Re: A little something different-Japan

To get shots like the triple header (NOT a fan trip) you had to be tough. On my Hokkaido trip we would take a train as close as possible to the desired photo location, then hike. Most days we would hike between 5 and 15 miles a day to multiple locations. Luckily there were many trains and Mineo had a train diagram. In the 1970 and 1980s Japanese railfans were VERY tough. Mineo related a story from the winter before, when he spent 10 days on a Hokkaido trip (Hokkaido gets extremely cold) without spending a night in a hotel or hostel - he spent every night in coach on an overnight train, making maximum use of his $ 13 10-day Hokkaido rail pass. Mineo had a student discount but on my trip I had to fork out $ 18 for the 10-day pass (Tokyo to Hokkaido RT with unlimited travel in Hokkaido). I found my two overnight trips pretty darn uncomfortable. And the most challenging part came in the morning: no coffee in Hokkaido in those days. To accomodate a soft westerner we spent most nights in a youth hostel ($ 1.50 for dinner, bed, and breakfast, and a hot communal bath), as well as a couple of nights in Japanese country hotels (sleeping on tatami mats is not that comfortable either). To be sure, things have changed dramatically since 1973. My wife and I were on a Japan rail tour with the Railway Touring Company a couple of years ago, and I believe we saw the same C61 4-6-4 (haven't compared engine numbers yet). Things were vastly more comfortable, vastly more expensive, but missing much of the adventure of 33 years earlier.

another of Mineo's hike-in shots



Chasing partner Mineo without him I would have never managed to navigate Hokkaido in 1973





Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/05/2019 10:52AM by Olaf Rasmussen.