I always encourage my friends to visit.  I like having visitors and I think it’s even more important to do so here in such a small town.  Nik, my predecessor, told me that he never got many visitors to Saroma.  This left me less than optimistic about friends visiting me, here in this far-flung remnant [...]

There was sad news for Japanese railfans the other day.  On Sunday the much loved pointy nose 500-series bullet trains were retired from their “Nozomi” superexpress service to be replaced by newer, faster N700-series trains. 500 series bullet train. (Image: Wikimedia commons creative commons license) The 500-series were adored by many for their futuristic, sleek [...]

I’ve been to Sapporo three or four or five times, depending on how you want to count visits.  It’s a hard place to avoid when coming to Hokkaido.  I know the station area well enough, and the layout of the city in general.  But I’ve always been a poor, solitary traveler, with no guide and [...]