By Nami
My first trip to Japan is not over that long, but currently I am back again already, sitting in Toyko, happy and pleased! I would lik eto give you a small report on why I love it so much and why I'm back again.
It was just great in October. I was coming for a business trip, with only some time for sightseeing during the 3 weeks I had in Japan. But, nevertheless, I've enjoyed it a lot.
It started in Sapporo, where the meeting had taken place. We always found very very good and reasonably-prized food, mostly in or around the train station (eki) or near the Sapporo brewery in a mall (where they sell really cute souvenirs and the smallest miniature glass object I've ever seen).
A quite area is the university campus and the parks that surround the place. On the other side of the campus you will find some nice little eateries and bars if you look carefully at all the small entrances, sometimes they are hidden very good. Major experience was a 'Korean hot pot'.
Bit of a bummer was that there is no reall 'old town'. Actually due to several earth quakes destroying the city over and over again for cenutries. [editor's note: Sapporo's young age rather than earthquakes are responsible for the absence of an old town]
A trip to Shin-Sapporo by train takes about 20 minutes. As shin means old [editor's note: 'shin' means 'new'], I thought that might be an older part of the original Sapporo. It was not. The trip payed off anyways, as I found a nice aquarium (very special was the exhibits of fish in small aquaria with a plastified example of how it looks cooked and a sheet with the reciept besides that - so funny and typically Japanese).
Near the aquarium is a Science Museum (all explanations to the exhibits are in Japanese only, unfortunately, but it was cool anyways, especially the drawing robot, which takes a digital photo of you and then automatically draws the stilizised picture of you; for free).
Also the large mall there is a plus, it actually connects all of those places.
I did read about a replic of a whole old Hokkaido city near Shin-Sapporo, but had not had time to visit.
From there I travelled to Kochi for more business. Nice campus of the University and nice center of the town around the Harimayabashi bridge.
From there I headed for my few days off and took the train to Hiroshima (unbelievable great museum at the A-bomb site, those stories - breathtakingly sad!!!; also do check out the castle), Kobe (I've only been to the shrine close to the eki and otherwise to the port area - nice port museum and port tower), Kyoto (castles are great, but the major one is only open if you apply for the visit) and Osaka (incredible aquarium, the BEST I've ever visited, Monterey is a joke against this one!!!; and the castle is a highlight as well!!!) before coming to Tokyo.
Hoping to tell some more tales about Tokyo after this trip! Best greetings, hope you've enjoyed my story.
Nami
