Across the Sea of Japan

The ferry journey wasnt too bad, it was a bargain at just under 6000 yen. Got to Tomakomai and then took the bus to the ferry port. Had a bit of a wait in Tomakomai but fortunately the tourist office offered to hold my bags so I could take a wonder about.

I didnt know what to expect from the ferry, thought there`d be a bar etc and get to meet a few people, but once on the ferry it was pretty bare. There was a restaurant, shop, games room and the bar was closed for the whole journey..

I found my sleeping quarters, basically a rectangled shaped pillow, hard floor and a wool rug. There was another guy in the quarters and that was it we had the whole room to ourselves. The other guy, Keigi turned out to be sound though and was a snowboarder sponsored by Santa Cruz and also a fashion model, nice fella - had loads of snowboard movies on his laptop and I introduced him into the world of UK hip-hop and funk.

The journey was fine, pretty calm (unlike a journey to Dublin - remember that Mr B and Mr M?) and managed to sleep most of the night.

Arrived into Niigata and Keigi offered to drive me to the rail station, got there and with 5 minutes to spare before the Shinkansen (or bullet train) was to leave. Quickly got the tickets and nodded when the guy told me where I was to change. Ran to the train with board bag and rucksack... and jumped on.

Got on the train and then realised I had no idea which stations the bloke had told me to change at plus the train tickets were all in Japanese. So I am looking for clues in my Rough Guide nothing, I havent found a seat yet and cant find anywhere to put my board bag or rucksack. After the first stop quite a few people leave so i get a seat and pick up a brochure... its all in Japanese. I start looking for train line maps and as we reach each station I panic and check to make sure its not my stop. Finally I see some Kanji that is on the ticket and work out that I need to change at Takegashi, its 20mins away so relax....

Reached Nagano in 2hrs which is pretty impressive the bullet train is so smooth and quick, very impressed.

Nagano has some pretty impressive temples including the Zenji-jo which I am about to visit after I finish this. Hopefully I will find the key to paradise, which I will tell you all about later on.