From Tokyo to Hokkaido

In September 2005, I traveled alone to Hokkaido. Even though I am a woman, and I cannot speak any Japanese at all, I wasn't worried. Japan is a very safe country and the Japanese are very nice and helpful.

The first day, I flew to Tokyo and stayed a night there. I have previously visited Tokyo before, so I didn't want to spend too much time there. I stayed at Shibuya Excel Tokyu Hotel Tokyo. It is a very good hotel, connected to Shibuya station and right on top of a very busy shopping mall with many restaurants. The airport bus stops at the hotel front door, very convenient. Check out their room rates at their website Shibuya Excel Hotel Tokyo

The next day I took a domestic flight to Asahikawa in Hokkaido. On arrival, I took a bus from the airport to Biei train station, where I changed to a train to Bibaushi station. I spent a night at the youth hostel right beside Bibaushi station. Here's their webpage.

http://www.biei.com/liberty/index-folder/English.html

I fell in love with the area straight away. It is completely different from the cities. Wide open spaces, gentle rolling hills, very relaxing. Between July and August, the hills will be covered with lavender. In September the lavender season was over, but the scenery was still very nice. I rented a motorized bicycle to travel to a flower farm nearby, where there were a variety of flowers.



I stayed in a room with 4 bunk beds. The room is very clean.


There was a teenage girl traveling with her mother and her teenage brother. They are Malaysian Chinese. The girl was very friendly, she offered me some maps and information of the area.The hostel served a very nice dinner. It was very nice staying there, except that the bathroom was communal. Here's the photo.


I could not get used to bathing with strangers, even though the same sex. So I didn't bathe that night.