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| Pork Loin Sign (Tokyo) - Japan 2024 |
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| Pork Loin Restaurant Interior (Tokyo) - Japan 2024 |
After we checked in to the hotel we headed out to search for lunch. Nothing fried for me! (Still being quite cautious after my stomach upset.) This semi hole in the wall place looked good, so we got some lunches to go. Food was good! Had it with some Sprite I got from one of those ubiquitous vending machines (avoiding caffeine).
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| Pork Loin Lunch with Sprite (Tokyo) - Japan 2024 |
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| Gull (Hakodate) - Japan 2024 |
For some reason I don't have any Tokyo animal photos. Not even some token crows! Luckily I have some gull photos taken in Hakodate. This one was hanging around some restaurants, looking for a handout I'd guess.
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| Hotel View (Tokyo) - Japan 2024 |
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| Hotel Room (Tokyo) - Japan 2024 |
Leaving Haneda Airport we were able to experience another convoluted taxi ride, this time through the vastness of Tokyo. We had a reservation at Hotel Niwa, where we've stayed before. It turned out that the room that had been reserved had upscale Japanese décor - very artistic, but we couldn't sit at the desk in the room, it was way too low for us.
We were able to switch to the room pictured above. Very nice, and on the top floor! Great view!
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| Mt. Fuji, Tokyo Bay (Tokyo) - Japan 2024 |
As the plane banked low over Tokyo Bay, Mt. Fuji loomed through the haze. That was neat!
In 2017 we arrived in Haneda, but on an international flight. Since this was a domestic flight, we had no issues picking up our luggage and finding a taxi. As we scurried through I managed a quick photo of one of the omnipresent ads.
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| Bonsai Aesthetics Ad, Haneda Airport (Tokyo) - Japan 2024 |
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| River - Japan 2024 |
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| Rice Paddies - Japan 2024 |
Click to enlarge. I ended up being very pleased with these unexpected photo opportunities!
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| Coastline - Japan 2024 |
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| Countryside - Japan 2024 |
Taken as we approached Tokyo. Again, I'm not sure of the colors involved.
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| Clouds, Land - Japan 2024 |
I don't know exactly how high the plane went. I managed to take several photos of Japan from the air, although atmospheric effects and shooting through the window means that it's hard to know what the "correct" colors should be.
Note the different look between these two photos.
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| Clouds, Land - Japan 2024 |
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| Houses from Air (Hakodate) - Japan 2024 |
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| JAL Windows (Hakodate) - Japan 2024 |
Although the security setup at the Hakodate airport was a little convoluted, it didn't take us that long to get through. But apparently a large crowd showed up at the checkpoint just as the plane was getting ready to depart, so the takeoff was delayed quite a bit. Didn't bother us though.
Very nice seating arrangement, with excellent views out the windows!
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| Tree Sparrows (Hakodate) - Japan 2024 |
"Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) is most popular sparrow in Japan. They are called 'スズメ (suzume)' in Japanese.
"They hop on the ground restlessly. Also, they cry 'chun, chun!'. It's very familiar sounds for Japanese people."
I just managed to take a few pix before they flew away. (Didn't hear them cry "Chun chun" alas.)
I liked this painting seen in Wikipedia:
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| Ink on silk painting by Huang Quan c. 965 CE |
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| Clouds, Sunset (Hakodate) - Japan 2024 |
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| Cranes, Sunset (Hakodate) - Japan 2024 |
More photos taken from our hotel room. Because of the extra nights we stayed in Hakodate we had to cancel our plan to visit Morioka via shinkansen. Instead we decided to fly from Hakodate to Haneda Airport in Tokyo, thus giving us an extra day in Tokyo.
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| Worker, Boat (Hakodate) - Japan 2024 |
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| Photographing Ivy on Wall (Hakodate) - Japan 2024 |
Some random photos taken during our walks. We stopped by the train station for some tea one afternoon.
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| Train Station (Hakodate) - Japan 2024 |
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| Ikuratei Restaurant (Hakodate) - Japan 2024 |
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| Hali's Lunch (Hakodate) - Japan 2024 |
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| Mike's Lunch (Hakodate) - Japan 2024 |
Ikuratei is a popular seafood restaurant in Hakodate's Morning Market. Hali said that her lunch was quite good . . . certainly looks good! Mike's lunch - a bowl of miso soup - was good as well!
Of interest was the television set tuned to one of the U.S. World Series games between the Dodgers and the Yankees.
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| World Series Game (Hakodate) - Japan 2024 |
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| Cranes (Hakodate) - Japan 2024 |
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| Evening Clouds (Hakodate) - Japan 2024 |
Photos taken from our room in our new - unplanned - hotel (Danshaku Club Hotel). A nice place, close to the Hakodate Train Station and the Morning Market. I was quite pleased to find that our room had views of the old-fashioned cranes at the port and Mount Hakodate in the distance.
And for the next several days my diet was very bland indeed.
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| Banana, Tea, Bread: Mike's Breakfast (Hakodate) - Japan 2024 |
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| Digital Thermometer (Hakodate) - Japan 2024 |
Was it the raw chicken served at the Osaka Food Tour? Was it the dicey hamburger served at Lucky Pierrot? Was it the seafood restaurant they ate at that night? Hard to say, but Mike was up all night with some kind of intestinal bug. Plus chills and a fever.
So the scheduled day trip to Onuma National Park just north of Hakodate had to be canceled. No photos that day either.
We were going to travel to Morioka on the 29th via shinkansen, but that had to be canceled as well due to Mike's lingering tummy problems. We ended up staying in Hakodate an extra two nights, changing hotels to do so.
Anyway, now we have a cool Japanese thermometer showing temperatures using centigrade units.
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| Northern Territories Sign (Hakodate) - Japan 2024 |
"Even after Japan accepted the Potsdam Declaration and made it clear its intent to surrender, Soviet forces continued its offensive against Japan and occupied all of the Four Northern Islands from 28 August 1945 to 5 September 1945.The Northern Territories have been under illegal occupation by the Soviet Union, and then Russia."
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan
I saw this sign as I was walking back from my ocean view walk.
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| Gull (Hakodate) - Japan 2024 |
Detail from yesterday's ocean visit. Bird was observing a lone tourist taking photos in a deserted section of town located on the coast.
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| Ocean (Hakodate) - Japan 2024 |
I leaned over the sea wall to take a few photos of the surf crashing onto the shore. No cranes or ships, just the ocean and the waves. After I spent some time enjoying the view I turned around and headed back to the hotel through oddly vacant streets and weather-beaten structures.
No crowds here!
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| Street near Ocean (Hakodate) - Japan 2024 |
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| House near Ocean (Hakodate) - Japan 2024 |
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| Temple (Hakodate) - Japan 2024 |
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| House, Ocean (Hakodate) - Japan 2024 |
That morning we visited some shops that were adjacent to the harbor. While strolling around I could see some interesting cranes and ships in the distance, so I decided to take an afternoon walk down to the port for photos.
Somehow I got turned around! I wandered through a deserted temple, then down some empty streets with older weather-beaten houses. The sound of waves gradually became louder as I came upon an ocean-facing sea wall.
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| Sea Wall, Ocean (Hakodate) - Japan 2024 |
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| Lucky Pierrot (Hakodate) - Japan 2024 |
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| Lucky Pierrot Interior, Self-Portrait (Hakodate) - Japan 2024 |
Fairly well-known hamburger place; we had dinner there our first night in Hakodate. Alas, can't give it a good review since the sauce they used turned the bun into a soggy mess. Of interest: the only beer they had was Budweiser in a can. (?)
We walked around a bit, then I returned for one of their soft-serve ice cream cones. That was good.
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| Lucky Pierrot Cone (Hakodate) - Japan 2024 |
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| Tracks (Hakodate) - Japan 2024 |
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| Tram (Hakodate) - Japan 2024 |
Top: some evening photos of the Hakodate rail tracks for their tram service. Possibly quite extensive and convenient . . . but we never got around to using it, alas.
Below, a daytime photo of one of their colorful trams.
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| Tram (Hakodate) - Japan 2024 |
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| Buildings, Ocean, Afternoon (Hakodate) - Japan 2024 |
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| Buildings, Ocean, Sunrise (Hakodate) - Japan 2024 |
Views from the balcony of our hotel. There were chairs for sitting and enjoying the view, but this was late October, so pretty chilly.
Our reservations included breakfasts! We normally don't bother with hotel breakfasts, but this was the exception. Very nice.
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| Hotel Breakfast (Hakodate) - Japan 2024 |
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| Villa Concordia (Hakodate) - Japan 2024 |
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| Villa Concordia Room (Hakodate) - Japan 2024 |
Our room(s) at the Villa Concordia were undoubtedly the most spacious of our trip. Two bathrooms! Plus the nice furniture pictured above.
By the way, the original photo of the hotel exterior shown above had perspective issues due to vertical convergence. Photoshop could redo the perspective, but had to cut out the lower corners (see below). So I used Photoshop's AI tool to fill in the blanks (top image). Interesting, I guess.
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| Villa Concordia (missing corners) (Hakodate) - Japan 2024 |
