Japan Detailed Itinerary - Sendai and Hokkaido

[Note:  This was from 2017.]

3 Nov (Fri)

Arrive Narita Friday Morning. Took a train first to Tokyo, then change to local train to Ueno, then took the Shinkansen to Sendai. There was a queue at Narita to exchange our Rail Pass voucher for our Rail Pass.

We had planned to maybe get lunch and spend some time in Ueno, but it was crowded, we were tired, and after the long queue, we just wanted to get on our way.

Return to Abashiri, Hokkaido (plans)

My wife and I miss Abashiri.

It was one of the first towns we stayed in Hokkaido when we returned in 2012.

We loved Abashiri because it was not what you expect of Japan. It was a small quiet town. In 2012, we went to Asahikawa after Abashiri and rented a car there. The young woman staffing the car rental agency could speak quite good English and asked us where we had been. I said Abashiri, and she said her grandmother lives there. And commented that it was "dead" or "quiet" or "not a happening place". Or maybe she said that she used to live there and couldn't wait to leave that place.

Well, she's young. She will come to appreciate quiet one day.

We wanted to retire there. We could learn to love it there, we thought (without letting the realistic worry about speaking the language intrude upon our fantasy).

Well, let us have our fantasy.

And if we can't go back and retire there, we can at least return for another visit.