Early start today. I had to get back to Sendai (which took about 40 minutes on a train so packed with people I thought I was back on the Tokyo subway) so I could catch this:
That’s another Hayabusa (‘peregrine falcon’) bullet train. It’s a different colour (Miku green!) and has a longer nose than the one I caught the other day, which I assume meant it would be faster 🙂
For the last decade or so (including last week when I rode to Sendai), I’ve always bought seats in the ‘Green Car’, which is a confort level above normal. Given that normal train seats in Japan are better than in other countries, Green Car seats have always been exceptional.
But today – for the first time ever – I rode ‘Gran Class’, which is the highest level of seating. The above is a photo taken by the car attendant of me sitting in the most comfortable seat I have ever sat in while cruising along at over 200 miles an hour. And I’m not talking just about train seats: this was the seat of a king!
I ate my tiny pork cutlet sandwich and enjoyed the 2.5 hours from Sendai to Hakodate with a never-fading goofy smile on my face. I’ve got lots more to say about Gran Class but it’ll wait a few days, since I’m riding it again back to Tokyo, and that trip is about 4 hours.
As mentioned, I’m now in Hakodate, a city on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. I’ve got a lazy three nights here, and it promises to be relaxing and fun since while this isn’t the most active tourist city in Japan I’m sure it has history and sights for me to discover.
They certainly like their squid here! That’s one on the postbox (which is just outside my hotel so your postcards will be mailed in this one), the souvenirs are squid-obsessed and I even saw a few live squid’s swimming in a tank in a shop. But I’ll defer more squid talk until tomorrow, since I think it may be a bit of a squid overdose where I’ll be going.
The city is nestled on a promontory with ocean on each side and is known for fishing. I’ve never seen such a concentration of seafood restaurants as around the station, and many (most?) keep their menu items swimming in tanks rather than stored in fridges. Again, I think I’ll see a lot more of this tomorrow…
I wanted to see the beach so I walked there (about an hour round trip) and I was surprised to find it almost deserted. It’s very long and the sand is gray and coarse, but it seems swimmable and I don’t know why no-one was splashing around. It’s even the ‘recommended’ beach to swim at!
I passed this statue in a park on my back. He’s Gekko Kamen, the first TV superhero. All the way back in 1958 he debuted, even before most Japanese had TV sets. I read it wasn’t uncommon for TV stores to let kids watch him on their sets after they were closed, which is cute and I’m sure helped sell TVs. The creator lived in Hakodate, hence the statue.
After a healthy lunch (did you like the photo in post #2500?) I was tired and realized I’d got a bit sunburned! I even packed some warm clothes since I’d read even in summer it can be chilly here, but I doubt I’ll be wearing them. Tomorrow will be even hotter so it’s a good thing I brought sunscreen.
My room is tiny even by Japanese hotel standards, but it’s clean and modern, and the hotel has lots of amenities including laundry and even an onsen! Yes I’ll be soaking in baths here as well starting first thing tomorrow morning. I’m sure it won’t have a patch on the baths at Ichinobo, but I’ll let you know.
That’s my room view. Pretty isn’t it? I should have some even better views tomorrow…