Having been on the road for nearly seven months and having slept in lots of guesthouses, mountain tents, stinky dorm beds we thought we would try to get more of a local experience by "couchsurfing" our way from southern Japan (Shimonoseki, Honshu) to Japan's northernmost island (Hokkaido) using a seven day railway pass. Couchsurfing (www.couchsurfing.org) is a social network site designed for travellers who are looking to meet up with locals in places they are passing through by staying with them in their homes or simply meeting up for a drink or some food. The question on our minds as we arrived in Shimonoseki on an overnight ferry journey from South Korea was " would couchsurfing really work in Japan?"
Couchsurfing Day 1: chez Mr Seiji in Shimonoseki (south western tip of Honshu)
Feeling shaky and a little sick thanks to the large waves between Korea and Japan we met up with Mr Seiji at the local aquarium. Nooooo we didn't check out the fish tanks but went over to his nice wooden house overlooking the bay instead.....a super friendly guy who loves rally driving and Finland - the only country he has visited outside Japan to watch a rally race obviously! He is also in the middle of setting up a business to sell Finnish cutlery sets in Japan! He was a great guide too showing us the highlights of his town in his mini rally car despite the awful weather. We did some serious supermarket shopping at 6pm when all the sushi was 50% cheaper and took it all back home for a huge feed. Dinner involved wearing our goretex jackets (it was that cold in his place even with the heaters at full blast)! Ate the famous poisonous Fugu fish (blowfish) too and lived to tell the tale! It was a great start to couchsurfing Japan!
Couchsurfing Day 2: chez Mr Aki in Kurashiki, Honshu
Next day we took the Shinkansen (japanese bullet train) to Okayama and onto the lovely historical town of Kurashiki to meet Mr Aki in the evening. Fantastic bloke. Sooo generous and kind. We ate japanese pizza (Okonomiyaki) and we got him all excited with our stories from Africa. He politely told us to have a shower before going to bed (request from his mother who had found some previous backpackers to be quite dirty!). A much much much warmer sleep than the night before !
Couchsurfing Day 3: chez Mr Kunihiro, near Tottori, northern coast of Honshu.
A hearty japanese breakfast with Mr Aki, and then more train travel along beautiful mountain valleys to the small city of Tottori and Japan's biggest dunes (snow covered!). Fun and chatty Mr Kunihiro who is in his early forties took us to eat chocolate brownies and tea at his friends office that sells fireplaces (fantastic random experience). He lives with his elderly mum in a picturesque village among stunning countryside in a lovely home which he built himself...what a contrast from the urbanised southern coastline of Honshu that we had seen the night before ! That evening we had some lovely miso soup and ate hot tangerines for dessert...bliss.
Couchsurfing Day 4: NO couchsurfing in Takayama, Japanese Alps, Honshu
No excuses, we failed to secure a couch for the evening but we did stay in a great hostel, had some classic pot noodles, drank Asahi and slept in a nice Japanese Tatami room....ooh well !
Couchsurfing Day 5: chez Mr Yasuaki's friend, close to Niigata, Honshu
Eager to avoid the region affected by the tsunami and nuclear power station disaster of last year around Fukushima, we took the train along the less developed northern coast of Honshu towards Niigata....beautiful ride with great views of the ocean and motivated winter surfers catching tiny waves. Yasuaki in his early twenties could not host us at the last minute soooo his friend took up the challenge. His parents, 2 brothers, his dog and cats were all excited to see us. We then had a fantastic hot spa onsen session followed by a wonderful home made meal of ramen noodles dished up by his parents with some strong tasty sake. Perfect end to a great day !
Couchsurfing Days 6-7: chez Tori and Kyle, Hirosaki, Northern Honshu
More train rides and we had arrived at our next couchsurfing spot: two fantastic young americans living it up as english teachers in Hirosaki, Japan. And they were into snowboarding and second hand shopping, which was perfect as we wanted to buy some cheap snowboards, snow trousers, goggles, gloves before arriving in Hokkaido. Soooo off we went to Gamesoco- a stunning, huge second hand store selling absolutely everything and open till 1 am. By 11pm our mission was accomplished ...all our snowboard gear purchased for less than 200€.....more than perfect!
Day 8: Mission accomplished. Arrive in Niseko, Hokkaido for snowboarding !
Even with a snow blizzard we managed to take the train from Hirosaki to Niseko changing trains three times along the way. The trains were practically ploughing through the snow. British Rail execs should be invited to Japan to see how crap the trains in Britain really are !
Soooo couchsurfing in Japan has been a pretty roaring success. It will now be our turn to host once we are back in home sweet home ! Bring on the japanese and the snowboarders!
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Photo 1: Couchsurf Day 1 in windy Shimonoseki. About to dig into our sushi!
Photos 2-7: Couchsurf Day 3 in Tottori. Great winter dunes and what a house and what a friendly mum!
Photo 8: Couchsurf Day 5 close to Niigata. A very good stay after a long train ride. Arigato for the sake!
Photos 9-10: Couchsurf Day 6-7 in Hirosaki. Brilliant hosts..check out the lizard pet and our second hand snowboards!
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