Category: travel

who owns Karafuto/Sakhalin?

On By Rick McIn travelLeave a comment

You really can see Russia from Wakkanai, the tip of northern Japan.

You’ve heard of the islands disputed by Russia and Japan.

That’s the largest, Karafuto/Sakhalin, on the horizon directly behind this memorial.

The Statue of Nine Women commemorates one symbolic war story, that of 9 women working at a telegraph station who committed suicide with potassium cyanide tablets rather than be taken by the invading Russians.

August 1945, in accordance with Yalta Conference agreements, the Soviet Union took over the control of Sakhalin. Perhaps 400,000 citizens were displaced to Japan. So today it’s functionally Russian, as well as politically Russian.

Lesson of the story — If you declare war on Russia, don’t lose.

Actually, ownership of the big island had been in dispute long before that. It’s complicated.

related – wikitravel – Wakkanai

blundering northern Japan

On By Rick McIn hiking, travel1 Comment

The guidebooks all tell you to rent a car if you want to explore on the north island Hokkaidō.

The guidebooks are right.

Trains run all over the island, but actually connecting from one to the next on the local lines is tricky.

It IS easy, however, to get to the northern tip of the country, Wakkanai (稚内市).

You CAN see Russia from here, Sarah. (The island of Sakhalin.) But not when it’s grey and miserable. And it’s always grey and miserable in Wakkanai from what I’ve seen. And windy. And cold.

The further you get from Tokyo, the less English. Not even train stations have much English. But this town is bilingual — Japanese and Russian. There is a ferry from here to the mainland.

Without help I wandered the town at night in the drizzle unable to find any of the 3 hostels — all had closed for the winter, as it turned out.

I ended up in less cheap business accommodation, Petit Hotel Joy Wakkanai. Hot shower, fast internet and traditional Japanese breakfast.

… just about to go check the feasibility of a day trip to some nearby islands, for hiking.

That will be a disaster — if I go — guaranteed.

flushed off the mountain, again

On By Rick McIn food, hiking, travelLeave a comment

Here I am at Sugatami-ike in Daisetsuzan National Park, an impressive look-out over the fumaroles.

This volcano is LIVE.

From there the top of the volcano was shrouded. Myself and Kim from Belgium were the only hikers bold (stupid) enough to climb higher.

We might have made it to 1900m before being driven off the mountain by wind and freezing, horizontal rain. The summit is about 2200m.

Happily, there was a hot springs and gourmet dinner awaiting me below in Japan’s best and most expensive alpine hostel.

This ain’t the usual hostel grub.

more photos … or read my hiking trip report

If it’s raining in the morning, I’ll hop back on the train until I find better weather.

Sapporo the city, not the beer

On By Rick McIn hiking, travel1 Comment

Even by bullet train it’s 10hrs from Tokyo to Sapporo in the north.

I am overnighting in an internet cafe. Private cubicle with free drinks included for about $16 for 6hrs. Quite comfortable.

Tomorrow I will try for Daisetsuzan National Park, the largest in the country. More bears than people.

Unfortunately it is too late in the season to get much hiking done. But I’ll give it a go.

Might be offline for a couple of days.

… those “Bullet Trains” must be dangerous

On By Rick McIn product endorsements, travelLeave a comment

… During the Shinkansen‘s 45-year, nearly 7 billion-passenger history, there have been no passenger fatalities due to derailments or collisions, despite frequent earthquakes and typhoons. Injuries and a single fatality have been caused by doors closing on passengers or their belongings …

I’m riding Japan on the extremely comfortable trains, more spacious and comfortable than the European equivalent, I’d say.

I have a Japan Rail Pass, available only to foreigners. JR owns about 70% of the track in the country.

My Pass is good for almost every train, but not the 300 km/h (186 mph) Nozomi. The trip between Tokyo and Osaka, a distance of 515 kilometres, takes 2 hours 26 minutes on Nozomi. My slow poke Bullet train took over 3hrs!

These trains are the envy of UK commuters, and government, says The Guardian.

Obama keeps talking up the concept for the USA, but I doubt it’s going to happen any time soon.

===== Update*

I met a woman on a train today who told me of what happened during the earthquake. The bullet train we were on was shut down for about 2 months. She had a friend on the same line at the time … the train stopped in a tunnel. Passengers had to overnight and then walk out to a peach farm where they were eventually rescued by bus.

looking for Blade Runner in Japan

On By Rick McIn books, movies, travel1 Comment

Many walk the Japanese Metropolis at night looking for neon urban dystopia — technology overwhelming civilization. … I do, at least.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Twenty years ago I was quite culture shocked in this nation. But this time it seems clean, organized and friendly.

Welcoming.

Finally I got a taste of film noir. First night in Osaka, against advice at my hostel, I ran blindly along a riverbank.

Jets thundered overhead. Trains rumbled past every few minutes. It was dark. Pitch dark. Dogs raced by (well behaved, since they are Japanese). … A guitarist played “Hey Joe, Where You Gonna Go?“, alone. …

At the same time, on my iPod, I was listening to Blade Runner inspired Altered Carbon:

… hybrid of William Gibson’s Neuromancer and Norman Spinrad’s Deus X …

I was anticipating a Spinner spotlight.

… But it didn’t happen.

We’ll have to wait on the new Blade Runner movie, I guess, either a sequel or a prequel, with filming to begin no earlier than 2013. Without Harrison Ford.
____

Though it gets rave reviews, I agree with this guy. Altered Carbon’s nothing but “neckbeard wish-fulfillment”. Overrated.

Altered Carbon may well be a Hollywood film soon, too.

arrived Osaka

On By Rick McIn Cirque du Soleil, travel2 Comments

Just got set-up at the Shin-Osaka Youth Hostel.

Big. Bright. Modern. On the 9th & 10th floor of a highrise.

Standards are high at all official Hosteling International branches. But they have “rules” — midnight curfew, for example.

KOOZA tomorrow. Assisting with a Cirque audition the day after.

turning Japanese

On By Rick McIn Cirque du Soleil, gymnastics, hiking, travel1 Comment

The World Gymnastics Championships have ended. After 14 intense, emotional days … what next?

I’m staying on in Tokyo, hanging out with Marceline Goldstein from Montreal. I’ll be assisting her with a Cirque du Soleil audition. And then a second audition in Osaka.

From there … I have a 21-day all-you-can travel rail pass. It will be like the old Eurorail travels of my distant past. I’ll be hiking everywhere the train will take me, happy to be part of the revitalization of the Japanese tourist industry.

Following that, I’m fairly decided to go over to Hong Kong for a week or so. Hiking — and taking in a big domestic Chinese gymnastics competition. Coach Jun Chen has invited me.

And back to chilly North America Nov. 22nd.

jogging with the Emperor

On By Rick McIn photos, travel1 Comment

I’m staying at a hostel in Jimbocho, … the used book and outdoor gear district.

Nearby is the Tokyo Imperial Palace. His Imperial Majesty has yet to invite me in.

… the main residence of the Emperor of Japan. It is a large park-like area located in the Chiyoda area of Tokyo close to Tokyo Station and contains several buildings including the main palace (Kyūden (宮殿?), the private residences of the imperial family, an archive, museum and administrative offices.

It is built on the site of the old Edo castle. The total area including the gardens is 7.41 square kilometres (2.86 sq mi). During the height of the 1980s Japanese property bubble, the palace grounds were valued by some as more than the value of all the real estate in the state of California….

I’ve been running in the surrounding gardens, the most popular jogging area in the downtown. There’s a 5-km (3-mile) loop. But more typically I run — take some photos — walk — then run again.

Every once-in-a-while, a uniformed guard will flag me down, insisting that running is not allowed on that particular section of the hallowed grounds.

The population of greater Tokyo is over 32 million, the world’s most populous metropolitan area by far.

Yet I find it green and calm. There’s never much traffic. You can always find empty parking spots.

Elegant simplicity in the midst of Metropolis is quite magical, at times.

more photos

Avoid the subway at rush-hour, though. 🙂

related – CNN – Running rings around the Imperial Palace

low crime in Japan

On By Rick McIn travel1 Comment

Japan feels very safe. There are many “police boxes” on neighbourhood street corners. Very few people own guns. Ladies can walk the streets of Tokyo alone at night.

… I found a briefcase sitting on the street. Looked like the owner had driven away without it.


His name — Osamu Sumi.

Rather than try to explain to the cops why I had this “missing property”, I took it to our hosts at the World Gymnastics Championships. They called the much relieved owner.

Check this two story bicycle storage area at a Tokyo apartment building. Very few of these bike are locked.