Summer 2010 Trip Itinerary
3 & 6-week Trip Itineraries
- Hokkaido to Kyushu -

This trip will encompass a wide variety of landscapes around Japan, including the remote North as well as the "Core Area" of Honshu. Stops of physical and cultural interests will be made in these areas at Sapporo, Otaru, Hakodate, Morioka, Tokyo, Matsumoto, Kyoto, and Hiroshima, before either returning or continuing on to Yatsushiro.

Click on Map for LARGE Rail Map of Japan (300k)

May 21: *average high = 56°F *average low = 44°F

(This itinerary is subject to change up until the time airline ticket reservations are made, and dates can change slightly to accomodate ticket availability.

Day 2

May 19 - Weds

Otaru

Arrive Japan Narita -transfer to Chitose flight

Otaru Green Hotel
0134-33-0333

Day 3

May 20 - Thurs

Otaru

In the morning after breakfast, we'll explore Otaru, the former center of commerce in Hokkaido. The old main street used to be lined with banks and was serviced by street cars. Now it's all gone along with the over-fished herring, which provided the former wealth. The last bank moved out in 2002.

Otaru Green Hotel
0134-33-0333

Day 4

May 21 - Fri

Otaru

Day 5

May 22 - Sat

Hirafu

Day 6

May 23 - Sun

Hakodate

We hop a southbound train for Hakodate, a city with some remaining western architectural influence. Hakodate was one of the two first ports opened to foreign trade after Commodore Perry arrived in 1853 (Shimoda on the Izu Peninsula was the other), and has remnants of this western presence.

Day 1 of JR Pass

Oyado Aozora Inn
0138-22-4978

Day 7

May 24 - Mon

Hakodate

In the morning we'll check out the morning market next to the station, perhaps have a Japanese breakfast there, and then check out the hillsides with Western influenced architecture dating from the Meiji Period.

2

Oyado Aozora Inn
0138-22-4978

Day 8

May 25 - Tues

Morioka

We'll catch a train for Hachinohe City. After following the coast southward, the train enters the world's longest tunnel that goes under the Tsugaru Straits. Way over budget and taking much longer to complete than planned, the Seikan Tunnel is still an engineering marvel. From the train it just looks like concrete lined with florescent lamps. Just remember there's 787' of rock and ocean above you.

• Estimated cost: 60 billion yen ($590 million).
• Actual cost: 1.1 trillion yen ($7 billion).
• Estimated construction time: 10 years.
• Actual construction time: 25 years.
• The tunnel opened in 1988.

Depending on the transfer in Hachinohe, there should be time for lunch and a bank stop outside the station, otherwise it's off on the short shinkansen ride to Morioka. Someone from Iwate University will meet us at the station to guide us to the guest house. Otherwise, we'll take a van taxi.

3

Tokyuso of Iwate University.
019-621-6024
(Coin Laundry)

Day 9

May 26 - Weds

Morioka

Each time we come to Morioka, a different itinerary is scheduled by the geographers. We've been to the Koiwa farms, Nambu ironware factories, had wanko-soba, and checked out the tsunami walls in Tarou on the coast. We've also had tea ceremonies and eaten [nasty] dried tofu which was part of a graduate student's dissertation.

4

Tokyuso of Iwate University.
019-621-6024
(Coin Laundry)

Day 10

May 27 - Thurs

Tokyo

We'll pick up a morning Shinkansen for Tokyo.

The ryokan is in Nippori which requires a transfer in Ueno or Tokyo to the Yamanote line. Depending on our arrival time, we can look around a bit of Tokyo such as Ueno or Akihabara after check-in. If we get in early enough we can check out the National Museum in Ueno Park and the Ameyoko-cho arcade, an interesting market area more than an arcade, just south of Ueno Station.

5

Suzuki Ryokan
03-3821-4944

K's House Tokyo
03-5833-0555

Day 11

May 28 - Friday

Tokyo

Bay Tour - Up early for a train to Kurihama, at the tip of the Miura Peninsula past past Yokohama, where we take the cross-bay ferry to Kanaya on the Boso Peninsula. In Kanaya we make our way to the Nokogiriyama Ropeway (Cable Car) to ride up to the top for views of the peninsula and the bay. Also at the top is Nihon-ji, a temple with walking paths and a 31 meter tall stone buddha carved in 1786. The temple itself was established in 785 AD. Back to Kanaya and then return northward up the east coast of the bay to Chiba and Tokyo.

6

Tokyo International Youth Hostel - Iidabashi
03-3235-1107

Day 12

May 29- Sat

Tokyo

Up early to get to the Tsukiji Wholesale Market to see one of the world's largest fish markets. This is the place to have sashimi for breakfast. Stop off in the Caretta Building along the way for a good view over the Ginza and Tsukiji.

7

K's House Tokyo Oasis
03-3844-4447

Day 13

May 30 - Sun

Matsumoto

Train to Shinjuku and then a shinkansen for Nagano transfering to an express for Matsumoto. In Nagano, we can take a look at the Zenkouji temple which is the raison d'être for this city - a temple town instead of a castle town. A short hop southward, with hopefully some good views of the snow-capped Japanese Alps will get us to Matsumoto. We'll find the hotel, dump our luggage and head for the castle and then walk around the old market section.

8

Super Hotel Matsumoto
0263-37-9000

Matsumoto City Hotel
0263-32-5025

Day 14

May 31 - Mon

Matsumoto

We'll take a day trip out of Matsumoto south by local train to the old post town of Narai, along the Nakasen-do, in the Kiso Valley. Narai isn't quite as touristy as some other of the post towns further down toward Nagoya, but has a good run of old Edo Period architecture, including 5 old wells along the street and some old temples. Because it is still alive, as compared to just a tourist town, such as Magome, cars use the streets which makes it less desirable as a tourist stop.

9

Super Hotel Matsumoto
0263-37-9000

Day 15

June 1- Tues

Kyoto

We head for Matsumoto Station to catch an express for Nagoya and a Shinkansen for Kyoto

10

K's House
075-342-2444
(coin laundry)

Day 16

June 2 - Weds

Kyoto

Head to Sekigahara. This is the site of the most famous battle in Japan where in 1600 the eastern faction under Tokugawa Ieyasu defeated the western faction led by Ishida Mitsunari uniting Japan and setting up the Tokugawa Shogunate. We'll then take trains to Sakamoto on the other side of Biwa-ko to check out Hieizan and Enryku-ji . Hieizan is the mountain where warrior monks once lived. The remnants of their temple complexes are spread around this peak. It is several thousand feet higher than Kyoto, so it is a bit cooler.

11

K's House
075-342-2444
(coin laundry)

Day 17

June 3- Thurs

Himeji -
Hiroshima

Depart Kyoto for Hiroshima. Along the way we'll make a short stop to look at Himeji Castle. We'll then take the ferry over to Itsukushima to have a look around at dusk. [Tide charts] High Tide is at 17:16. There's a 7-11 convenience store near the hostel that's good for meals and drinks.

12

Miyajimaguchi YH
0829-56-1444
(coin laundry)

Day 18

June 4 - Friday

Hiroshima

Hiroshima is a city that still has its street cars, which makes getting around with a view fairly simple. Few cities still do, but one of the first things running after the bomb was the street cars, giving hope, and they are maintained still as a symbol of hope for the future. We'll head into town by JR train to look over Peace Park and the museum to view the effects that the world's first atomic bomb had on a city in ending the war before a main island invasion, and then the arcade.

13

Miyajimaguchi YH
0829-56-1444
(coin laundry)

Day 19

June 5 - Saturday

Fukuoka
Yatsushiro

We'll make our way by JR local back to Hiroshima station, and then continue by the Sanyo Shinkansen to Fukuoka, where the rail-trip -only group will check into the Toyoko Inn Hakata Eki Minami.

The 6-week group will continue on by Relay Tsubame express to Yatsushiro in the afternoon, to be met by your host families at the train station for the 3+ week homestay.

The 3-week group should pack and get ready to be at the front desk by 6 AM for the shuttle to the airport.

14

Yatsushiro

or

Toyoko Inn Hakata Eki Minami
092-475-1045

Day 20

June 6- Sunday

Fukuoka

If it's the 7:10 AM flight for Tokyo (JL3052)., we'll take the 6 AM hotel shuttle to the airport. We arrive Narita at 8:55 AM.
The earliest return flight departs at 11:30 AM after which we cross the IDL so we gain a day. The exact schedule will be known when the reservations are made.

Day 21

June 6- Sunday

Arrive in Chicago before you left Narita. It won't feel that way though.

June 8: *average high = 80°F (27°C) *average low = 64°F (18°C)

Green is free time with your host family and to work on your project.
List of Field Trips we might do while in Yatsushiro -
(these are some we've done in the past.)
Activity and date DO NOT correspond as they're weather & transport dependent.

June 7 Mon

AM - Classes begin at IEC

Mt. Aso National Park - Nakadake - Mt. Aso is the main volcanic complex that built the island of Kyushu. So much material was ejected over the millennia that the entire region collapsed forming a large caldera. Instead of a lake, however, two rivers drain the floor exiting over waterfalls through a canyon on the west side. The caldera floor is intensely farmed and also filled with many hot spring resorts and hot spring ryokan.

The Naidaijin area is a wide area in a canyon, where the floor is intensely farmed. The walls are too steep near the floor to use so it isn't until well above the floor that stepped fields again take hold. The area around Yabe town is also well known for its stone bridges and aqueducts.

Sendantodoro - Gokanosyo - Heike no Sato

Drive east into the Izumi area of central Kyushu, an area more isolated and cut off than Lonely Planet's favorite Iya Valley in Shikoku. This is 70% of Japan's area, but the population is aging and leaving, becoming a depopulated tree farm for Japan's newspapers. Attempts to draw in tourists have largely failed, but we will see the attempts in rebuilt suspension bridges, waterfall viewing platforms, and paved trails. We'll drive through the Kawabe River Valley to visit the site of controversial dam project.

Minamata - "Minamata Disease" Museum - Methyl mercury released into the bay by the Chisso company caused nerve damage to hundreds of citizens in the 50s and 60s. Close ties with government kept the cause hidden for many years. It is now known as the site of one of the world's great industrial catastrophes, and the museum is built on top of reclaimed bay and dredged polluted sediments. 50th anniversary was 1 May 2006. There is also a bamboo garden next to Chisso that is nice when the water is running. Along the way back we can stop at the Maizuru Castle site in Tsunagi-machi.

Tour of Yatsushiro castle site & Honmachi, the old shopping area of the city, as compared to the new Rindou commercial strip that connects Route 3 to the port area. We can stop in at one of the new malls that is taking business away from the old downtown. Jusco is on the New Port Road and Youme Town is next to the Mercian sake factory.

Matsushima - Amakusa Islands

Just across the bay from Yatsushiro lie the Amakusa Islands. Many people here still make their living from the sea. It is also an area known for its aquaculture of oysters and the resulting pearls.

Kumamoto City - Kumamoto Castle
Kumamoto castle is half original and half rebuilt. It was burned down during the Satsuma rebellion in 1878 when government troops attacked Saigo Takamori who had recently taken the castle. Saigo retreated across Kyushu and was defeated again at Nobeoka, where he escaped southward through the central part of the island to his home in Kagoshima, where the rebellion ended. A quick stop at the craft center by the castle will show what local artisans are making.

We'll drive up Ryuhosan for a close view of Yatsushiro, and then the Sakamoto Observatory for a view out to the Amakusa Islands, followed by a stop at the Japanese TKU "house store" to see what the Japanese want in a modern house and a stop at NafCo, to see what a Japanese "Lowe's" or "Home Depot" contains. If it's raining we'll scratch the observatory.

Ebino Kogen - Kirishima Jingu

This drive south through the 26 tunnels that go under central Kyushu take us to a volcanic complex that in the mythology of Japan is where the islands were formed, beginning with Takachihonomine. The sulfurous vents have slowed a bit since the 1993 eruption of Fukendake at Unzen to the north, but there are still some smelly remnants as well as hot springs. We'll also check out the shrine area with Japan's largest torii, fitting for the birthplace of Japan. The original site was damaged during an eruption and only the foundations of the 8th century shrine remain. We can look these over if it isn't raining. We may head to Jomon-no-mori to the south of Kirishima, to see what the oldest Jomon site in Japan has to offer this year. Last year it wasn't open yet but we saw a bit anyway.

June 23 Weds

Reserved Day to Work on Project - No Field Trips

June 24 Thurs

Reserved Day to Work on Project

June 25 Fri

Reserved Day to Work on Project

June 28 Mon

June 29 Tues

Depart Japan

If we have a 7:10 AM flight for Tokyo (JL3052)., we'll take the 6 AM hotel shuttle to the airport. Arrive Narita at 8:55 AM
The earliest return flight departs at 11:30 AM after which we cross the IDL and gain a day.
We usually arrive in Chicago around 3 PM, the same day as we leave Japan.

Flights will be updated to the correct numbers and times when reservations are made.