IT had been a long day and it was still far from over, but travelling by train in Japan is rarely the ordeal it is in, say, Australia. You need only sit back and enjoy the ride. If you don't want to train it to Hokkaido, you could of course fly (the island is dotted with airports), or get a ferry. As my friend Kenichi from Tokyo Ryokan reminded me today, there are plenty of alternative routes up here. "Akita => Noshiro => Gono Line => Goshogawara => Kawabe => Aomori => Night Ferry=> Hakodate?", he suggested. If you need help planning your itinerary, click up JR Hokkaido. Whether you go by the rail or sea, you will have to pass through Hakodate, it is the gateway to Hokkaido. Like Yokohama or Nagasaki, it was also one of the international cities of old Japan, and a gateway to the outside world. Like Alaska on the other side of the grey Pacific, this is a place where the legacy of Russia's imperial reach is still visible, and even smellable (in the incense wafting around the Russian Orthodox Church in the middle of town.) I've heard they have Russian Orthodox churches in Alaska too, and they probably look and smell just like the one in Hakodate! That long black beach is called 99 Ri Beach ("ri" being a Chinese mile)... I am not sure if it is really 99 Chinese miles long, but it is cool name nonetheless. And a famous place for surfing! ..