be at the airport by 9:45am so we are heading down the day before and staying at a hotel with free airport shuttle.

    It’s been raining all morning which adds a layer of complication to getting ourselves and our luggage to the bus stop and on to the station.

    We kill time before the train in a cafe where Richard realises he’s forgotten his reading glasses. Ugh!

    Train to Central, then to Mascot where share a sandwich and chips. The walk to the Travelodge is 15 minutes after taking a wrong turn initially. One we didn’t need at the end of a long day.    Read more

    Trip start
    October 14, 2026