Hokkaido

[Casual Binger]

Nikka Yoichi whisky distillery.

This is the second oldest in Japan. Founded by the same guy who founded the first Yamazaki one in Kyoto. Known as the father of Japanese whisky, a TV drama about his life n family (he married a Scots lass) came out last year.

[Casual Binger]

OK, seem to have worked it out. Above is the pic of the free whiskey, not the distillery. There were three kinds available, ten n 17 year single malt n apple whiskey. You were only supposed to have one of each, but they were just sitting there. At first I was subtle, taking a glass n sitting at a table to drink it but after a while I just stood there taking the paper tops off n tossing them back. I didnt have that many. Maybe ten? They were only 20mls each.

[Casual Binger]

Beer. This is one of a number of photos I didn't remember taking.

[Casual Binger]

This is another. I think I was impressed that you could buy 29% booze in a glass bottle for a few bucks from a convenience store.

Couldn't be bothered doing this one.

[Casual Binger]

The Sapporo Beer Brewery in Sapporo. This came out quite well. I took a number that f shots inside that didn't. I forgot about the flash on my disposable camera.

[Casual Binger]

So... a story in pictures. I was gunna explain, but I'm not sure it's interesting enough to warrant it.

[mistah willies]

Nah, I disagree. It's be cool if you wrote about your experience in a place than many of us will never get to visit.

Also, Images. sometimes, https will mess things up. maybe take out the s

http

[Casual Binger]

Nah, I disagree. It's be cool if you wrote about your experience in a place than many of us will never get to visit.

Also, Images. sometimes, https will mess things up. maybe take out the s

http

You know, I tried taking the s out of the first post n to me now it doesn't show the photo, just says image. You can't see the photos? Can you see the first one now?

I'll put in some text in due course.

[oettinger]

image

All is "image"

[Casual Binger]

Story to follow, though there's not much to tell.

[mistah willies]

Now i'm all hungry for sushi


Hey, thank you for making the effort to report back to us, Casual Binger. Calls for unfiltered, cloudy saki. Yes, I like that stuff. Sue me, bastards

[Casual Binger]

So... four weeks in Japan visiting the in-laws with a week in Hokkaido by myself. Japan in August is hot & humid, but the beer tastes better as a result. Japanese beer is served with a big frothy head & in summer it's icy cold & somehow the head seems to improve it. When I say icy, I mean it. One bar near my wife's parent's place there were actually tiny ice crystals underneath the head & I saw numerous adverts for 0 degree draft beer. I guess the alcohol content keeps it from freezing.

Anyway, Hokkaido. I caught a 12:30am ferry from Maizuru. This is a 90 minute train trip north of Kyoto. It was a long drunken day & I snoozed on the train but after boarding the ferry at 11pm I couldn't sleep so wandered around the boat until after 2am. This is very late for me I'm an early riser & normally wake before six but the next day I woke after 1pm. Since the ferry would be arriving around 9pm I considered not changing & grabbed a beer from a vending machine & took it back to my bunk for a late brunch. I was lucky enough to have an end row bunk with no neighbours that faced a window - almost as good as my own room. After a 500ml can I felt a bit better & decided to get up & make use of the Japanese communal baths. I don't remember much else about the ferry ride. Since I don't drink much these days, when I do drink all day every day I seem to sink quickly into a level of constant drunkeness where it only takes a small amount to tip me back into the fog. The only other things I remember about the ferry was that I spent some time sitting at a table by a window drinking, I had another bath that evening & I bought a t-shirt from a vending machine. When we got to Otaru I shared a cab to the station (opposite my hotel) with a couple from Shanghai, checked in, found my capsule & had yet another bath before bed.

The next day I wandered around Otaru drinking cans of beer & chu-hai, randomly snapping pics of stupid shit (clocks, benches etc) on my newly purchased camera & shopped for omiage (souvenir gifts). Then I went to the Yoichi distillery. I don't remember much after that. I had to catch three different trains to get to Asahikawa, my next destination. My next clear memory is when the final train stopped for three or more hours in the middle of nowhere due to an electrical storm. This was not much fun. Luckily, when we finally got to Hokkaido's second biggest city at 8:45pm there was some kind of beer & food festival right outside the station, so I revived myself with foaming Sapporo beer & spicy Chilean sausage before checking into my hotel.

[Casual Binger]

I had decided due to the train stoppage that I was too wiped out to follow my original plan of a day trip to Furano before getting a bus up Hokkaido's tallest mountain to Asahidake Onsen, as it involved catching a 9:30am train. However, I woke up at 5am & after grabbing a tall can of 9% chu-hai from a convenience store across the road & taking it back to my room I decided that four & half hours to get up & walk a couple of blocks to the station was within my powers. Again, things become foggy from this point on. Apart from a vague notion that I visited the convenience store again my next memory is on the train, thinking that the scenery around Biei looked nice.

Furano was a total let down as the lavender was dead. I had planned three hours there. My last clear memory is sitting sipping a beer deciding whether to make a dash back for the station after less than an hour to try & catch the only other train going through. Judging by my photos it would appear I made it. I had to be a bit Sherlock Holmes here, but I deduced that there was no way I would wander around snapping random dumb shit in a convenience store if I only had half an hour between my train arriving & bus departing. Especially since I ate more Chilean sausage & drunk more beer. It was seeing the photo of the beer that brought back a feeling of satisfaction & not having to hurry. So Furano, check - in record time.

The only thing I remember about the 90 minute bus ride is repeatedly asking whether this was my stop & fellow passengers being very helpful & no doubt relieved when it was. I had planned to take it easy that evening after passing out in my bunk for a while, but there was a Polish guy in my dorm who was a wine enthusiast & liberal with pouring it. I have to say I thought Furano wine was pretty sour - red & white. After another hot bath I passed out again then woke up around midnight parched. Excessive drinking, altitude & liberal sweating = dehydration. I tried to stave off the inevitable hangover later that morning by filling a tiny tea cup with water & drinking it numerous times before retiring, but you can only do so much.

[Patchez]

Outstanding Sir!

That is how you do it when adulthood gets in the way.

[Casual Binger]

There's not much to say about the rest of my time in Hokkaido, as I spent most of it in Sapporo. The next morning in Asahidake taking the ropeway up the mountian was one of the highlights of the trip, despite a hangover that bordered on existential angst. There was even a migraine thrown in there for good measure. No headache thankfully, but tunnel vision can be very disorienting. The bus ride back to Asahikawa was very scenic & my near blackout of the day before meant I was seeing it for the first time as far as i could remember. However, when I got off the bus i found that my vestibular system was fucked to the point where I felt like I was back on the ferry with the ground rolling back n forth beneath me. Six days of being constantly on the move with four n a half of those days spent blind drunk takes its toll. I'm not as young as I was when I was young and I have my limits. I had reached them. My original plan had been to take things reasonably easy while travelling aroung, then get nice n plastered during my three nights in Sapporo, but now the mere thought of drinking any more alcohol had me breaking out in a cold sweat. I decided that today would have to be a sabbatical. After getting the train back to Sapporo n checking in to my hotel i grabbed a bite to eat, then checked out the Don Quijote discount store. I'd planned to see what whiskys they had n pick up a bottle, but the state i was in i just couldn't summon the desire to drink anything, even though they had Laphroaig Quarter Cask for about a quarter of the price you'd find it in Oz. I went to sleep undrunk that night n it was it was a little disturbing as it still felt like the building was swaying, but I comforted myself with the knowledge that I would feel better in the morning n I'd visit the Sapporo Brewery on foot. No trains, buses, trams or subway, nothing that moved under me. And that's just what I did.