July, 2009: Mina-NagareYama, Chiba to Minami-Wakkanai, Hokkaido

Souya Misaki is the northern most place in the whole of Japan. And somewhere south, about 45min by bus, is the JR Wakkanai Station, the northern most station on the JR line. Ideally, I would love to take one of the sleeper train overnight from Ueno to Sapporo. Arriving in the morning and make my up north. But that's 'ideally'. JR slap about 9000Yen surcharge for the sleeper Cassiopia and Hokutosei trains even with the JR Japan Rail Pass. So, this is out. The alternative is to take the earliest possible train out of Ueno to Hokkaido. "Earliest possible" meant one leaving Tokyo after 7am since it would take me about an hour out of Minami-NagareYama, and the first train out is after 5:30pm. And experience from the Kamikochi trip tells me it is possible for the first train to start late.

I would also like to arrive in Wakkanai station on the same day, but I found no sub-5000Yen hotel there, so have to settle for one in Minami-Wakkanai station, one station south of the Wakkanai station.

So, here's the road north:

Leave on the last train from Minami-Nagareyama headed for Tokyo.
Would have missed this if I have doubled back to check I have locked my door.














Head to Akihabara and "check in" to a Manga Kissa place. At 1080Yen for manga, internet and free flow of coffee and other drinks, this is a good way to spend the night before the first train on the Yamanote line.

















Eight cups of coffee later, its time to head out to a bright cool morning, and back up on the Yamanote line to Tokyo.















This being the first day of a long weekend, the Tokyo station is busy with activities. Some travellers were with their full hiking gear. The 6:00 train from Tokyo will run all the way to the end of the Shinkashen line in Hachinohe.













After Hachinohe, it's another train across the straits between Honsho and Hokkaido in a tunnel under the sea.














After a short stop in Hakodate, it is onwards toward Sapporro.

















From Sapporro, it is a Rapid train up north. By the time I reached Minami-Wakkanai, it was slightly before 11pm. I am now thousand over km from Tokyo, and would have been on the road for almost 17 hrs.















Stay at the Chikou Hotel for the night. I like the sound of it. I think all Fragrance and Hotel 81 establishment in the Geylang area should be renamed Chikou Hotels.

July, 2009: Odaiba, Tokyo, Japan

南流山--> (武蔵野線) -->西船橋--> (総武線) -->秋葉原--> (京浜東北線) -->浜松町--> (都バス虹01系統) --> 船の科学館

Gundam is celebrate its 30th anniversary. And as part of the celebration, they went and built a 1:1 scale model of the original Gundam.

Somewhere near Newcastle in England, there is a statue called the Angel of the North. It look like a surfer with a longboard carried horizontally on his back, and with his arms being chew off by sharks off the coast of Australia. It stands at 20m. The Gundam stands at 18m, and stands guard near the Rainbow Bridge of Tokyo bay. And it looks more cool.
I reached few minutes before 9pm, and before I could take out my camera from its casing, they turned off the spotlight for the night. But at least in the dark, they could do a bit of a light show with the machine.
The atmosphere on the field was surprising harshed. Most approached the Gundam from afar with "Sugoi, sugoi", quicken their pace, race to front of the Gundam and then settle to admire it from a short distance. One young lady attempted to crack a joke: "Gundam, 28 sai, dokushin (Gundam, 28 years old, single)". I thought the guy is 30 this year, maybe she knows something I don't.

July, 2009: Yasukuni Jinja, Tokyo, Japan

南流山--> (武蔵野線) -->南船橋--> (京葉線) -->東京--> ( 中央本線) -->飯田橋

Every time a new Prime Minister gets into office in Japan (and this being a pretty frequent event these days), her North Asia neighbors wait to see if he is going to pay a visit at the Yasukuni Jinja.

In July for about half a week, the Jinja has a Mitama Matsuri running in its compound. From the entrance, it looks like any other summer matsuri in Japan, with the food stalls and odori dancing.

But as you venture into the main compound, you will see the main attraction of the matsuri. Lanterns, lots of them, lining the path to the Jinja temple. You would then realize that these are offerings to those who lost their lives in the 2nd World War.
The bright yellow lanterns were displayed with others with the drawing or calligraphy of celebrities and atists. While there are drawings and writing on the theme of peace, there were obviously some "rightist" amongst them. There were many young boys and gals enjoying their night out, probably without knowing the significance of the place. But as they near the main Jinja, the guards will turn away anyone who were still holding food in their hands. If they wish to go any further, they were politely, but firmly, requested to dispose of the food first.

July 2009: Koiwa, Japan

南流山--> (武蔵野線) -->西船橋--> (総武線) -->小岩

When I was in Koiwa, I was thinking of the term Shitamachi, 下町, a term that I first got acquainted with in Asakusa. This seems to mean areas of Tokyo that are populated with the non-ruling class during the times when Tokugawa was still ruling. When I tried to verify this on wikipedia, turns out I was right. Koiwa, like Katsushika, is part of the Edogawa area, which is one of the areas considered Shitamachi.

Every time I moved away from the hustle and bustle of central Tokyo, I think of Shitamachi. These areas seems to be characterized by the bright lights of the area immediately surrounding the train station, and quickly (within a couple of streets) turns into quiet residential area. Koiwa is such a place. And when I am in a Shitamachi area, I like to check out their clock and watch shops. Usually they seems to carry pretty old models.



















The Taiko team was sharing the stage with a local band, which seems to play mainly rock-and-roll stuff from the Elvis era. They were joined off-stage by some of the locals, dress in the custom of that era and jiving and dancing to their music: living up the name of the town, which means Little Rock.









GOTO: I lube, you tube
GOTO: Can move one, this one

After the concert, I went over to Nippori station to sort out some reserved seat tickets. Spin round the surrounding street, and I could feel the Shitamachi atmosphere. Incidentally, the station's ticketing reception area was pasted with photoes of the Taiwan Railway trains and station, while poster were advertising local Japanese train services.

July 2009: Matsumoto, Japan

Matsumoto city is the gateway to the Japan Alps. With quite a number of trains to safely take me back down to Chiba before the last train of the day, I took a quick spin of the place. The Matsumoto Castle keeps coming up every time I flip through a Japan travel guidebook. It isn't really that majestic, but it was definitely handsome.

The bright red bridge spans the surrounding moat, in which the clear water reflects the towers of the castle.

July 2009: Kamikochi, Nagano, Japan

"上高地?"
"OK, why not?"

Kamikochi (or 上高地) is the name of the place, but it sounds like a bloody good suggestion to go somewhere higher. And in the month of July when the TV is reminding Tokyoites of the hot summer, I don't see anyone turning down an offer to 上高地.

Kamikochi is in the Japanese Alps, a mountain range found in Nagano.
From the colorful brochure that they are handling out at travel agents and train stations, this place looks like the Japanese version of JiuZaigou. What with the advertised crystal clear lakes/ponds and read leaves in Autumn.
At 1500m above sea level, it was a cool place to visit in summer. But being that high, Japan Railway (JR) won't bring you that high up. And a train will really spoil the environment. So, JR takes you as far as the Matsumoto station. After that, the Matsumoto Electric Railway takes over, taking you as far up as the Shin-Shima-Shima (nope, you are not hearing echo of 'Shima' from the mountain) station. And this is where the railroad ends. The rest of the ascent will be done on a bus.
















I can see great potential here for this place in Spring (when the snow on the mountain cap is thicker), or Autumn (when the leaves turns red), but in Summer it was a bit too green for my liking.
An word of advice: don't rush for the first toilet you see when the buses dump you at the Kamikochi Visitor Centre. This toilet charge 100Yen for its use. The collection box says 100Yen is the suggested amount. But the guy sitting beside the box has this intense expression that suggest he is trained to listen by the drop of the coin if anyone is trying to cheat with a 10Yen coin. Everywhere else I see, the public toilets here are free.

June 2009: Minami-NagareYama to Sago, Chiba, Japan

南流山--> (武蔵野線) -->南船橋--> (京葉線) -->蘇我

Chiba ken has two local J-League teams. Both of the aren't doing too well on the table this year. One of them, JEF United has its stadium in Sago, right next to a crumbling, rusting factory. The fun part of attending any sport event (save for Sumo wrestling, I guess) is to check out the fans and supporters. The fans today are decked out in the bright yellow home colors.

The home team wasn't doing too well. Minutes before fulltime, one of the gaijin home player got a red card for stamping on the foot of the away player. The home team lost 2:0 and after the final whistle went around the field bowing to the supporter as apology. I wonder if the gaijin got himself red-carded purposely to avoid the "humiliation".

June 2009: Shin YaHashira, Chiba to TateIshi, Tokyo

新八柱--> (武蔵野線) -->新松戸--> (常磐線) -->松戸--> (常磐線) -->日暮里--> (京成本線) -->青砥--> (京成押上線) -->京成立石

I wonder if Coca Cola place their billboard here because their corporate color goes so well with the train passing by at the TateIshi station.

June 2009: Minami-NagareYama to Shin YaHashira, Chiba, Japan

南流山--> (武蔵野線) -->新八柱

Minami NagareYama looks more and more like a suburb of Tokyo. From here a rapid Musashino line train will feed Tokyo with the salarymen and OLes every weekdays. There really isn't much to say about this place. At night, it is so quiet you sometimes wonder if the place is inhibited. The only thing of interest is that the MaiHama station seats on this line between Tokyo and Minami-NagareYama. And if you are a fan, you probably know this is the nearest station to the Tokyo Disney Land. And no, that is not the real Mickey.

After the first couple of weeks here, things have fallen into a routine, leave my place before 12:55pm, just in time to reach the platform for the 1:06pm Rapid in the direction of Tokyo for Shin YaHashira. The school here is supposed to be the language school in Japan to be located closest to a train station. How do I know? The guy at the school told me. And how did HE knows. Well, the Association of Japanese Language School or something like that told him. The tracks can be seen from the classroom. Curiously the rattle of the trains as they zoom pass don't seems to bother anyone.