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January 8. Instagram Today is my last day in Tokyo until the end of the trip, when I come back to Tokyo for 2 days and fly back to Boston. This is also going to be the last day I have with Vivian, as we'll be slitting up tomorrow morning, but also this morning, we're moving in different directions, as I have tickets to the Ghibli Museum. The one downside to the Ghibli museum is that no photos are allowed here, but there's so much art everywhere. Books after books after books, exhibits galore, and every room seems to have some kind of film reel running, but best of all, there's a theater in the basement playing a movie that can only be seen at the Museum. The film is short and based on the story Nezumi no Sumo . The cafe had exclusive beer as well, and overall I really enjoyed this museum, even if everything they were selling in the giftshop was a bit overpriced. I feel bad that I don't have more photos to share, because this took up a good few hours of the mor...

January 7. Instagram Waking up in a city and not having to leave that city is actually kind of nice. I'm well accommodated to Japan time now, but I am waking up very early in the morning, and Viv, working for an airline, time doesn't exist for her, so we're up and ready to go fairly early in the morning. First thing Viv needs is a coffee and there's a Starbucks next door, for me, I can just grab a coke at any old vending machine in the city. Two things: 1) Mountain Dew in Japan is not very good. It's a different formula from what they sell here at home, so it's just something different and I'm not the biggest fan of it. Coke is the same in Japan as home, so stick to good old trusty rusty coke. 2) Vending machines are everywhere and are awesome. They're a great and easy way to unload coins, and they're also an easy way to make change from a ¥1000 bill if you're going to need it for a bus or train. Viv and I's plan for today is to start...

January 6. Instagram Hakodate morning market is most likely much more lively during the tourist summer season, which is one of the benefits of traveling in the off season, no crowds to be found anywhere. Even though it was clearly quieter than normal, almost every stall and station was open selling fresh caught seafood, including king crab everywhere. I also stopped in a morning ramen shop for some more soy ramen and the food Hakodate is most well known for: Squid! Terje Kammar Med Krabbar Ja! Hakodate Morning Market. Breakfast Ramen at Ajino Ichiban, Hakodate. Hindsight being 50/50, if I were to do this trip again, I think I'd fly up to Sapporo immediately and just try to hang on with 24+ hours without sleep, and then slowly cascade down to Tokyo with those stops in Hakodate and Sendai. It would realistically save about 8 hours of travel time, at the cost of around $75-100. Time being money, that's really not an awful deal. I didn't realize that I could g...

January 5. Instagram The earliest train that will take me to Hakodate is at 8:39am, which is later than I want it to be, but it all works out because I can have breakfast ramen in Sapporo. Isonokatsuo Ramen, or at least I'm pretty sure that's where I ate. I went to the shop that google maps and the concierge told me to on the map, but something didn't seem quite right, but regardless, I ate ramen and it was delicious. Extra nori on my ramen at Isonokatsuo, Sapporo. My arrival in Hakodate was about 12:30pm, which again means I'll have a short afternoon, but plenty of night activities again, which includes the big one here: Mount Hakodate at Sunset. Honestly, that's such a big ticket item for me that I literally put nothing else on my to-do list in Hakodate, and I'd just let the wind take me where it pleased. Luckily for me, as soon as I stepped off the train, it showed me an advertisement for a really rad observation tower and park, so off we go! I sp...

January 4. Instagram Today is the longest train ride of my journey split into two pieces. The first is Sendai to Shin-Hakodate 6:40am-10:01am, switch trains, and then Shin-Hakodate to Sapporo 10:24pm-1:46pm. For a total of 7 hours and 6 minutes. I used most of this time to write short stories and anecdotes that I will never publish, but just to have them saved somewhere outside of my brain, and to research my route through Sapporo. The one downside of the train method is that I'll be losing the most time of this trip by arriving in Sapporo late in the afternoon. A small benefit is that Sapporo being the 5th largest city, there are a lot of late-night options, and I'll have a 4 hour train ride in the morning and can use that for nap time if I need to. Yes, I'm a light sleeper, but the trains feel like they're floating on clouds and it's such a smooth ride. On my arrival to Sapporo, my first stop is a ramen shop by the station called Sapporo Ichiryuan. Based o...

January 3rd. Instagram My Train to Sendai leaves Tokyo Station at 6:32am, and again I'm up very early in the morning. The one thing I realized when I woke up today is that I am starving. I didn't really notice it, but I only ate one meal yesterday, which was that super amazing ramen at Kikanbo. Other than that it was little snacks here and there. I was so enveloped in having fun I didn't eat, it happens sometimes. There are days at work I'll forget to eat because I'm having so much fun. I decide to hit a late night ramen shop for breakfast, and that's this place next to my hotel called Yaro Ramen. Spicy again, lots of egg, delicious. Yaro Ramen, Spicy w/Egg. The train ride to Sendai is 372 km, which is almost identical distance from Boston to New York City (379km). The fastest train from Boston to New York City takes 4 hours and 8 minutes. I was on the slower train from Tokyo to Sendai, and it took 1 hour and 32 minutes, arrival 8:04am. Can you imagin...