50 days in Japan: Day 25

Halway there! I've never been able to keep up with a blog for this long. I guess it's different with a traveler's blog. Anyway, I took the 9:06 Furano Express train from Sapporo, which was nice with seats higher up near the roof and large windows. Also a few TV screens showing live feed from the front car.

Furano is famous for their colorful flower beds. I was about a week late, and most colors had faded. Still tons of tourists, especially from Korea and China. Saw some school girls on the local train, and I must say it can not be that fun living there during the peak season. That goes for any big tourist attraction, really. Below is one of the flower beds. During peak, you can't see any greens - just flowers.

I finally got a good shot of a (small) sunflower bed - something I've been wanting to do for a long time.

I tried the lavender flavoured soft cream. It tasted, well, flowers.

Made a brief stop at Biei for lunch - Biei soy-flavoured ramen. Hokkaido ramen is supposed to taste a little different from normal ramen, but I couldn't feel much difference. Biei got some gorgeous views as well, but it's too far to walk, and I didn't have too much time. Next time I'll rent a car.

Train back to Sapporo from Asahikawa. First stopped by at Naebo for an AKBINGO shot.

AKBINGO Episode #34 (090520)

Then off to Hitsujigaoka for another shot. It actually got chilly and I didn't bring any extra layers of clothing at all. Bought a t-shirt for myself as a souvenir, and put it on immediately. Hitsujigaoka means "The sheep's hill" and there were a few sheep still around when I got there. The statue is of William S. Clark, with the words "Boys Be Ambitious". He was hired by the Japanese government to establish the Sapporo Agricultural College (now Hokkaido University), and succeeded in making a lasting imprint on Japanese culture. His parting words to his students is a nationally-known motto in Japan today.