Well! that was quite a trip.  The Hida express was a stunner, passing through mountains and valleys, beside streams and mirror lakes reflecting picture perfect villages.  An hour to make a connection in Nagoya, one of the biggest interchanges in the country, and we need to buy munchies for the next 2 hour leg to Tokyo, theough tokyo and onward to Sendai, another huge station complex complete with shopping Mall and market.  Our sat nav directions complicated in that for around 2 square miles around the station everything is linked by walkways 3 storeys off the ground, which the GPS can't read.  Only as a last resort do we look up and see the top of the 25 storey Monterey hotel where we're staying.

We negotiate half the city, wandering through endless covered walkways all ablaze with christmas lights, roofed with crystal, pulsing colours, christmas music everywhere, crowds, bustle.......homesick!...

We've bought a Loople!  Lovely little fella he is, very nervy, he huddles toward the back of his hutch in the small ball of straw provided, shaking, wide eyed, staring in awe at his new life. We try to tempt him out with litle tidbits of custard apple (the only thing it eats)

Actually a Loople is a day bus pass and we set out around Sendai to check out the Zuihoden mausoleum, a staggering complex of tombs belonging to the first feudal lord of the area, then onto the site of sendai castle with it's stunning views across the City to the bay and Fukushima where the earthquake and Tsunami struck in 2011, onto  Osaki Hachimangu shrine where we learn how to pray, ringing the prayer bell, making obeisance.

We're tired! its been such a 3 weeks of constant moving, we take stock over coffee and cake (Coffee is huge here in Sendai! I've never seen so many cafes) Tomorrow we're of to Hokiado then a long shinkansen back to Tokyo before flying to Hong Kong, then Vietnam for Christmas.  We decide to take the day today as it comes, a look round the shops, we need a new bag so we wander the shops and just chill a bit for the first time in god knows how long.  We end up over a fantastic meal in a barbeque joint, a real protein hit of grilled chicken pork beef with roasted veggies, it's very very good indeed.  Early night we have another schlep tomorrow, we feed the Loople, turn down the light,

"Night Kim Bob"

"Night John boy"

See you in Hokaido.

The first thing that strikes us about Hakodate is that it’s bloody cold. We’ve not really packed for “winter weather”, shower proof jackets is about it and they have the insulation values of plastic bags. We need to transfer from the bullet to a local train for a short trip into the town itself and having dealt with tourist info and armed with day passes for the tram, map of the nearby national park and of the town we start trundling our luggage up the road to our hotel.

The All Inn Stay is actually quite a sweet little family owned place and the room is cute and comfy while being “compact” in the usual Japanese way. Hakodate is twinned with Halifax in Nova Scotia, which sends a huge (and I mean huge!) Christmas tree every year which the locals decorate, light up every night accompanied by a firework and laser display everynight. This all goes off down on the fisher docks which also make this place famous among the Japanese for visibly fresh seafood of pretty much every description. For westerners, not so much. We only see one other western face in our 4 days here.

A speciality here is to catch your own squid from a tank which the “chef” then slices, alive, onto hot rice for you, a squirt of soy sauce and away you go. The other big item and I mean huge, is spider crab, which are in tanks everywhere. We sit in a coffee house in the station to plan the evening, check out the tree, wander the market, go down to the old govt buildings now converted to indoor market and restaurants, get something nice for dinner....and the heavens open.

Lovely thing about Japan, every public building, bar and restaurant has a stock of umbrellas, free to take, just leave them at the next establishment you visit for the use of someone else. How lovely, how sad that you know such a system would be abused in the UK! Where have we gone wrong? You just know some little turd would steal or vandalise them and no one, or hardly anyone would do a thing about it.

Anyway armed with Umbys, we’re out into the rain. The wind has that curious property of driving the rain in every direction at once and despite the brellas, we’re soon soaked, freezing and defeated, making our way back to the station where we’ve decided to eat. I don’t want you to have the impression that Japanese station food, in anyway, resembles the gross regurgitated crud that is your only option on a UK station.

At the very least you will fond Bento boxes for sale containing sushi and sashimi and all the condiments and implements necessary to enjoy a meal to rival that on offer in most sushi establishments I’ve been to. You’ll also likely have the choice of a number of restaurants delivering pretty good quality Japanese food, our Japanese brothers and sisters take food very seriously indeed!

Here at Hakodate, as well as a good coffee outlet offering italian food we have a ramen restaurant (soup, noodles with curry, meat, fish veggies etc) and a nice place offering squid (fried) curries and chicken etc. We get really nice meal hoping the rain has stopped but no. It’s now hitting the ground so hard it goes back up and down again.

Soaked and shivering back at the hotel we use the bath to thaw out. I’ve got used to the baths here. About half the length of a brit bath but twice the depth, it’s actually quite nice to get into shoulder deep hot water and let the heat get to you. Next morning, full of good intentions, we’re up for the free breakfast, the first offered in our time in Japan. It’s actually pretty good. Nice coffee, rice, soup noodles, chicken, sausages, meatballs, jam and croissants. A funny sounding mixture, I grant you but we’ve become accustomed to food being food, why should the time of day be relevant, who says we’ve got to eat cornflakes etc.

Suitably reinforced we head out into the day with a full itinerary of visits planned and the wind is soooo cold it virtually cuts us in half! A quick check of the weather out look. Minus 1, feels like minus 11, reducing to minus 5 by 5pm. Jesus and we only have t-shirts and plastic bags to wear. A train ride takes us to Onuma National Park. It is bitter, biting, cold but the scenery is staggering.

Huge lakes containing 126 islands, a number of which are linked by impossibly beautiful arched bridges so as to form 3 and 5 K trails. The outlook is now deep winter.  The trees naked, a back drop of hills, the odd mountain 1 or 2 snow capped, bird life everywhere it’s almost enough to let you forget the cold.

We spot a couple of different woodpeckers a Japanese variety of Jay, a great flock of long tailed tits and surpise a huge bird of prey bent over a duck that it had killed. It hunches over the body, fixing us with huge baleful eyes for half a minute, deciding perhaps, whether he should take us on, but a huge flock of carrion crows come along, circling and cawing until he gives up and gracefully slides skyward and away to a tree top, the crows follow.

Over a bridge and we come to a lovely looking building, there’s a smell of wood smoke, suggesting warmth and shelter. Inside, the place, but for us, is deserted, some very cool jazz is playing and in the centre of the room a huge glass log burner is roaring up into a cast iron chimney. To be honest we want to move in!

The views from here across the lakes and the islands, linked by arched bridges, dotted with shrines, fringed by golden reeds, circled by bare willows and maple, backed by mountains are simply stunning, picture book perfect, the coffee is pretty good too.

Back to Hakodate we again set out toward the docks but the wind is ridiculous, gale force and freezing, flurries of snow scattering about. We kill the afternoon shopping in the warm, for a bag, kim’s is going home and now only held together by super glue, back at the room more baths and up till midnight using our time to organise travel and accommodation up to the new year in Vietnam, thinking about somewhere warm helps the thaw.

Our preference would be to “take it as it comes” but we need a break, and it’s christmas and close to high season in S.E. Asia so we decide to book a little ahead to make sure we have somewhere half decent to enjoy the season.

Next morning we're off on a good look around after brekkie, it’s not so bitter cold so a tram out to the old fort, the first in Japan constructed on a modern european model. By the time we get there however the temperature has again gone through the floor and it’s starting to snow. Instead of trekking the fort we ascend the Hakodate tower which affords a great view across the fort, diaramas and pretty good displays illustrating the war like history of the area. It’s all pretty exciting stuff.

Back in town we tram all the way to the old dock area and finally get into the covered market. We get a great late lunch in the Hakodate Beer Brewery (and touch not a drop) The Japanese Christmas menu includes an amazing beef cheek casserole that is melt in the mouth delicious and comes with a potato, cheese, bacon and asparagus side that would make tinkerbell weep. By the time that’s gone we have an hour to kill before they light the tree at 6pm. Snaffles cakes and coffee it is, where I have what’s possibly the best cake I’ve ever eaten. They claim it was a “Tiramisu tart” all I can tell you is, it was bloody lovely.

5:55, dead on time we step out into what is now a raging blizzard, blown in a wind, straight from the icy regions of hell, across a whipped up sea straight into our faces as we wait for the big moment.

Some tit dressed as Santa Clause, starts making a speech. In front of him is a silver box that looks suspiciously like it houses a button which will commence proceedings......just push the f*cking thing!

He blathers on for what feels like an hour, our umbrella has a 2 inch deep layer of snow on it and I can’t feel my feet.

Oh Goody two stupid looking tarts, for reasons best known to themselves, have carried what looks like an human being sized inflatable Elf onto the stage, the PA starts playing “Go West” (for some f*cking unknown reason) by the bloody pet shop boys. 

Ican’t feel my face at all..... I think they must have managed to find at least the 12 inch version of Go West. Kim and I started out by dancing.....more a half hearted hop from foot to foot, while trying to shake the snow off our umbrella and down the neck of the annoyingly tall Japanese person in front of us. Eventually it becomes more a kind of macabre survival dance.

At last the f*ck awful song finishes after what feels like 25 minutes followed by a 6 minute fade...... push the bloody button!! 

A hand cart tricked up to look as if it’s being pulled by neon lit reindeer comes into view through the streaming horizontal snow...it has a clutch of shivering dignitaries in it........

Heat is now a distant memory, without feeling it, I have gnawed my own fingers off, frost bite is spreading from my feet to my ankles......

Santa passes the mic to a gentleman from the sleigh. There are now about a dozen people, huddled for warmth on the stage. I guess it’s meant to be a speech but I think he reads the bible...... cover to cover, slowly.

Snow slowly climbs past my knees..... I vaguely remember reading that eskimos, in extremity, will kill a seal, slit its belly and crawl inside the body to keep warm. I quietly start to hone the edge of a spoon I’ve stolen from the last coffee shop against the brick wall behind me while eyeing Santa, gauging him for size, can I bring him down, will Kim and I fit? Kim?, what am I thinking.....this is survival...... ”I did all I could...it was soooo colllllld”

Why steal a spoon? I hear you ask. Tea bags only in Japanese hotels, so we’ve bought a jar of coffee, knicking a spoon means we can stop guessing a spoonful from our coffee reserves and stirring it with the toothbrushes supplied in every room.

Incidentally, most rooms here come with a free smartphone. What a great idea! Programmed with local sights, restaurants, all your google maps etc it’s a real boon. Just pop it in your pocket and finding your way round a strange city is so much easier and so much quicker. Another thing that you’d have to think the UK or most of Europe couldn’t cope with. .......

It’s funny, once fully enveloped in snow, you forget cold, even, you begin to fancy, you feel warm.....just ...let...me .......sleeeeep........ the flakes settle softly, comfortingly around you, .....a blanket.......soft......downy....... turning down the light, muffling sound........ whispering.....good night.......mind the bed bugs.......... don’t................. bite................

It’s sooooo quiet, wait! Whats that?? It sounds like counting, but I don’t recognise the numbers, it’s Japanese! They’re counting backwards!

I force my head from the snow drift, a little old lady has her finger poised over the button, every one else on the stage has their hands in the air, all around me people coated in snow are stirring, holding up umbrellas from which great drifts of snow are sliding as they’re waved in excitement.

The tree, lights, from the top, star and all to base, branch by beautiful branch. It’s stunning, a beautiful, perfect Christmas tree. Over the ocean, fireworks, arc, explode and sparkle, a line of lasers starts to beam across the square, catching the snow as it falls, turning it to a deluge of diamonds as the flakes catch the light and reflect it. Wonderful!! Lovely!! Freeeeeezing!

The tram back is packed, damp smells, as everyone thaws and steams gently in the heat rising from the under seat heaters, melted snow from boots, bags and umbrellas puddles the tram floor, the usual utter silence, of Japanese public transport descends (something I don’t think we’ll ever get used to!!) As an aside, on trains there is an announcement, “please refrain from loud conversation” and they do. Even on the most packed metro train, and I mean jam packed, complete, eerie silence reigns.

We’re disgorged into a genuine blizzard for the 10 minute walk back to the hotel. Time to pack for a quickstart tomorrow, a 4 hour bullet trip back to Tokyo and the final few days of our stay in Japan, it’s been a month!? Christ! On the one hand it feels as if we’ve been here forever, leaving Los Angeles feels like a dim and distant memory.  Were they really playing Christmas carols in the terminal?

On the other hand the trip has gone like a flash, a blinding, exhilerating flash. Looking out of the window we watch the snow settling deeper, falling in sheets of big fluffy looking flakes. Apart from the street lights we can’t see a thing, so entirely are the surrounding hills and mountains enveloped in the snow.

Up, for brekkie. Hmmm, fried chicken, meat balls and steamed mackral, kim bravely adds noodles. The snow is still streaming down as we head, breath steaming in the freezing air, out onto the icy streets. The pathways have a mercifully light covering, but all around us everything is muffled, nestled in a white eiderdown of snow, the cloud so low and thick as to make it resemble twilight, the car headlights glow yellow, lighting the heavy flakes as they settle earthward.

When we get off the local shuttle train for the bullet, the platform is deep in snow, the flakes are being blown into our faces and visibility is next to nothing, the platform guards emerge from the white out, directing to the shinkansen terminal with orange glow sticks.

The train is as usual a perfect, calm, supersonic speed cocoon, comfy and warm. The lady with the tea trolley approaches, we stop her, order two hot coffees please, fish out the exact change, thank her, no fuss, no fluster, in Japanese with appropriate bowing without thinking.

We've entered the tunnel under the Tsugaru Strait between the island of Hokiado and Honshu, another little section of our trip completed. At just under 54ks long, 100 metres below the seabed, it takes an improbably long time at 200 mph to travel from end to end.

We’re through the Seikan tunnel now and the blizzard, still intense on Hokaido, has turned to frost on this side. Only the odd snow drift here and there where it’s been ploughed or scraped from a village street suggests it’s snowed at all.......

Tokyo here we come!

Out of the bullet at Tokyo station and although a gazzillion people trundle their bloody sharp edged, uncontrolled, hay bale sized, suit cases along the concourse while reading their freaking smartphones, it's neither as scary or befuddling as it was a month ago.  This could be because having had a quick tot up we've done around 6000 miles in our 21 day railpass window.  In terms of value, the passes cost just under 800 quid for us both and totalling the individual trips, discounting all the local rail and metro travel our grand total would have been 2586 pounds!  A real bargain.

The merdcury has risen to a balmy 16 degrees from a frosty minus 8 and blizzards in Hokaido so all is good as we trot out to find some munchies once checked into our postage stamp sized room.  

Back out  to crazy Shinjuku to check out all the christmas lights and shops.  The place is approaching Christmas hyperdrive and it's a bit like Oxford street on steroids.  Off to Yoyogi park.  This is the place we've all seen on tv with huge nmbers of our Japanese cousinsenjoying all the wonderful things they seem to like to do.

Under some trees a bunch have heavy metal blaring while they practice their idiot dance moves: a group of a dozen or so yung girls are rehearsing a dance routine to some Japo-pop. there's tons of Yoga and modern dance happening, and we have a juggling school going on. Course, what we all want to see are the Rockabillie guys and gals.  In a circle on some hardstand they all slump about, decorously smoking fags, sipping beers and teasing quiffs.

They crank up an old marshall amp through which they play some full on rock n roll and they're off!  They certainly have some moves despite the average age being around 60 I would guess, very entertaining.

The icy weather has followed us and as the sun sets it gets freezing.  We heade back to tawaramachie where for comfort food we go to an italian of all places.  Really good pasta, with raggu and hearty seafood.  Num Num Num.

Our last full day and we take the amazing mono rail trip out to Daiba in tokyo bay. Again this is the ultra modern poicture of Tokyo we've all seen.  The tram, slick as you like, disconcertingly driverless with a full windscreen upfront allows you to shit yourself as you hurtle, soundlessly at god know what an hour across thye huge curving spoan of rainbow bridge.  We spend the day in the company of giant robots and enduring an amusement park wholly based on video, 3d and the like.  It's quite an exoerience and young Japan is just hoovering it up.

Perhaps the most extraordinary thing we witness is a sound stage set upo as if for a gig.  We file in with a crowd of Japanese.  The act is a cartoon boyband!  I mean it must be simon cowells dream, no need to pay anyone!!  The girls and boys clearly know not just the songs but all of the dance moves.  They stand in front of the screen, seemingly hypnotised, and dance  along with everymove their cartoon hearoes make while singing along.  I think back to going to see Free and Led Zeppelin and god knows how many other great, live, human! acts interacting with the audience in such a way that it shaped my life!  Christ I was lucky, we were lucky weren't we?

Back to Asakusa by stunning modern glass ferry boat as tokyo lights up like something from bladerunner.  Utterly magnificent.  We'd eaten in a Chicken restaurant at lunch time.  Another of those places were they stick just about every imaginable bit of a chicken on a grill then bung it on rice for you.  It really is delicious mind!

Consequence is we're not too hungry and we've been promising ourselves an evening in a local Jazz club.  The Hub pub and Jazz club is such a wonderful funky place.  Serving a mis mash of tapas and japanese snacks with hard liquer.  The band are all well, and I do mean well into their 70s I would say and they all play like angels.  The audience is appreciative and we sit there for a couple of hours over some spanish ham (not quite) some olives a salad and a lamb skewer.  It's  agreat way to spend our last evening here.

Back at the room we sit up to watch thye embarrasment that passes for government in the UK, what a complete crock! an agreement that doesn't deliver brexit or remain and they wonder why everyone hates it, are they retards?  I'm guessing selkf preservation will see the spineless muppets squirm it through but looking in via an international feed we really are laughing stocks pretty much world wide, there's about as much respect left for GB as there is value in the pound sterling after 10 years of these inbred idiots.

WQe have to schlep right across tokyo for Haneda airport and we breeze it.  After a nice lunch of Gyoiza and chinese stir fry we settle into our laundry, prep for an early night and a 03:00 alarm call for Hong Kong.  Can I check in when we get there? can I? ..... you won't like me when I'm tired....