Japan 2018

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In the Event of an Earthquake…

Sep 9, 2018
In the Event of an Earthquake…
I’ve just received a message from the the Air Terminal Hotel at Sapporo’s New Chitose Airport, the main airport for Hokkaido, Japan: I had been expecting the message, as there was a similar announcement at the hotel’s Web site.  As instructed, I went ahead and cancelled my reservation at the Air Terminal Hotel for next week.… Continue reading In the Event of an Earthquake…

Disaster Tourism

Sep 14, 2018
Disaster Tourism
Hawaii Big Island, April 2009. My partner and I hiked across lava. A map on our GPS guided us along the invisible lines of streets buried beneath us. A school bus, trapped by lava, reminded us this is a disaster site where homes had once stood. Disaster Tourism can be distasteful. I think of people… Continue reading Disaster Tourism

After the Quake

Sep 21, 2018
After the Quake
September 20, 2018. The view from my seat on the turboprop from Central Hokkaido’s New Chitose Airport summed up my hesitancy to visit Japan’s northernmost island. Below, I could see hills pockmarked by landslides. In some places roads were blocked. I was witnessing effects of Hokkaido’s massive earthquake exactly two weeks earlier. In the early… Continue reading After the Quake

Snapshots: Eastern Hokkaido National Parks

Sep 25, 2018
Snapshots: Eastern Hokkaido National Parks
This past week I’ve briefly visited the three most easterly national parks on the island of Hokkaido, Japan: Kushiro-Shitsugen, Akan Mashu, and Shiretoko. Kushiro-Shitsugen National Park Kushiro-Shitsugen is Japan’s largest wetland, famous for its Japanese red-head cranes. A JR (Japan Rail) line runs along the edge of the wetlands, with several stops. I decided to… Continue reading Snapshots: Eastern Hokkaido National Parks

Should I Press This Button?

Oct 1, 2018
Should I Press This Button?
In my experience, Japanese hotels are always clean, comfortable, and safe. Usually they are great value. Sometimes they come with a twist. I’ve stayed in a bicycle hotel, an art hotel, but, until this trip, I had never stayed in a hotel modeled on a nursing home. I stayed at this nursing home-themed hotel in… Continue reading Should I Press This Button?

Mono no aware: the Pathos of Things

Oct 7, 2018
Mono no aware: the Pathos of Things
Mono no aware, Japanese.Roughly pronounced: moh-noh noh ah-wah-ray.  Roughly translated:  A wistful awareness of the impermanence or transience of things. [Source] Cherry blossoms exemplify the Japanese mono no aware sensibility. The intense beauty lasts just a few days before disappearing. The short time blossoms are in season is a time for celebration. Kyushu, southern Japan, March 2014.… Continue reading Mono no aware: the Pathos of Things

Snapshots: 1,000 Miles by Train to Tokyo

Oct 13, 2018
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… Continue reading Snapshots: 1,000 Miles by Train to Tokyo
Packed Boots
Packed Boots

Packed my boots.

ORD
ORD

I will always find it exciting to board a plane in Chicago ORD at noon, then arrive Tokyo the next day, late afternoon.

Clean Clothes Every Day
Clean Clothes Every Day

Landed in Hokkaido from Tokyo, late Wednesday evening. Washed my clothes: they’ll be dry in time for me to wear them on an early morning turboprop flight.

View from a Plane
View from a Plane

This weekend I plan to hike this caldera lake (Lake Mashu). Another caldera (Mount Kamui) rises out of the lake. I took this picture from a turboprop, today, on my way to Nemuro, the most easterly town in Hokkaido and Japan.

A Kind Person
A Kind Person

At Kushiro Shitsugen National Park a woman stopped her car to give me an origami crane. I thanked her, and she drove on. After a hundred yards she stopped again, this time to offer me a ride to the train station. I thanked her and explained I love to walk.

After the Quake
After the Quake

Posted After the Quake.

Caldera in a Caldera
Caldera in a Caldera

Hiked up Mount Kamui, the caldera in a caldera I saw from a plane two days ago. At the top, a young guy from Kitami, Hokkaido shared his lunch with me (filled, steamed buns) and took this picture of me clutching my hat. He then ran back down.

Kawayu Onsen Station Footbath
Kawayu Onsen Station Footbath

Soaked my feet in the hot spring footbath at Kawayu Onsen Station (Akan Mashu National Park) while waiting for the first train to arrive at this station since the September 6 earthquake. I was the only person to board the train.

Shiretoko National Park
Shiretoko National Park

Hiked above clouds in Shiretoko National Park on the northeastern edge of Hokkaido. If I went further I’d be in the Sea of Okhotsk and the Russian Kuril Islands. Over 10 days I’ll head for Tokyo. Today, I’m 980 miles and 15 hours by slow trains and bullet trains.

Prison Museum
Prison Museum

Paused my journey in Abashiri, a town on the Sea of Okhotsk, to explore a museum of prison buildings. Some buildings date back to the early days of Japanese occupation of Hokkaido. I can add this to my list of the wonderful open-air architectural museums

Eastern Hokkaido National Parks
Eastern Hokkaido National Parks

Posted Snapshots: Eastern Hokkaido National Parks.

Daisetsuzan National Park
Daisetsuzan National Park

Hiked through Fall colors above the tree line in central Hokkaido’s Daisetsuzan National Park.

Hill of the Buddha
Hill of the Buddha

Visited The Hill of the Buddha in a cemetery south of Sapporo. Architect Tadao Ando surrounded a stone Buddha, below the head, with a lavender-covered hill. Ando’s concrete is gorgeous: I’d joyfully live in a home with concrete floors, walls, and ceilings

Undersea Bullet Train
Undersea Bullet Train

Rode this beauty through the 33.5-mile Seikan undersea tunnel from Hokkaido to Honshu.

Michinoku Coastal Trail
Michinoku Coastal Trail

Hiked for two days along part of the 700 km Michinoku (Pacific) Coastal Trail in Sanriku Fukko (reconstruction) National Park. People stay away because of the destructive 2011 earthquake and tsunami, and the disabled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

A Somber Place
A Somber Place

Rode a Sendai 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 roof where they were safe.

Nikko
Nikko

Walked for hours around an area of temples, shrines, and woodland paths on a hillside near Nikko, two hours north of Tokyo.

Mount Toyama
Mount Toyama

Hiked a gnarly trail: extensive tree roots, scree, erosion, fallen trees, 2,300 feet gain in two hours, no switchbacks. Walking down was even harder than the climb. A guy, older than me, was doing this with camping gear. Mount Toyama (7,230 feet), Nikko National Park.

A Level Path
A Level Path

Walked a level path through extensive marshland surrounded by mountains in Nikko National Park. After yesterday’s tough trail, I went easy on myself today.

TOTO Demonstration Showroom
TOTO Demonstration Showroom

On my way to Haneda HND for my flight home, popped into TOTO’s Tokyo “demonstration showroom,” occupying two floors high up in a Tokyo tower. For good, practical reasons, most Japanese have TOTO’s washlets in their homes; we’re having them in our new home

The Best Cold Beer
The Best Cold Beer

Woke up from a deep sleep near Seattle. “Anything you need?” asked the flight attendant. “The best cold beer.”

Suica Balance
Suica Balance

Used NFC (near-field communication) to read the outstanding balance on my Japanese Suica stored-value card: ¥421, almost four US dollars. The balance expires in 2028, but I plan to spend it much sooner than that.

Categorized as Japan