At the end of my two years’ teaching in Japan I decided to travel up to Hokkaido before I flew home. None of my friends could make it so I went on my own. The cheapest ticket up there was a Seishun 18 Kippu but that meant that all my travel had to be on local or rapid trains (no express or bullet trains!). But I had a few books, my iPod, phone, camera, snacks... I caught the earliest train from Niigata at about five in the morning and finally got to Hakodate more than 24 hours later..! It’s still the longest journey I’ve ever made – made longer however by having to catch a bus for a stretch because the tracks had been damaged by heavy rain.
By the time I got to Aomori that evening I was dead tired, bored with my own company and music – and out of snacks! But I got talking to a sweet, intelligent and thoughtful boy – he was in senior high, had just come back from an exchange at a school in the UK and had been backpacking around Japan in his summer break, even sleeping rough in a park with some of the homeless in Tokyo along the way. He said he’d been a problem kid but he was good company and I guess, with my own backpack and cheap ticket, I seemed more like a student than a teacher myself. His mom was coming to pick him up to drive him the last stretch back home to Hakodate and he insisted that I go with them, and I gratefully accepted the offer.
I met some really nice people in Hokkaido – some a little overly protective when they found out I was travelling on my own – but all so friendly, generous and helpful. And Hokkaido was just beautiful – the most unspoiled bit of Japan I visited...
I’d love to go back – and next time I’ll take my sketchbook...
One of Hakodate's western-style buildings
Hakodate: famous for ika (squid)
At the Botanic Garden, Sapporo
Cycling near Furano
On my bike
At the Nibutani Ainu Culture Museum (the ainu are an indigenous group in Hokkaido)
If you'd like to find out more about the Seishun 18 Kippu: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2362.html
