1000 mile day trip!

Matt here. I'm blogging today (in real time) while Nik helps Tom with his holiday scrapbook.

Today we're really pushing the boat out in terms of travel. Tom's wanted a ride on the amazing Hayabusa ever since he saw a picture of it several years ago. So, we're heading to Aomori, the current end of the Shinkansen line (but not for long).

Quite fast then!

The GPS speedometer on my phone tells me we're currently doing 199 mph (320 kmh), but the ride is smooth enough for me to write postcards and Nik & Tom to do the scrapbook for school.

Now that we're finally clear of Tokyo seemingly endless suburbs, the scenery is very pleasant too. Steep jagged mountains on the left, which should stay with us pretty much all the way to the end of the line.

Snow and paddy fields

This is the part of Japan I know least well, so I'm enjoying watching the scenery pass by, even if you do need the reflexes of a ninja to pick out anything specific at this speed. One surprising thing is the amount of snow on the mountains. With temperatures on the plains well above 30°C, it's strange to see so much snow not very far away.

We're not far from Aomori now, and the train has been lovely and empty all the way from Tokyo, meaning that we haven't needed to have Tom sitting on our knees at all. Fingers crossed it's the same on the way back (less likely).

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Right, we're on our way back to Tokyo, after a very pleasant few hours in Aomori. The weather was beautiful, and a few degrees cooler than Tokyo. We had a good lunch at Aomori station - ebi curry for me and ebi donburi for Nik. Guess who pilfered a substantial portion of each? Less than a tenner all in, including a nice cold beer.

After eating, we walked a few yards to a very modern artisan craft centre, full of lovely hand-made stuff, and all very expensive. The only reasonable thing in there was a small ice cream parlour, so we partook and shared a trio of different flavours outside on the sea wall.

I can see the sea!

Tom with a train on a ferry

A few yards up the road is the Hakkōda-Maru, one of a fleet of large train ferries that used to operate between Aomori and Hokkaido until 1988, when Japan opened a ridiculously long tunnel under the sea (longer than the Channel Tunnel), but is now a floating museum in Aomori Harbour. Now, I like museums where you can clamber on everything and play with stuff, and today didn't disappoint. We rang the bell on the bridge, walked all around the train deck and the engine room, and even managed to climb inside the funnel for a great view from the top. All for less than £3. Bargain. There was a section dedicated to a terrible event in 1954, when a powerful typhoon struck the area and sank the Tōya-Maru, with the loss of nearly 1200 lives. Truly horrible, but you do wonder why the ship was out there in such conditions.

Bang the gong

Ringing the bell

Arty pic of the architecture

Fish!

We didn't have a great deal of time left after the museum (but this is a 1000 mile day trip from Tokyo!), so we took a quick stroll in the blazing sunshine along the seashore and popped into the Nebuta Cultural Centre - dedicated to a local festival. There were some fantastic art installations, and plenty of beautiful things for sale, including T-shirts, but they were £30 a pop. Tom, as usual, charmed the locals and was given a hand-made fish charm with a bell on it. He's definitely still got it when it comes to attracting attention over here.

There was almost a catastrophe on the way back. I herded us onto a Hokkaido-bound express train at Aomori station, assuming it would stop at Shin-Aomori, where we change to the Hayabusa. In the very nick of time, I overheard the guard saying the first stop was Kanita, miles up the coast, so we had to grab our stuff and jump off pronto. It would have been a night in the provinces otherwise.

Aomori is famous for apples

Aomori is famous for apples, and we came across a shop selling "dry" alcoholic cider (5% ABV), so I picked up a couple of bottles to have with our bentos on the journey home. Dry eh? Not in my world. Even sweeter than Magners (which I can't stand), so I won't be wasting any more money on it.

We're now at Morioka, about a third of the way back, and the train is completely full. I'm in the middle seat of a set if three, and I have Nik and Tom (both fast asleep) on one side of me and a man with a fidgety 3yo (or so) on his knee on the other side. I won't be moving much for the rest of the journey. Even eating my bento could be fairly tricky.

It's been a busy day!

Still, it's good Tom's having a nap. He probably needs it. I've never seen him fall asleep so quickly though. He was doing a bit of reading with Nik, announced he wanted a kip, put his head on her bosom (an excellent pillow), and was out cold within 10 seconds, 15 at the most. I wish I could do that.

Well, we're nearly back to Tokyo, and the train has emptied out a bit, thankfully.
Another cracking day out. Where else could you manage a 1000 mile round trip, without getting up too early or getting back too late, and with plenty of time for sightseeing at your destination.

Location:Aomori