Japan Trip Dec 07 (recap) - Day 1

DAY 1
21st Dec 07 (Fri) – 10.16am

Hooray!!! I was just thinking of asking the cabin crew if I could change seats as I noticed the seats in the next aisle were empty. In that case, I would have 2 seats to myself and going in and out for toilet trips would be such a breeze, without having to worry about how to ask the person beside me to give way (I had a window seat by the way).

However, before I could even open my mouth to ask, the guy beside me made the request (he’s rather big sized). Yippeeee!!! There. I had 2 seats to myself 

But sadly, as were climbing the altitudes a while ago, I couldn’t take a pix of the scenery below – where you literally see and understand where the infinite line lies; the line that joins the sky and the sea below. It blends in so perfectly that you can hardly decide where the sky and sea collides! As we continue to ascend the altitudes, you could see “yourself” splicing through layers and layers of thin clouds… cool~ something that I’d never seen when I travel to other countries.

And interestingly, ANA has a sky camera that allows you to see what the pilots were seeing real time. So that’s kinda cool too. :P

Temperature at Narita airport is currently 1 degrees. Wonder if I’d freeze to death when I’m there… come to think of it, have you ever seen a frozen ikan bilis before? Eeks!!


21st Dec 07 (Fri) – 5.30pm
At last I’m at Narita and had exchanged my JR pass. However, I was told that the tickets to the night train, Hokutosei, to Sapporo were all sold out. I could check into Cassiopeia (another night train) but it would cost me about S$400 just for one single trip! With Cassiopeia, you need to pay for 2 bunks even if you travel alone.

Thus, it’s either I take a longer route (which included changing multiple times but I wouldn’t have to pay extra since I held the JR pass) and reach Sapporo in the late afternoon or bunk into a hotel nearby and try my luck for the night train next day. I chose the first:

Narita Airport  Tokyo  Ueno  Aomori  Hakodate  Sapporo


21st Dec 07 (Fri) – 8pm++
Here I am at Ueno JR station. Luckily I brought my thick winter coat and not my sis’ brown coat, or I would’ve froze to death. As I jostled amongst the crowd at the station, there were many Japanese men wearing their long black trench coat, rushing for their trains. For a moment, I was captivated. Not that they were handsome, but they seemed real charismatic for that moment. If only Singapore had 4 seasons…

With more than 2 hours to go before my next train, I decided to venture out of the station (after parking my luggage in the lockers situated inside the JR station at 500 yen), followed the crowd, in search of a hearty meal.

That led me to a curry rice shop across the street. What I had to do was to buy a dinner coupon via a vending machine and pass the ticket over to the man behind the counter and wait for my meal. Here’s the place where I’d my meal…


Japan’s really a nation of vending machines by the way. You can buy cigarettes, drinks, meal coupons and etc from vending machine.

Back to the meal topic… It was a quiet meal as I didn’t have to open my mouth to speak or order… except for the occasional “Sumimasen” (excuse me) and “arigatou” (thanks).

As I sat alongside with the other Japanese, mainly salary men, I began to ponder if this was their daily lifestyle – where they sat alongside strangers for a meal. Quiet. Concentrated. And left almost immediately (after they finish their meal) as they did with their arrival. I wouldn’t call it anti-social… perhaps a down time to recluse and temporarily become an invisible man in the real world?

It was then that I began to notice the salary man beside me. Though I couldn’t see his face (since we were sitting side by side), I began to wonder if he looked like a Japanese actor I’d seen before. Of course, I would not assume he was the actor. Just implying that the feeling he illuminated then seemed similar. For those who were familiar with Japanese movies, try and think back of character “Itsuki” from the movie “Love Letter”.

Before long, I realized that many customers had came and gone and I was like the last one “standing” and munching through my katsu curry don (pork curry rice). Soon, it was time to head back to the station.

Along the way back to station, I took a pix with a gigantic panda display…


As I stood along the platform in my winter coat and barang barang beside me, everything around me seemed so surreal… perhaps it was the weather... or perhaps it was just me.


21st Dec 07 (Fri) – 11.59pm
Now I’m on my way to Aomori from Ueno, via Akebono limited express train. The lady at the JR office had helped me to book a bed in the ladies only cabin. How sweet 

However, I was given the top bunk bed as the rest were sold out. So imagine the tough time I had to bring my luggage up the bunk and had to really steal my way down in the middle of the night to get to the toilet. Who knew that opening a pack of tissue on a train could be that loud…

A tip for all, you see a table by the window there? You can actually pull the sides of the steel pole in front of it and it would unfold into a ladder for you to climb up to your bed, as shown in the picture. But of course, I didn’t know it until much later. By then, it was too late. I was accustomed to climbing up and down by stepping on the edge of the table. Hahahaha…


Contrary to my expectations, the train’s equipped with a squatter toilet (and not those fancy toilet bowls that could warm or wash your butt), that’s akin to those trains in Taiwan. Except that those in Japan were cleaner.


For images on the scenic views I took along the trip, check out the link underneath my image on the top left hand corner. More details later!! Jya ne!