Hokkaido Highway Blues...NOT

Ahhh, I had an awesome week. Little did I know that embarking on an 6 day road trip (plus 2 days on a boat) to the north of Japan would do me so good. From pulling away from the port of Nagoya to touching down in Chubu Airport, going to Hokkaido was the best thing I've done in a little while. While the weather was perfect, absolutely perfect, the sights were amazing, the sense of freedom was palpable, and camping Japanese style was phenomenal, by far, the best thing about this trip was bonding in close quarters with some of the best people in Japan.

The adventure started out last Saturday, July 22 when Ed, Shiloh and I met up on top of Nagoya Station. Having been truly knackered from our karaoke adventure the night before, our excitement at taking the 36 hour ferry from Nagoya Port to Tomakomai was beaten into a frenzy upon viewing the cruise ship that was our ferry. With an onsen, a movie theatre, a restaurant, comfortable berths and straight up cleanliness, the trip started out right. We had plenty of things to occupy ourselves and time passed by quickly.

Before we knew it, we had arrived in Hokkaido, picked up our rental car and headed out to Sapporo. The cold and wet conditions improved dramatically as we drove on and it was absolutely stunning by the time we reached the prefectural capital. We checked out the usual sights (the clocktower, the TV tower, Odori Park) and spent hours just strolling happily along, being over the moon about sitting on really grass (really, such a luxury in Gifu) and attending out first beer matsuri (festival). After night fell, we headed down and over to Kuriyama to hook up with the oh so fine, Montreal Stephanie. Let me tell you about this girl - she is personality cubed. She's funny, she's hyper-intelligent, she's cultured, she's a hometown/around-the-way girl and she's beautiful, inside and out. We've only had the pleasure of each other's company a precious few times, but kept up with each other through blogs, MSN and emails (thank the lord for technology), but hooking up again after a year was exquisite. Yeah, I heart her hard.

After waking up Tuesday morning at Steph's place, we got our little show on the road and headed to Biei, famous for it's nature and lavendar fields, to set up our tent. Yes, Ms. K. was going to camp. And let me tell you - it was so easy. Camping in Japan is the shit. Everything was so clean and the close proximity to onsens ensured that we wouldn't stink to high heaven after a couple of days. Even the bugs weren't so bad! And our campsite was monstrously huge! We spent two nights there and it was a complete pleasure, even though we were four inside the tent. It was ridiculously cozy, but in a good way.

On Wednesday, we decided to attack one of the Daisetsuzan mountains. I don't know which one we conquered, but we hiked for 5 hours. We felt pretty battered and bruised, but after going to the onsen and having a nice meal, everything was just gravy.

On Thursday, we set out for Toya-ko, which was clear across the prefecture from where we were. I think we drove for about 6 or 7 hours, stopping a few times. We stopped at Furano for a while to take about a hundred photos of the famous lavendar fields. When we finally reached our destination, the sun was setting, which made the campsite so beautiful. We even saw a couple of swans which added to the overwhelming beauty. We cleaned ourselves up at the onsen and headed to the city for a meal. We also indulged in some wine drinking (again) and had a pleasant evening.

On Friday, our last full day in Hokkaido, we enjoyed the beautiful weather by wading in the lake. Ed and I stayed behind because of his cast and my hair do while Steph and Shi swam. Afterwards, we lazed about on the beach and had the sun and the fresh air make love to our bodies. That was probably my favorite time during the whole trip. We capped things off by heading to Sapporo to meet some of Steph's friends, drink in the park with what seemed like the whole population of the city and indulge in some less than mature antics. But don't worry - I kept my clothes on.

I got back a couple of days ago, and while I was just wrecked because I stayed up all night on our final night, I feel sooo good about that trip. I especially feel wonderment about the friends I have here. Ed and Shi, my Gifu compatriots, further solidifed their places in my heart. My dear Stephanie has left this fair country, but hanging out with her over the past week brought back some Montreal into my life, which was sorely being missed, though unbeknowest to me. I raise my glass to thee.

Since I didn't have my digi cam, I will be getting my film developed in the next couple of days. Watch this space for updates. In the meantime, you can check out Steph's pics here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sothereiwas/sets/72157594215951385/show/