*pre-disclaimer: nothing is set in stone.*
The journey begins on the morning of July 8th at Heathrow Airport, with a flight to Osaka via either Amsterdam or Paris landing the following morning (9th). The first thing to be done is picking up a 21-day rail pass (57,700Yen ) which allows for free travel on all trains (apart from the very fastest bullet train), or else we won’t be able to go anywhere. The aim of the first day is to get familiar with what We’ve let ourselves in for. At 5PM, a night train will be leaving for Aomori (9500Yen for a bed), followed by a connecting train to the northern island of Hokkaido, Arriving 10th. The 15 hour long journey (again, lying on a bed) will give ample time to rest after the long flight and adjust to the time difference.
Hokkaido is the most undeveloped area of Japan, made up of numerous national parks, and famous for its huge population of “endangered” cranes and other wildlife. I’m still to decide on the best spot on this large island to go and visit, but since the rail infrastructure isn’t so developed and the roads are generally quiet, I think now would be a good opportunity to try car rental for the day and explore via road.
July 11th/12th: From here, another long train journey back to Kanazawa to visit a friend that lives there, thankfully the train is another night train with beds, hence sleeping through the boredom.
The next port of call is the Fire Festival at Nachi Falls, with a day between leaving Kanazawa and arriving in Nachi, there are numerous choices of place to stop off on the way or way back. After the fire festival is the Giom Matsuri Festival in Kyoto, with a day between the two festivals, making two days in total for this part of the trip which can be taken easy. So, one of the days will be whale watching from a fishing town near Nachi called Kushimoto. The other will be spent probably watching sumo wrestling at Nagoya, near Kyoto, between Kanazawa and Nachi. In other words, we have a circle, needing to be at the bottom for the 14th, and at the top for the 16th, but travelling either way around is a question of timing. Also, between Kanazawa and this circle is a mountain range, again with numerous ways of crossing, though the most scenic by far costs just over 10000Yen as it involves several cable cars and busses. Another problem with his route is the lack of youth hotels in the area. There are two REALLY nice hotels, up in the mountains above the clouds and all that scenic jazz, not too expensive, but still a little much for a backpacker on a budget (19000Yen for 2 people).
Tracing the route on the map makes it look obvious it should go in the order of Nagoya first and whale watching after, but the trains aren’t as direct as illustrated, and as we need to be in Nachi for an early start, it will probably depend on which direction from Nachi has the best Youth Hostel to stay at for the previous- or following- night.
Own thoughts:
- Sumo Wrestling.. really worth a whole afternoon for?
- Hokkaido: The only unique thing here is the cranes, nice to look at yes, but really worth a £130 and 20 hours round trip?
- I’m going to include the price of the “scenic route” in the budget, as this allows for a cushion if something goes wrong.
- Could be second most expensive part of the trip (as all other locations have much cheaper youth hostels than the hotels here, and other night trains are free to sleep on with the pass).
Costs (luxuries):
- Return journey to Hokkaido with sleeper cart: 19000Y (£130)
- Car Rental in Hokkaido: Approx 8000Y/Day per car (£54, £27 Each)
- Scenic Route: 10000Y (£68)
- Alpine Hotel: 19000Y/room (for 2 people) (£130, £65 Each)
Total: £130 - £382 (£290 Each) + Food and Shelter