Last December, I went to 5 new prefectures and spent Christmas in Hokkaido on the first week of my winter holiday (22-26 December 2008).


Sorry about the bad paint work. Hopefully you guys can decipher it. In order to step all the prefectures in Tohoku region, I had to take two different rail lines. First passing by Niigata, on way back I used the opposite route.

I spent 15090 yen on transportation (5k gone because of my stupidity), 3675 yen on accommodation (one day), 1660 yen on tourist spots, 6865 yen on food, 4115 on souvenirs (bought too much sweets), plus 1000 yen on misc stuff, total, 32,365 yen.

First I bought Hokkaido and East Japan Pass (北海道&東日本パス Hokkaido & Higashi-Nihon Pasu), can buy it from any JR stations. For visitors, you can always buy other JR passes. It is possible to go Hokkaido for just 10000 yen. The downside is you only have five days and, it takes at least 24 hours to reach Sapporo (札幌).

Then I bought reserved seat ticket for Moonlight Echigo, 510 yen.


My first ever night train in Japan. Moonlight Echigo has ladies coach too.

From Shinjuku station, it takes 5 hours and 41 minutes to reach Niigata (新潟). Basically I wasted one day because I used the ticket on Dec 22, 11 pm. One day gone after an hour. As I don't want to spend so much on accommodation, I made this trip short. It took me 30 hours to reach Sapporo ;)

Dec 23: I reached Niigata on 4:51 am. Then I hopped on another train to Murakami (村上). On the way, I put on my headphones and listened to moumoon's album. Slowly, I fell into deep sleep.

When I was awake, the train has stopped and nobody was in the train. Then I realised that I had to switch another train to Sakata (酒田) in Yamagata prefecture (山形県). I quickly dashed out the train and luckily, the train to Sakata was just nearby, I didn't have to run/take stairs to another platform. Safe.

Apparently not. Just when the trains started to move, I realised that I have left my baggage on the overhead rack of the previous train. OMG, 出師不利 orz

I quickly contacted the train conductor and asked him to 'secure' my baggage before it goes back to Niigata. I thought that I just have to return back to Murakami and get it (or ask JR staff to send it to Sapporo or whatever), due to the inefficiency of the train conductor, well I didn't rush him, partly was my fault, I found myself back in Niigata around 9 in the morning =.= 3 hours gone.


Lost and found centre in Niigata train station. Luckily I was using Tohoku & Hokkaido pass, no extra fares.

Once I got back my luggage, I had some time to kill before the next train comes, so I walked around Niigata station and had breakfast.


Salmon teishoku set, it was okay.

Since the trains in tohoku region are not that frequent, in order to reach Sapporo on time, I had to spend extra 3500 yen on express train. The Hokkaido & Tohoku pass was only for normal and rapid trains (aka slower trains). BUT, somehow luck was on my side, this cute train which was suppose to run during weekends somehow runs on Tuesday, because that day was Emperor's Birthday.


Kira Kira Uetsu, a very interesting train. It is just a rapid train with Shinkansen facilities (means slower train), so I only paid for the reserved seat, which was 510 yen.

Along the way, I got to see paddy fields and the beautiful Sea of Japan.



After an hour plus, I reached Sakata (酒田) at Yamagata prefecture (山形県). I had another one hour to kill before the next train, so I went to the nearby tourist counter and realised that in Sakata, they have FREE rental bicycles.



I put my luggage in the locker (Lockers are everywhere in Japan train stations). There are a bunch of tourist attractions around Sakata, since I couldn't really read the maps while cycling, most of the time I just wandered aimlessly. It started to rain/snow halfway, it was kinda interesting, cycling under the snow.


The town was basically quite empty. Nothing much going on.

Next, express train to Akita. I didn't have much time in Akita and straight went to Aomori.


My lunch and souvenir. Japan's Kit Kat has crazy amount of different flavours.

On the way, snow snow snow~　When I reached Aomori (青森), it was already around 8 pm. If it wasn't for that luggage lost incident, I might had 5 hours break in Aomori.


Left, dorayaki with apple filling, yummm. Aomori = Apples. Right: Aomori Station.

There are like two places you can go if you are nearby Aomori station. Triangle looking shopping centre called ASPAM and see the Aomori Bay Bridge.


I was wandering around in the middle of snowing, trying to look for some restaurant mentioned in wikitravel, and the town was basically empty when I was there. Ladies, do not wander around alone in the night.

After two hours wandering around Aomori station, I took the only express train covered in Hokkaido & Tohoku pass, Hanamasu Express. It was a 7.5 hours train ride to Sapporo.



That basically sums up my journey to Hokkaido. A lot of things can be happened in one day.

Last Sunday, four Bekka students from Waseda University, went all the way to Gunma (群馬県) and Ibaraki (茨城県) prefecture by train for only 1500 yen.



Leaded by yours truly, these four students left their dorm at 4:30 am. It was around the week of exams and deadlines, they should be studying and writing reports in their rooms instead, not having one day trip at somewhere 90 kilometres away. Miss Teo only slept for 2 hours because she was 'trying' to finish her homework before that.

Of course, she spent more time watching dramas (Code Blue, Tomorrow, VOICE, Love Shuffle) than doing homework.

They first reached Kiryu (桐生), Gunma at 7:24 am.


This is the first time I see signboard with picture as background. Interesting.

Then, they took this non JR train (270 yen one way) to their first destination, Omama (大間々).



The reason the tour guide, Miss Teo chose to visit Omama because it is not too far away from Kiryu, and it is reachable by foot.

They walked past Hanetaki Bridge (はねたき橋), and Teo saw her first ever dam, Takatsudo Dam (高津戸ダム).


Apparently Hanetaki Bridge is quite famous for suicide purpose. They even have a stone monument to comfort the spirit of the workers who died because of accident during the construction the dam. I didn't know about this before I went =x

Group photo!


Left to right: Taiwan, Slovakia, China, Malaysia.

They were the only group of gaijins (foreigners, aliens) playing around Takatsudo-Kyou (高津戸峡), because this place is not really a famous tourist spot. Only weird people like Teo will go there for sight seeing. It was beautiful though, and peaceful. Behind is Watarase Valley.


Kids, do not play near the river, it is dangerous. The small pond nearby is actually covered with a thin layer of ice.

They hiked along Yougai Mountain (not really a mountain). Teo almost ran out of breath on the way to the top, even though she is the youngest *ashamed*.

After playing for nearly 3 hours, they went back to Kiryu and, FREE rental bicycles~



They waited for more than 30 minutes to have lunch in this restaurant.


Shitamiya Honten (志多美屋本店), this shop is famous for sauced pork cutlet over rice (ソースカツ丼), which is famous in Kiryu. Since I don't eat meat, I ordered Tamago don (Egg over rice). Why am I bringing them to eat meat anyway?

After the lunch, they were already late for the train to their next destination. The next train was one hour later. So Teo decided to cycle around Kiryu Town. Since she was too lazy to read the map (so did the rest), they were just wandering around, passing by Shinshuku (新宿) not Shinjuku, and enjoyed being 'lost'.

They rented the bicycles for free from this place called YUI.



Y.U.I in capital letters, what sort of coincidence is this?? FATE. Anyway, the staff there was really glad that foreigners like them went all the way to such unknown small town. She was trying to ask them a bunch of stuff, too bad they didn't have the time.

Hence they moved to the next destination, Mito (水戸) in Ibaraki Prefecture, which is 2 hours away from Kiryu. When they reached Mito, it was already getting dark. Still, they decided to go to Kairakuen (偕楽園), so called Japan's top 3 gardens.

When they reached Kairakuen, it was almost completely dark, and people were leaving the park. 难得来到这里，还是得绕一圈，走一趟。


Kairakuen is famous for its 3,000 plum trees. Most of them were not blooming yet when we were there. We were arguing whether the plum flowers are pink or white, since we were in the darkness. Camera showed that it was pink after all.

Maybe due to global warming, no lights around Kairakuen. They could only depend lamp posts, the lights from trains, vending machine, cellphone, camera and Mito City. Just went they gave up the thought of exploring Kairakuen, they saw bamboo forests on the map of Kairakuen. Miss Taiwan who claims herself as Singaporean said that bamboo trees at night are scary. A lot of horror stories in Taiwan happened in bamboo forests.

Teo was like, what? Scary??? Interesting *smirks*
Slovakian girl was like, Ninja will fall from above bamboo tree?

So the group returned back to Kairakuen and went further inside. Teo started to realise that this place is really BIG, and bamboo trees at night are indeed, creepy. Still, it was really fun, having no idea what's ahead. Even the camera screen was completely black when they were trying to take pictures.
(My mom will kill me if she finds out that I did such things, especially at night.)

And they returned back to the bus stop after spending 1 hour exploring Kairakuen and nearby Tokiwa Shrine (常磐神社), which was closed. 4 of them occupied the whole bus on way back (230 yen one way).

They couldn't think of anything to eat, so they ended up in Saizeriya, famous Italian chain restaurant for high school students and poor university students.


My seafood pilaf, 499 yen. I had to eat another onigiri because I wasn't full enough.

After the dinner, they said good bye to Mito and took 7:40 pm train to Ueno, reached Takadanobaba (where they stay) at 10 pm.



It was a long day, but fun.

Since Teo considers herself as 'Veteran Train Passenger' after stepping on 25 prefectures by train, she was sleeping most of the time in the train, without worrying much, unlike the other three beginners, who had to double confirm the time and having the thought of riding on the wrong train.

This trip is made possible with the existence of Seishun 18 Ticket.


Four of us used up the remaining four spaces in this ticket.

It was actually sold at 11500 yen, which can be used for 5 days/times, but Teo bought it for 5200 yen from some ticket reselling shop near the west exit of Shinjuku station, and requested 1500 yen from each person. Why is it so cheap? The deadline to use Seishun 18 ticket during winter period is on Jan 20 which was 5 days later when she bought the ticket, and as we mentioned earlier, it was around exam season, plus that ticket can be used for another 4 times or 4 days. Normally one time ticket is more expensive.

In the end, she only paid 800 yen for JR train rides whole day. One way to Odaiba in Tokyo already costs 500 yen =P　In total, she only spent less than 4000 yen in this cross prefecture trip. No souvenirs, no crowd of tourists, yay.

青春１８切符万歳～

Now that she has cleared Kanto region, Teo is sure that she can conquer remaining 15 prefectures in upcoming spring holiday break.

Now she just has to finish her homework.

PS: Special thanks to Kate, Kevin and Megumi for accompanying me. Travelling with friends is so much fun, if I were alone, I won't be going to the park for sure, let alone wandering around bamboo forest at night. 本当にありがとう！楽しかった。また今度遊ぼう～

Anpanman is everywhere when I was in Kochi prefecture, apparently the author is from Kochi.

I'm back from my Shikoku and Kansai trip. School started 3 days ago.

And my room is still a mess. I wake up at 11 am everyday.

Is it because of the long trip? Or because it is winter.

I better get back to my previous cycle, this is a bad way to start off 2009. I'm still living in the past. Last year, I've read 65 books (English, Chinese, Japanese), and ever since I came to Japan, the number drops drastically. From 4 books per month to 1, sometimes zero. I used to run 3 times a week, now I don't do it any more. Because of the coldness? Nah it is just an excuse.

Some of my year 2008 resolutions were: Lose weight, cure my face, learn swimming and Korean.

I'm forgetting all the Korean characters I've learned, I still don't have a swimsuit, my weight is still the same (maybe higher), and my face still looks horrible. Since I don't put make up, which means more $$$ to spend.

Luckily, I'm addicted to salad these days:


Brunch at Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture.

Sesame salad dressing is LOVE. If you tell me to eat salad 2 years ago, I might puke in front of you. I used to hate greens a lot. Guess everything is possible once you change your mindset.

And I'm picking up my guitar back. I shall aim to play at least one full song by GO!GO!7188 this year XD Maybe this or this. I actually went to this guitar club in Waseda for a couple of times, but recently I stopped going, with no apparent reason.

I wanna jam YUI songs with others T.T

It needs some good time management, and the initiative to send a few emails.

As for my trip, I conquered 20 prefectures, met 2 YUI fans, one from Japan, one from Taiwan. So now I've been to 30 prefectures, left 17, which I'm gonna do it on my upcoming spring holiday.

I'll do a detailed post on each prefecture, for my future reference, for Geography's sake, and for whoever is interested.

As for YUI stuff, especially translations, I'll continue it after I'm back to Malaysia. Least distractions. Now there are just too many stuff to enjoy than doing research or staying indoors.

For a gaijin, everything is interesting in Japan.

For Waseda students, you will have tons and tons of opportunities to meet new people everyday.

Time to reply mails and do homework.

PS: Shiina Ringo's live audio: Part 1, Part 2

December 31 night: I went out with a Slovakian girl and a China guy from my dorm. We walked to Shinjuku and ate toshikoshi-soba at this shop.


I didn't bring along my backpack, hence the disposable chopsticks aiks.

When the clock hits 12 am, nothing spectacular happened around Shinjuku but quietness. On our way to Shinjuku station, the Slovakian girl picked up a cellphone on the floor (She picked up a bunch of stuff on our way to Shinjuku). Someone called when we were on our way to Koban aka police box, and he happened to be around the same area as us. So we met him near the exit and returned him friend's phone.

What a nice way to start off our new year.

It doesn't really matter whether we go for huge countdown events or whatever, what matters the most is who we spend our time with. Basically we were just wandering around Shinjuku, and we met random people who greeted us Happy New Year, random Starbucks which still opens even after 1 am, random group of tourist from Hong Kong, pushing their luggages in the middle of night.

The China guy was saying that I am just like a book with blank pages. Apparently I am so mysterious and he doesn't know what the next page is going to be.

I kinda like this metaphor. Maybe I am.

I will be going to Shikoku and Kansai area in next few hours for 5 days. This afternoon I went to Shinjuku to check out whether those internet cafes are 'sleep-able' or not, because I'm gonna spend a couple of nights there.

It looks better than those dodgy hotels or capsule hotels. Plus free drinks, shower, message chair, not to mention manga, DVD, internet. Who needs a real bed?

Anyway, Shinjuku was kinda empty today.


Underground passage to Shinjuku station (1.30 pm, 1 January 2009).

I am kinda exaggerating.

Year 2008 was great. I stopped eating meat other than seafood, stopped drinking coffee, met a bunch of cool YLs, went to Singapore three times, Bangkok once, and now I am in Japan, travelling and seeing a bunch of concerts (besides studying Japanese).


My daily diary.

Happy new year and hope you guys have a great year ahead!!

PS: Some evidence that I really went to Hokkaido.


Hitsuji-ga-oka, Sapporo. I went there because YUI went there before too.

And,




Now left Hiroshima.