The flight from Chicago was long as usual, but here and there were some good views.. Drew was spreading his cold while jamming his knees into the seat in front because there was no room, trying to get some sleep. Sarah switched to the aisle and read a book. I looked out the window but for much of the trip there was cloud cover. When I saw something besides ocean, I took some pictures. Because of our extra-northerly route, we ended up going right over Hokkaido and following the east coast of Japan southward. There were some views of Rishiri and Rebun-to, Mt. Yotei, Shikotsu-ko, Toya-ko, Hakodate, Towada-ko, and Iwate-san before the clouds became too thick to see anything.
Narita was Narita as we carried our luggage from the international flight to check it in at the domestic counters down the long hallway. We cleared customs and changed some money before heading down to the JR Midori-no-madoguchi to get our rail passes which start in a few days. In Sapporo, after a tight-seated-knees in the seat in front-flight (Japan airlines aren't adjusting for their taller youth), Drew and I had to wait until the last palette of luggage arrived for ours to show up. As a result, there were no seats left on the train and we stood all the way into Sapporo Station. Got a free key chain upon checkin at the Toyoko Inn, then checked out the 7-11 for some onigiri and drinks before taking a shower and going to bed.