Not My Base

The Warei Taisai festival is on between the 22nd and 24th, the 24th being the main day with bull sumo. To the north of Japan is the Samurai Festival in Soma city, from 23rd to 25th, again the main day being on the 24th, but I think the samurai festival just about beats watching bulls pushing each other around. So, to compromise, I think the best route is to head back from Amami to Uwajima for the Warei Taisai, and have a girly giggle at the statue of the stone penis at the nearby Sex Shrine.

The night of the 23rd, take a night train (free this time, though sleeping on a “specially designed” floor) to Soma, watch the festival. After this, chillax. There’s no more set dates for festivals, but there’s still things I’d like to do. For example, Tokyo is now between where we are and Osaka. Near Tokyo is Mt Fuji, which I’d like to climb overnight (as many people do, apparently) to watch the sunrise. Another night-time to-do is hop over to the docks and checkout the street-racing scene. One of the man-made islands is a huge parking ground where the art of car-tuning is taken seriously, and throughout the night races (almost legally) head out from and return to here. Oh, and the huge fireworks display is on the night of the 25th. So that’s at least 2 nights planned in Tokyo, with plenty to do during the day, such as have a gander at the Expo in nearby Yokahama (while avoiding being stamped on by a 2-story high mechanical spider).

Once done here, return to Osaka for a couple of days, perhaps with a few hours in Kobe, and then return home. This is by far the cheapest third of the tour, as there’s not silly costs of night trains, scenic routes or flying out to remote islands.

July 17th (or early morning of 18th): After enjoying the best two days of the Giom Matsuri in Kyoto, we’ll be going to Hiroshima. Just to the south is an island with the famous Itsukushima Shrine; a ferry to get there leaves from the river in the Peace Gardens. Also in Hiroshima is the Mazda factory museum, and the famous “A-Bomb Dome” (the skeleton of a building vaporised by the bomb) but other than that, there’s not really a lot here…

A short trip further around the bay, in the town of Kure, is a naval dockyard and the Yamato Museum. From here a ferry will take us to Matsuyama. There’s not really a lot to do here, but it has a nice youth hostel which happens to be on the way to the next destination.

From Matsuyama we’ll be taking a train to another harbour further around the island, taking us to Beppu, famous for its hot springs which come in a variety of different colours. Carrying on, we get to Nagasaki. There is a lot to do here. Besides the Peace Gardens and Atom Bomb Museum, there’s also Temple Row running along the edge of the city, Dejima next to the marina of ancient ships, penguins, amongst other things. A fair trek to the north, is Holland. No joke.

The next stop is Aso Volcano region, which I want to go to more every time I see photos of it. No would be a good day to hire out a car. There’s a helicopter tour available for 5000Y, hot springs (occupied by wild monkeys though), and youth hostels, though they don’t seem all that great. If we chose to hire a car, the best place to do so would be from the nearby town of Kumamoto, which has a pretty castle and gardens (just like every other city).

July 21st, Arrive at Kagoshima, not really a lot to do here, but the local airport is where we’ll be flying from early the next morning. Destination: Amami-Oshima, one of the larger islands out to the south, from which the solar eclipse will be visible. The flight there should also give a great view of Sakurajima Volcano island.

The eclipse will only last a few minutes, but it’s best to get there early to snatch the best spot from thousands of other tourists. The further north we can get, the better, which is good as the airport is near the northern tip of the island. To the south, away from the airport and coastal towns, the island is unspoilt jungle. While I’d love to take a kayak tour, the jungle is famous for deadly snakes unique to this island, so I’m not sure I want to hang around for too long.

The cost for flying to Amami will make this the most expensive part of the tour.

Thoughts:

• Train from Beppu to Nagasaki has to go around a big inlet, perhaps ferry across might be quicker.
• Could get train direct from Nagasaki to Hiroshima (perhaps via Fukuoka) and see Beppu on the way back (you’ll see why in next part).
• It might be better to fly out to Amami the day before, but this makes the journey to Kagoshima more of a rush.

Costs:

• Peace Museum: 50Y (£0.34)
• Itsukuyama Shrine: 300Y-500Y (£2.05-£3.40) Ferry there looks like 170Y (£1.15)
• Transport Museum: 500Y (£3.40)
• Yamato Museum: 500Y (£3.40)
• Ferry to Matsuyama: 2600Y-6900Y (£18-£47), Depending on whether we go form Kure, and if we take the jetboat.
• Matsuyama Youth Hostel: 2625Y + 525Y Breakfast (£18 + £3.50)
• Penguin Aquarium: 500Y (£3.40)
• Nagasaki Museum: 600Y (£4)
• Ropeway: 1200Y (£8) Rtn.
• Flights to Kagoshima: 25300Y each way  (£171 * 2 = £342)

Total: 58800Y-63100Y = £398-£427 depending on ferry.

*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

I was wondering how long before I made a post where the title would be totally self-paradoxial, and I didn’t think I could achieve it with just a single word. But hey, you need to speak Japanese (or be me) to understand what I’m going on about.

My plans for my tour of Japan this summer are pretty much complete, I’m just left to working out the finances, though it looks like costs should come to around £2k for a comfortable 21-day tour (including flights, railpass and accomodation and food), in other words, it may well turn out to be a lot cheaper, but this is my budget just incase anything unplanned happens.

For now here’s a very brief summary of the tour, in the form of a tracing over a map. I’ll give full details once I’ve 100% confirmed everything: