Morioka

The great thing about traveling alone, is that you can just take off and go in a different direction when you want to. That's exactly what I did on Saturday. Previously, I thought I might spend more time in Kyoto, but after seeing the crowds, I decided to make a break for Hokkaido. It's a long way, so I spent much of the day on the train. This is okay. The train rides were beautiful and I got to see a lot of the Japanese countryside along from the train.

Though my time in Morioka was very short, I found the people to be particularly nice and helpful. When I got to Morioka, I picked up a pamphlet and caught a bus to the youth hostel. As I was walking from the bus stop, a woman stopped and offered me directions to the hostel. Just to make sure, she went over the directions with me just to be sure I'd find it. I thanked her and headed for the hostel. I crossed the street and an older man spotted me and offered me directions. Wow! I couldn't believe how welcoming these people were. I thanked him and told him I had a good idea where I was going. Not satisfied, he insisted on walking part way with me, just to make sure I didn't lose my way. This is a fine example of the kindness I encountered everywhere in Japan. These people obviously love the place they live and want everyone else to love it too.

When I arrived at the hostel, the man there was similarly helpful. He asked where I was headed. I told him. He proceeded to pull out train schedules and essentially plan my next day for me. He figured out the bus and trains I'd need to take to get to Sapporo the next day. Man, these people were great!

This was one of those hostels where absolutely everything has a little coin box attached to it. Coin boxes are little devices that make it easy for hostels to charge for various appliances. You put ¥100 (US $0.87) into the slot and it turns on the power for a radio, hair dryer, washer, dryer, air conditioner, or whatever for around 30 minutes.

I had ramen for dinner at a small local ramen shop.

I did some laundry that night. There were so many coin boxes around, that I messed up and put some of the money in the one for the radio. Annoying. Eventually, I got help and got it straightened out. After the clothes were washed, I ran them through the dryer for about 3 hours. They were still quite damp. This thing was a piece of garbage. I hung them up, but in the morning, they were still damp. Yuk.

The next morning, the man at the hostel gave me a fancy rice cookie as a parting gift. From there, I took the bus and train to Hakodate.

At right, you see the cover of the Morioka pamphlet I picked up. I didn't take any photos in Morioka.