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Asap to Sapporo

keep cool!

As promised in my last post I`m delivering some photos of Sapporo‘s Yuki Matsuri (Snow Festival). As the 1.9 million inhabited city of Sapporo is comparatively young, constructions of Sapporo village only began in 1866 – whereas settlements in Kyoto or Nara date back to the 6th and 7th century – it can’t attract tourist with none existing historic temples or shrines. In winter 1950 a group of Students crafted sculptures of snow at Ōdōri-Park. This became an annual event and in 1955 Japan Self-Defense Forces joined and since then it evolved to a steadily growing event which was also discovered by the city to attracted tourists. Today Yuki Matsuri is one of the biggest international festivals of it’s kind and attracts 2 million tourists every year.
When getting to Sapporo from Tokyo (this time not via bicycle but by plane) someone at Sapporo Central Station shouts at me: “Simon, Simon!! Is it really you?” Gaku, my host from the 200 km away City Hakodate is also here. I seem to provoke such situations as a similar situation also happened to me twice in Tokyo when I visited the city for just one day both times. Gaku and I agree to meet the next day to explore the festival together.

Sapporo’s TV tower

We went out of bricks let’s use ice

There are two big boulevards. One exhibiting ice sculptures (Susukino) the other one coming up with huge snow- and ice buildings (Ōdōri-Park) re-sampling crystal clear castles, historic houses and statues or sculptures made out of snow. Round up by a vast alignment of merchandise-, food-, and souvenir booths.

Jump scene! Keep your skies crossed for me!

bottom ice

Yuki Matsuri is both during day time and at night well worth exploring. To get a good overview of all the attractions I recommend exploring the fair grounds during day time. But Sapporo’s night life and especially the colour changing lit snow- and ice buildings are breathtaking. During the whole day there are events going on everywhere in town. A giant ramp with jumps covered with snow is set up on the city’s biggest boulevard where ski- and snowboard artists perform neck breaking jumps. At night the ramp is also used as a projection surface. Bands play in front of a lit ice castle, the front wall of a snow house is being used as a giant screen to project an animated film on it, music students of the Sapporo University take part in a music contest and perform their very own compositions to the light play of an ice castle …
Sapporo is sister city with Munich among others. Despite a huge Maibaum (maypole) which was financed by Sapporo’s sister city, I discovered promotion posters of the Olympic summer games of 1972 which were held in Munich and Sapporo hosted the Olympic winter games the same year. Back then the summer and winter games still took place in the same year. The Olympic committee changed this rule in 1992. Since 1994 the Olympic Summer- and Winter games take turns in a two year term. Sapporo and Munich also have another thing in common: Beer. As Munich is famous for their local brands like Paulaner, Hacker-Pschorr, Augustiener, Hofbräu, Löwenbräu or Spaten, Sappo has Sapporo. Found in 1876 by Seibei Nakagawa, a master brewer trained at Tivoli-Brauerei in Berlin.

Wow! What a cool car! lazy eyes

Fish eyes

All the sites of Yuki Matsuri don’t charge an entrance fee. Even the huge slides made of snow are free. However attractions like snow rafting or photo shoots charge a fee of course.

The best place to warm up after such cold days is either to go to an Onsen (hot spring spa which can be found nearly everywhere around Japan) or to have a tasty yaki niku (Korean barbecue). For those who can’t imagine how it works I posted some pics too.

Yaki Niku restaurant

I head to Furano – Hokkaido’s largest winter sports area where you won’t find a single snow canon! The snow is amazing! The area offers a huge variety of slopes. Decent powder-, perfectly prepared-, tricky bumpy-slopes, narrow picturesque forest tracks, and also wide and easy slopes – epic! Still compared to French, Swiss, Austrian or Italian standards the size of the whole skiing area is tiny. However I’d say it’s one skiing area with the best snow I’ve ever had in my life so far. (Probably) due to demographic development in Japan there are no long queues/lines at the lifts. Only on Sundays you might have to wait for five to maximum ten minutes at certain lifts. This situation is transferable to almost every skiing area in Japan. No matter if it’s the ski resorts around Nagano or in Niseko or Furano.

Fantastic Furano

Even in the warmer time of the year Furano is well worth a visit. There is a thriving flower- and plant growing economy in this region. Furano is especially know for it’s vast lavender fields hence the souvenir shops offer a large range of lavender products. Starting with pure dried lavender herbs over lavender soaps, shampoos, lotions, etc. Another famous Hokkaido brand is Royce’ chocolate. Even Furano offers a shop with chocolate of the luxury brand. Expensive but tasty. Give it a try.

Chocolate Museum Sapporo

Beer Museum Sapporo

Furano forest

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Special thanks to: Heide Engelstädter, Kyle Steward (text revision), Hubertus Neidhart from Webspace Provider Network for excellent web page hosting services; Lilith Pendzich

Continue reading »]]> Even though my next town Kamaishi has plenty of hotels which have already been restored, I’m still having a hard time finding a room. There is a huge steel plant in Kamaishi which is fully functional again. A major part of the city is located in a long, narrow valley which reaches far into the countryside with a steady incline towards it, which is why this part of town survived the tsunami. The thriving economy here results in fully booked hotels. After hustling to the fifth hotel, I finally find a room. I’m stressed out, and I just want to leave the coast behind me already.

The next day, I finally reach my destination, the reason for my journey through this disaster region: the Kindergarten Midori for which I collect donations.

When leaving Otsuchi for Miyako another typhoon passes through. However the eye of the storm lies over the sea. Still it causes such strong winds and heavy rain that its impossible for me to film Otsuchi. This town tops everything I’ve seen so far in terms of destruction. It could also be Hiroshima one week after the detonation of the A-bomb. It’s horrible! Grey rain beats over the sulky wasteland of rubble and foundations. The horizon disappears in eternal mist. I’m just here for a few days but the people here face this scene of devastation every day!

To a great extent my next city of Miyako was mainly spared because it was fortunately protected by a peninsula which blocked most of the tsunami. Still here I cycle through a small part of the city completely wiped out as well.

The cliff shore from Miyako on towards Kuji

From Miyako towards the north the seashore turns into a – at some points 200 m high – cliff coast. It would be 90 km from Miyako to the next biggest town Kuji. Too far for me to make it in one day with my heavy trailer and several mountains and valleys in between. So I search for a hostel in Tanohata, a little town in between. When reaching it in the evening it turns out it is closed. My fault. I didn’t call them to place a reservation. Of course it’s the only hostel in this little town. I ask at the Koban (local police station) if they had some advice. They call several guest houses for me – yes I know something like that would never happen in Germany but seems to be a matter of course for them – but all are full. There is a small hotel near the shore about eight km away from here they tell me. Meanwhile it’s dark outside. Shortly before I hit the road again my back light won’t turn on. Somehow the strong rain of the last typhoon must have damaged the internal electronics. Of course worse always comes to worst. As if this wouldn’t be bad enough already the police guys warn me that it’s a very dangerous course through a very deep and narrow canyon. I better not tell them my back light does not work as I’m pushing my bicycle around the corner while saying good bye to them.

The cliff shore from Miyako on towards Kuji

I’m slowly approaching the canyon. And it is deep indeed. The street has no continuous crash barrier. What also makes me anxious is the fact that it is in the middle of nowhere and there are no cars passing. So should something happen to me here it might take some time until somebody would discover me. At least it’s a clear bright starlit night and not too cold. On one hand the contrast of the steep canyon walls against the jewelled sky looks somehow threatening but on the other hand it has something romantic. Nonetheless. Both are pretty distracting and it happens that I almost plummet into the chasm. It is so dark that I barely see anything despite my front light.

I survive the canyon and finally reach the hotel. Of course it’s full. After the chase for free rooms and escaping two typhoons and seeing so much destruction within the last few days and the struggle through the canyon and therefore being absolutely exhausted it drives me to total desperation. I really can’t go on any longer! Apparently the hotel owner sees how desperate I am. He knows there is really nothing around here where I could stay. He also knows it would be quite cruel to send me away so he decides to convert the common room to a room for me. I want to get out of this area! I really want to get out of here!

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Special thanks to: Mattew Hahn, Travis Haby (text revision), Tori & Kyle Sharpe (all U.S.A.) Hubertus Neidhart from Webspace Provider Network for excellent web page hosting services; Lilith Pendzich

Continue reading »]]> Even though a typhoon is approaching I reach my next host Henry nearby Ishinomaki, mainly dry. When trying to call him from a phone booth I almost splat a small frog sitting on the dial pad. I can’t believe my eyes. He was lucky. I almost dialed M for murder. But I have to admit this color scheme fits quite well to the green corporate design of Japanese’s national phone network NTT. What a slick marketing trick.

The next day Henry and his friend Mike guide me through the area hit by the tsunami.

The tough time lies ahead of me. I reached the strip of coast hit worse by the 3/11 tsunami and will cycle all the way through it until I reach Aomori prefecture in the very north of Japan’s main island, Honshu. I do this knowing that I did not find a single host there, and will have a hard time finding accommodation.

Tsunami warning sign

However in my first town Minamisanriku I am lucky, as there is a little elevated peninsula which was mainly spared by the tsunami. Luckily there is also a little ryokan (cheap Japanese style hostel). So for today finding accommodation was just a minor matter, especially against the problem I am facing now: when asking for the way I am being told that it’s still about one hour to the hostel. Also the man is nice enough to let me know that the typhoon heading towards the coast has accelerated. Just now I’m realizing that it was a really silly/stupid decision to cross this area during typhoon season. Especially now it would not make a lot of sense to have a tent with me, as it would get blown away. So I better hurry because it’s also about to get dark. Of course there are three mountains ahead of me.

I’ve been cycling for 30 minutes now, and a pick-up slows down next to my right. It’s the man I asked for directions. While driving, he points with his thumb to the truck bed and looking at me through his window, waiting for my reaction. Since I don’t want to take the risk of getting blown away by the typhoon, I nod my head. He overtakes me and pulls off into the next bay. It’s already the third time here in Japan that I’ve been offered help from a complete stranger.

Stranger in the night

The typhoon passes at night and astonishingly, the next day is completely clear. Perfect conditions for cycling. As the impact of the tsunami is more than a year back, the streets are of course cleared. Sometimes there are detours because the original road was flooded by the sea as the country sank in some parts during the earthquake.

Rubble mountain

When cycling through this area I witness uncountable numbers of big rubble and garbage/rubbish mountains. Hundreds of excavators separate the bulky garbage/rubbish. They pile up mountains of rusty and completely deformed cars, or half-rotten wood-like broken bars and splintered furniture. Smaller other deformed metal pipes, filthy plastic parts or musty blankets are being separated manually. The extent of those hills is often as wide as a football field, or even bigger; sometimes they are as tall as a four storey/story building. These hills are ubiquitous!

My next destination Kesennuma resembles an expanse of ruins. For the first time in my life I am in a disaster zone. I only now realize how big the difference is between imagining and experiencing a disaster area. We all saw the terrible pictures on TV, on the internet, news papers and magazines. Probably over a thousand times. Still, nothing of that shows anywhere near the full scale of devastation here. I have to experience this especially when searching for accommodation, but I’m lucky, and find a hostel some distance from the sea.

Leftover in Minamisanriku

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Special thanks to: Mattew Hahn, Travis Haby (text revision), Henry Ngai, Tori & Kyle Sharpe (all U.S.A.) Mike Onotera, (Canada), Hubertus Neidhart from Webspace Provider Network for excellent web page hosting services; Lilith Pendzich

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Pagoda at Nikko

The leg from Mt. Shirane to Nakanojo (52 km/32 miles) is almost a constant downhill track which is of course a lot of fun. I’m pausing in Utsonomiya for three days as I’d like to see the tomb in Nikko which is about 40 km away from my host in Utsunomiya. There is only one Couchsurfing host in Nikko and as the mausoleum of Nikko is an UNESCO World heritage he receives up to 20 requests a day during the main season. Even though it’s autumn/fall and I sent my request more than a month in advance I wasn’t lucky and he was already booked out. My host says” this is perfect, as I haven’t had any ideas what to do with you. We can go there with my car!” I don’t have anything against it as Nikko is not directly on my route and I’d have lost at least two days. On top of it it saves me a night in a hostel.

On the leg from Koriyama to Fukushima a quite young Japanese cyclist overtakes me on his quite antique seeming bicycle. Nothing too special but an elephantine rucksack on his back makes me perplexed. After he read the sign on my trailer he asks me doubtfully if I was really on my way from Fukuoka to Sapporo with my bicycle. I answer – as I always do – with a simple: „yes“. „With that?“ he asks pointing to my trailer. Once again I’m answering with a simple: „yes“. And the usual Sugooooi (wow / unbelievable / awesome) is his answer. I ask where he’s going. He answers: „Aomori“ (in the north of Japans main island Honshu over 400 km away from here). Now I’m the one who’s looking incredulously at him: “with that?“, pointing on his bicycle. My question is answered with a simple: „yes“. I saved a lot of money when I bought my bicycle but there are obviously people who have even less demands than me.

respect for this guy with this bicycle!

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Special thanks to: Mattew Hahn, U.S.A. (text revision); Katsutoshi Horie, Japan; Chris DeHaan, Canada; Hubertus Neidhart from Webspace Provider Network for excellent web page hosting services; Lilith Pendzich

Continue reading »]]> Another post from August which was overdue: Right in time for a special Festival once again. This time in Matsumoto. The Matsumoto bon bon festival which attracts up to 25.000 dancers every year. Everybody can participate on the dances on the streets. Football teams, volleyball, tennis or karate clubs… Or just come with a bunch of friends. And as it’s a good promotion for businesses company employees are also participating and are promoting their company this way.

Matsumoto bon bon von Daaaaaaaaaaaax

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Special thanks to: Alex Laing, New Zealand (text revision), Toru Momose, Japan; Sato Kozo, Japan; the whole Manza team, Hubertus Neidhart from Webspace Provider Network for excellent web page hosting services; Lilith Pendzich

Continue reading »]]> I know, the last posts were a little long in the making. I guess I exaggerated it a little with the Torii Pass – the route which won the first vote. Because after passing the pass :) my right foot caused me some problems and swelling. I thought I’d have to abort the trip. Luckily Matsumoto is nearby Manza – where last year, I used to work – and I could stay at my friends for a month to convalesce again.

I simply didn’t want to post a note about a possible cancellation of the tour. It wouldn’t have been necessary after all.

Now I can go on with the posts from early August of the historic Nakasendo from Nagoya to Matsumoto that are over due:

Ceramics Museum in Tajimi

My route takes me from Nagoya to Tajimi, known for ceramic fine arts. There is one of the best – if not maybe the best – ceramics schools in the whole of Japan and even a ceramics museum. As luck would have it my host is a ceramics artist. I would like to take photos of her works, however they are packed for an exhibition at the museum and we will take them there the next day. However I have the fortune of accompanying her to the museum the next day and can present you photos of the building. A very appealing piece of architecture I think. Designed by Arata Isozaki.

For the next two days I can’t find a host for the first time on my trip through Japan. It’s hardly surprising as it is a very rural site of Japan. Still I’m lucky to find a very cheap but very new Youth hostel in Nakatsugawa and as cheap Onsen hotel nearby Kiso. The landscape is very hilly, however until Kiso I’m cycling in a valley alongside the Kiso river which is why the incline is very moderate. And finally it’s getting colder – at least a bit. From 36°C in Nagoya to 32°C in Nakatsugawa and ‘only” about 30°C in Kiso.

On the way to Kiso

This is where my first vote between a road fork happens and the Torii pass is the winner. But before reaching the pass I will meet these nice young folks in my lunch break.

Well I know the end of the video was a bit abrupt. I am so exhausted that I am not in mood to do the good bye moderation. However I make it to Matsumoto the same day (yes, before midnight).

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Special thanks to: Alex Laing, New Zealand (text revision), Seika Takahashi, Japan; Toru Momose, Japan; the whole Manza team, Hubertus Neidhart from Webspace Provider Network for excellent web page hosting services; Lilith Pendzich

Continue reading »]]> The heat won’t stop. Once again I have to cycle for a whole day at 36°C. It’s one of those days on which one can drink six litres of liquid by going only once to the toilet. As if the heat wouldn’t already be enough it gets even hotter at a certain spot of my route. But this is because of a house fire on which fortunately, as far as I can tell, no one was injured. As you can see on the video the Japanese fire brigade is at least as well equipped and organised as we know it as well.

Hausbrand von Daaaaaaaaaaaax

Nagoya, inhabited by 2.27 million people (8.74 million in city centre and metropolitan area) is mainly an industrial and harbour city. The headquarters of Toyota‘s luxury brand Lexus are located here, as well as Mitsubishi‘s Research and Development Department. Plenty of national or international automotive suppliers maintain their headquarters or subsidiaries here: The automotive supplier and QR-Code inventor DENSO (a fully owned subsidiary of Toyota), the Austrian-Canadian automotive supplier MAGNA which was once fancied as an acquisition candidate for the German General Motors Brand Opel…

Like Tokyo, Nagoya was also severely damaged in World War II. Thus the city offers little for tourists. Nagoya has a castle, however it’s a replica. Not that I wouldn’t honour it with a visit but I’ve seen quite a few castles on my journey – and even originals. They are all very beautiful, but in terms of architecture and style they seem kind of similar.

My host is a Mexican who has lived in Japan for years. He owns a second hand bookstore for English books. Which makes him fluent in Spanish, Japanese and English. But the digital age does also not spare his business of course. So him and his employees also offer Web 2.0 services which works much better compared to paper books.

Nagoya’s city centre is more famous for a huge shopping arcade. Not to be compared with the luxury shopping area of Ginza in Tokyo, but more for ordinary mortals, and suits me perfectly. Countless clothing boutiques, plenty of sports gear shops, various restaurants, creative art dealers, and even well equipped HiFi-, IT- and video game shops can be found here. Today I drop culture and enjoy strolling. Although, this also is a culture, a shopping culture! :)

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Special thanks to: Akira Yasuda (Japan/Canada), text revision; Sonya Bleakley (U.S.A.) Jose Escobar (Mexico), Hubertus Neidhart from Webspace Provider Network for excellent web page hosting services; Lilith Pendzich

Continue reading »]]> My dear old school friend Andreas Off, who has lived and worked in Japan for the past six years, recently moved to the city of Nagaokakyo, which is located between Osaka and Kyoto. Andreas hosted me for one weekend, and of course he already had a full program planned for us. First off, he informed me that Nagaokakyo was once the capital of Japan, but only for 10 years. After that Andreas took me to the city castle, followed by the town of Hibiki to show me Yamazaki distillery, which is owned by the Japanese beverage company Suntory.

Andreas and I were shocked with the great tour that Yamazaki offers for only 1000 yen! (12.10 AUD, 12.70 CAD, 8.20 GBP, 15.70 NZD, 12.80 USD) We started with a guided tour of the whole distillery, lead in Japanese with an audio guide in English. Afterwards we were seated in a restaurant and taught how to mix a high ball.  And if that wasn’t enough we got free refills for further high balls. And…. for anyone still able to taste the difference after that, they let us drink a glass of 12 years aged whiskey. But there was even more: on top of that we got t-shirts at the end!
Wow, Andreas and I had some orientation problems after leaving the distillery. Whatever… we behaved like true Germans

Enjoy the photos of this trip.

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Special thanks to: Andreas Off, Cypher Zero, U.S.A. (text revision), Hubertus Neidhart from Webspace Provider Network for excellent web page hosting services; Lilith Pendzich