On the move

So today we packed up everything into our suitcases, it all fitted, however, they were very heavy, might have to do some strategic packing next week so that the weight is spread well so we don't have to repack at the airport (that has happened to us before).  We haven't quite finished yet, we have yet to do the food shop, however, we do have a spare 'emergency' bag with us.

We were up at 8.30, finished off our packing and headed down to Sapporo station for the last time, funny, it seemed much further today that on others and we were sweating profusely by the time we go to the station.

We got the Super Hukoto Express train to Hakodate.  It's not actually that far between Sapporo and Hakodate, but the train route twists and turns over 300km, hugging the coast, meaning that we racked up the miles.  It took 3.5 hours to get to Shin Hakodate, where we were ferried straight into the shinkansen platforms.  Our highlight of the day was going to be choosing an eki bento for lunch at the station.  We figured that as Shin Hakodate was at the start of the shinkansen line, lots of people will start their journeys there and that there would be plenty of choice.  How wrong we were!  There was one tiny kiosk selling limited amounts of bentos.  So limited that when Matt went first he got the last children's bento for Tom (in a Shinkansen bento box) and the last 'convi style' bento for him.  When I got there, all that was left was a bento with beef on it - not at all what I would go for and 1,000 yen which is way too much, but that was all there was, so I bought it.

We ate our bentos on the train before it left the station we were so hungry.  I'm afraid mine was very dissapointing - about 8 slices of tough beef on rice with a slice of carrot.  When I think of all the meals I have had here for under 1,000 yen, it was a complete rip off. Oh hum, we allow Japan one bad meal each time we come here, this was it.  On the plus side, Tom had a smoked scallop in his box which he didn't like, I had it and it was a taste to behold!

The Hayabusa took us under the xx tunnel which links Hokkaido to Honshu, it is 54km in length and took xx to get through.  Tom seemed really excited about the prospect of going through it (the longest tail tunnel in the world) but I think he was a little deflated that there weren't any windows through which he could see the sea, although we did try to explain that to him before hand!

Our new room

We got off the shinkansen at Aomori and then got a very rickety two carriage local train that trundled through the countryside to Naijoshi the stop where we were met by our host for the week Mrs Kimura.  It was pelting it down with rain (forgot to mention that the weather has gone off again - a typhoon has hit Japan, further down Honshu but we are getting the effects here!).  We got drenched but it was hot so it didn't matter.  Our host took us to her house and showed us our room - wow, it is massive and when I say massive, I mean massive by Western standards.  You could swing many many cats at the same time in it.  We also all have futon beds, which we are very much looking forward to, as last time we slept in futon (Aoioi) we had a really good run of sleeps.

As it was such horrible weather, our host suggested we go to an onsen, you don't have to ask us twice, so we got ourselves ready and headed off.  It was very cheap, but had everything we like in an onsen - outdoor baths, a very very very hot bath, cooler bath, sauna, cold bath and an in-between bath.  Time went very very quickly and as our host was picking us up at a specified time I had to speed up to get hair dry etc in time.

A saki bowl for a sumo wrestler

Our host then gave us a tour of the area in the car - showing us what was where, although we are sort of in the middle of no-where we are in a town with all facilities, a big electronics store, a huge supermarket next door (where food will be purchased for home), a number of restaurants and of course numerous convi stores.

2?! sumo wrestlers

Dinner

We were getting hungry so decided to go out looking for food, and found a sumo restaurant where they sell chanko ramen.  The restaurant was adorned with sumo memorabilia so Matt got talking to the owners and before we knew it, they were bringing out momentos that they have been given by various Sumo wrestlers, including a bowl that they drink celebratory saki from - the bowl fits 10 large bottles of saki - it was massive.
They even gave us a 'hard to find' official rankings poster to take home.  Think they were amazed that a) white people were in their shop, b) one of them could speak good Japanese and c) they knew lots about sumo.

We all enjoyed our tea and then after collecting some cold beer from the convi store we returned back to our room as Tom was very very tired.  We put him to bed and headed downstairs, to give him a chance to get to sleep and Matt a chance for lots of Japanese conversation practise.