Let's start with Aso, which was my first proper destination after Sakurajima/Kagoshima. The last of the 3 volcanoes I was visiting in Kyushu, this was different again. It was also much harder to get to.
Aso itself (honorifically referred to as Aso-san over here) is a HUGE caldera (volcanic crater), formed by the collapse of an enormous old volcano. Several smaller peaks have now formed inside the old caldera, one of which, Naka-dake, is still very active.
I camped 'just' above the town of Aso (the largest in the area, and still pretty small) for 2 nights. The first night it rained torrentially, the second wasn't so bad. The only issue was the distance of the camp site from the town, which the Lonely Planet book got just a little bit wrong. It was something like 3km up a very steep hill which, when carrying an absurdly heavy rucksack, is not a huge amount of fun. Nonetheless, it was a beautiful place to camp.
This is part of the caldera wall from inside (i.e. at the bottom of the huge crater). It just looks like a row of smaller hills now, with very even heights.
I forget the name of this small cinder cone, but it's an almost perfect cone, like a mound of rice (about which there is a local legend).
View across the Kusasenri meadow area near the active Naka-dake crater.
The Naka-dake crater seen from afar. Note that there is a lot of steam due to the heavy rain the previous night, which has pooled in the crater floor, now evaporating due to the very high temperatures.
View into the Naka-dake crater from the crater rim. Part of the rim walk was closed due to gas emissions - proof that the volcano is still very much active.
Part of the moon-like landscape of ash and ejectorate from Naka-dake, near the crater rim.
Another shot of the above.
From Aso it was time to shoot back north. I had to be in Tokyo within about 4 days, but it's a suprisingly long distance. I elected to go from Aso to the famous old hot spring town of Beppu, from Beppu to Nagoya, and then from Nagoya to Tokyo. The latter two journeys were by trusty highway bus and therefore pretty lengthy (but much cheaper than the train, and less hassle to boot).
The ryokan I stayed in in Beppu. The princely sum of ￥5000 (about 25GBP) nets you a beautiful single Japanese-style room here, and an hour's rental of one of the 3 private onsen (hot-spring baths) in the ryokan.
My room in Beppu.
'My' onsen. Japanese onsen must be tried to be believed - somehow, all your aches and pains disappear after half an hour in one of these.
Mt. Fuji through the haze (and through a bus window) on the way from Nagoya to Tokyo. I will be getting closer to Fuji-san on my way back south.
And so I arrived in Tokyo a few days after leaving Aso, and the difference couldn't be more startling. From a rural town at the foot of a looming active volcano, I had come to the world's biggest, most energetic and certainly most exciting city.
I spent 6 nights in Tokyo. The city as a whole is impossible to really put into words or even still images, but here's a tiny section of some of the stuff I saw and did.
The main street of Shinjuku in the late afternoon, full of shoppers in non-stop consumer mode. The buildings are impressive, second only to the noise and the sheer number of people.
The Park Hyatt Hotel, Shinjuku. Setting for the movie 'Lost In Translation', of which I am a fan. A trip to the American Bar on the 52nd floor was in order...
And here's a blurry photo from said bar (there's no way I was using flash in there). It's as nice as it looks in the movie, and then some, and the prices match. Regardless, I had one drink and I managed to get seated in the very same seat as Bill Murray (which was nice). As a one-off experience it was beyond words.
The view out over Tokyo from the 52nd floor of the Park Hyatt. The best view in the city.
A tiny section of the Toyota MegaWeb in the Tokyo Bay area. Part showroom, part museum, part theme park, you can easily kill half a day here (I did).
Toyota motorsports display at the MegaWeb.
Toyota hydrogen-powered car. The place was filled with examples of their innovative new designs like this...
...and like this. This is the view from inside one of the electric cars they had driving themselves around a circuit inside the complex. There's no rail guiding the cars - they detect the road and other cars, and follow it themselves, braking and accelerating according to conditions. It's quite unnerving to be in a car as it drives itself.
One of the 'personal helper' robots in development at Toyota (in competition with Honda, amongst others).
Some kind of 'personal transportation device'. I still can't really see the use for this, but I guess they can, since they make a big deal of it.
Shot of some of the amazing buildings in the Odaiba area at Tokyo Bay. The one with the massive sphere is the Fuji TV headquarters. The others I'm not sure.
The 'Miraikan' museum of emergent science and technology (or something) in the same area. Without a doubt the best science museum I've ever been in - the exhibits are as futuristic as the building housing them.
Akihabara is the crazy (and quite famous) electronics district in Tokyo. If it runs on electricity, you can probably buy it somewhere here. It's also something of a manga/anime (Japanese comics/animation) mecca. It has quite a different feel from the 'high tech' Tokyo elsewhere, though. None of the pictures of the streets have really come out very well (it's an atmosphere that's impossible to capture anyway) but a couple of other things that caught my eye here:
Japanese manga (comics) characters are everywhere here, including on the sides of cars (Toyota Supra, car fans)...
All the KFCs in Japan have a plastic Col. Sanders outside, but I've never seen one in full Samurai armour before.
This is the world's most famous 4-way pedestrian crossing, outside Shibuya station. This is the view from the Starbucks overlooking the junction, although this was pretty early so it's not in full flow. I went back later on the next day and the junction was almost impossible to cross due to the sheer density of people.
Living conditions for most people in Japan make owning pets difficult. Lack of space and time make it plain impractical, so at the top floor of the Tokyu Hands department store in Ikebukuro lies the curious 'Nekobekuro' ('neko' means cat). Yes, you pay ￥600 here for unlimited one-time access to a room full of pettable cats. Ingenious.
Another shot (thanks to the Australian girl who took the photo) from feeding time in Nekobukuro.
I overdosed on temples and gardens in Kyoto, so I tried to get a more high-tech experience in Tokyo, but I had to visit Meiji-jingu, perhaps Tokyo's most famous shrine. It was a rainy day, sadly, but that didn't stop me from turning up there.
Part of Meiji-jingu shrine, looking a little less impressive than it should due to the rain...
This ceremony was, I believe, a wedding. Clearly a wedding for someone very important, since there were apparently movie stars in attendance (not that I'd recognise them), and due to the fact it was being held at Meiji-jingu.
I met a guy here who explained all about the ceremony, took the time to helpfully tell me when good photo opportunities were coming up, teach me about shrine ettiquette - all sorts of things. In the way only the Japanese can, he then offered to buy me lunch, and proceeded to show me around the entire Yoyogi area, including the NHK broadcasting headquarters. He also took me to see a traditional Japanese archery competition being held in the ground of Meiji-jingu (which clearly I would have totally missed had he not told me). I don't have photos of that because photography wasn't allowed, but it's something I would advise any visitor to Japan to try to see.
The NHK TV headquarters (complete with Domokun flag right next to the Japanese one, for all you pop-culture fans).
Evening view across to downtown Tokyo from the 'Tokyo Beach' area. There's a beach on the reclaimed land here, which amazed me, but it seemed very busy indeed. Anyway I came back here to kill a few hours before I left on my night bus to my next destination...
I'd need 3 weeks or more to scratch the surface of what Tokyo has to offer, but it's so exhausting to explore (mainly due to its size) that 6 days was about as long as I wanted there this time. I'll go back some time and do some more, and catch things I missed (plus the new attractions which will I'm sure have appeared by then). Asakusa's temples and the early-morning Tsukuji fish market are on that list, amongst other things. Tokyo, I will be back.
Moving on from Tokyo, I started a journey of about half the length of the country - Tokyo to Sapporo, on the northern island of Hokkaido. Over the course of 2 days, using one long-distance highway night bus and 2 express trains, via the towns of Aomori and Hakodate, I finally made it here.
View across the bay during my brief stop in Hakodate, which is, I think, where people from mainland Japan made first footfall on Hokkaido (although the Ainu people were already here).
And so, upon my arrival in Sapporo...I was knackered. I checked into another lovaly traditional ryokan here (I have 4 nights here), had a bowl of tasty katsudon, and that was that.
Cue today. Taking it easy after Tokyo, I decided to visit the production plant for Sapporo's most famous export - Sapporo beer, Japan's first beer brewery. I got a guided tour here (in Japanese, of course, but with English signage along the way) ending in the inevitable free tasting session and gift shop.
'Sapporo-beer-teien' train station. The brewery has its own (tiny) station on the JR line from Sapporo.
Self-explanatory - part of the brewery buildings.
The on-site Shinto shrine for workers at the brewery.
And so there we have it. A lengthy journey, from a volcanic caldera and natural hot springs, through the world's biggest and most high-tech urban sprawl, back to the quieter northern island of Hokkaido, home to one of Japan's favourite drinks and, thankfully, cooler weather.
I have a few days to chill out here and catch my breath, before heading off...somewhere. I'm not entirely sure yet, but maybe I'll head to Japan's most northern point, just a stone's throw away from Russia. Time will tell, and of course I'll be sure to update this (hopefully more frequently) when I can.
Take care everyone,
James
