Snapshots: 1,000 Miles by Train to Tokyo

September 2018. I had spent the previous week exploring the three national parks in eastern Hokkaido. It was now time to figure out how to chunk a journey to Tokyo over the next 10 days.

I had flown to eastern Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost main island. The journey back to Tokyo would be slower. Armed with a JR (Japan Rail) Pass, I would travel a minimum of 980 miles by train. Ultimately, with side-trips and a back-track, my journey to Tokyo would be significantly longer than 1,000 miles.

Train travel in Hokkaido is slow. It takes 11 hours, by train, to cross the island to reach the Shinkansen (bullet train network). I would take my time.

Shari

My rail journey to Tokyo started in the town of Shari, eastern Hokkaido. The Russian Federation was just a few miles away in the Sea of Okhotsk.

Abashiri

In Abashiri I took time between trains to walk out of town to an open-air museum of prison buildings.

Japan does architectural museums really well, and this extensive museum was no exception.

In literature and history books I had read about Hokkaido’s harsh origins in the 19th century when it was a penal colony. Political prisoners, forced labor, and torture by the secret police were part of Japanese life through World War II.

The museum seemed to project a rosier image, but that may be due to my inability to scratch below the surface.

Asahikawa

Asahikawa was my base for a hike in Daisetsuzan National Park. I’d hiked the park’s trails in 2016, and was eager to return.

Sapporo

The Hill of the Buddha 

I first experienced the architecture of Tadao Ando a few years ago when I stayed on the island of Naoshima in Japan’s Seto Inland Sea. Ando is at the top of his game, highly awarded, with major commissions around the world. His cast–in-place concrete has an extraordinary softness and beauty.

I took a subway to the end of the line in Sapporo, then a city bus to a cemetery. Originally, a stone buddha sat in the middle of a field in the cemetery. Tadao Ando surrounded it by a lavender-covered hill.

Four Winds Sculpture

I took a city bus from The Hill of the Buddha to Sapporo Art Park, a sculpture garden outside of Sapporo. I wrote about this part of my trip in a previous post, Mono no aware: the Pathos of Things. I wanted to reflect by a decaying, abstract sculpture by an indigenous, Ainu sculptor, Bikky Sunazawa.

Hakodate

I decided to break my journey for the night in Hakodate, a city I have visited on two previous trips. Heavy rain in the morning motivated me to make a beeline for the train station.

Hachinohe

I hiked for two days along the most northerly section of the 700 km Michinoku (Pacific) Coastal Trail in Sanriku Fukko (reconstruction) National Park. “Reconstruction” refers to the aftermath of the devastating 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.

I was able to use the city of Hachinohe as my base because a train line runs near the sections of trail I was exploring. Each day I took a train to a different part of the trail, and at the end of each day I took a train back to Hachinohe.

Sendai

I had planned to hike part of the Michinoku (Pacific) Coastal Trail near the city of Sendai, but Typhoon Trami had other ideas.

The typhoon was coming up from Okinawa. It was a big deal in Tokyo and points south: trains, including bullet trains, were cancelled.

When I arrived in Sendai, the rain was light, and remained light for a whole day while I stayed near cover. A full-scale hike seemed unwise.

Sendai Arahama Elementary School

The 2011 tsunami hit the Sendai area particularly badly. I took a city bus past fields where homes had once stood, to an elementary school that is now a museum.

The 2011 tsunami crashed through the second floor of the school, but the children had been sent to the top floors and to the roof where they were safe. The building survived because it had been built to withstand severe earthquakes.

Sendai Mediatheque

I have seen the future of libraries, and cultural spaces in general: it’s the Sendai Mediatheque.

It was a drippy Sunday afternoon when I arrived, but the Mediatheque was buzzing with people. In the large entrance lobby, several women in kimonos were putting on a performance for a standing-room only crowd.

After a late lunch in the cafe, I explored each floor of the building. 

The sign in the elevator pretty much explains things. The second and third floors are a library, the fifth and sixth floors are art galleries, and the top floor is rehearsal space for performers. 

After the hubbub of the main floor, the library floors were stunningly quiet. People were coming and going and sitting at tables in complete silence.

As technologies evolve, as our relationships with media change, the building seems ready to adapt.

That night, Typhoon Trami came through. It looked pretty vigorous from the comfort of my hotel room. I felt safe looking through earthquake-ready wire mesh glass.

One Hour in Tokyo

Next morning, the sidewalks were drying off, and the sun was shining, I was ready to take a train to my next national park, Bandai-Asahi National Park.

But it was not to be. Because of the typhoon, the trains to the park were not running. I’d previously experienced train cancellations in Japan because the trackbed had been washed out. Presumably that had happened this time.

I decided to hop onto a bullet train bound for Tokyo. The comfortable seat provided a quiet place for me to figure out what to do next.

Just before I arrived in Tokyo, I decided Nikko, and its surrounding national park, would be rather fine. I got off the train in Tokyo’s Ueno station, then waited for another bullet train to take me back up the line.

It was disconcerting to learn that the train was delayed by 10 minutes. This was a first, for me: bullet trains are always on time.

In Utsunomia I switched to a local train to Nikko.

Nikko

After checking into a hotel, I walked for several hours around an area of temples, shrines, and woodland paths on a hillside near Nikko,

Nikko National Park

Mount Toyama

I hiked a gnarly trail up Mount Toyama (7,230 feet), with a total gain of 2,300 feet in two hours with no switchbacks. I negotiated extensive tree roots, scree, erosion, and fallen trees. There were ropes.

Walking down was even harder than the climb.

I kept some humility: a man, older than me, overtook me. And, he had camping gear in his large backpack.

Kinu-numa Swamp

After the previous day’s somewhat technical hike, I went easy on myself with a two-hour walk through wetlands. At over 6,500 feet elevation, I was walking through the highest swamp in Japan.

Tokyo

21_21 DESIGN SIGHT

After checking into my hotel, I took a subway to another part of town where I visited 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT gallery.

I wanted to be in a building designed by architect Tadao Ando, and to experience the current installation, Audio Architecture.

Although the galleries are underground, Ando pulls in natural light using his signature cutouts and a below-grade courtyard.

The Audio Architecture installation was a collaboration of a group of musicians and nine visual artists. The results are mesmerizing, and made me think of new possibilities.

The sun was setting when I left this magical place.

Dinner

On the way back to the hotel, I ordered dinner at a touch-screen kiosk at the entrance to a restaurant.

I then went inside and sat at a table while the meal was cooked to order. The order number was displayed on a screen when the meal was ready to be picked up at a counter.

Toto

Next morning, I popped into TOTO’s “demonstration showroom,” occupying two floors high up in a Tokyo tower. A few years earlier I had visited the TOTO museum in Kokura, the birthplace of the TOTO Company. Now, I was planning to be a customer.

For good, practical reasons, most Japanese people have TOTO’s washlets in their homes; we’re having them in our new home.

Haneda Airport

After that excitement, it was time to make my way to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport for my flight home.