Destination: Hakodate

The first 5 hours involved a switch from the San Jose to LAX to Tokyo flight to one direct from San Jose to Tokyo. The flight agent at the check in counter was kind enough to reroute me directly, and while I could have gone home and returned to the airport hours later, I decided to kill time in SJC by checking to see if I had everything, then worrying about whether or not I had remembered to bring my camera charger along. I arrived at the airport at 7, the rescheduled plane didn't take off until 1, the flight took 9 hours, which didn't set down until 4pm Saturday Tokyo time. Getting my railpass and booking passage for an overnight train took 15 minutes, and from Narita Airport to Tokyo station took an hour, and less than 10 minutes to go from Tokyo to Ueno, Where I would catch an 11 hour night train to take me from Ueno to Hakodate, putting our arrival time at 6:30am on Sunday morning. We would spend the rest of the day touring Hakodate (Hakodate isn't that big), and climbing up Mount Hakodate for the magnificent view. By the time we went to sleep, 39 hours had elapsed since leaving my house. In those 39 hours, I had taken the opportunity to sneak in hour long naps to make it possible to survive the very long travel times.
Tomorrow, while my friends attend the conference in Hakodate, I will set out for the northwest corner of Hokkaido, to visit the city of Wakkanai, which is apparently the location of the best uni in Japan, as well as home to some spectacular views. If all goes to plan, I should be back in Hakodate by Friday to continue our trip down to Honshuu.