Bit off the beaten path

Well,I said goodbye to my sister and my mother at the Train station in tokyo, that was three days ago. Now I'm in Sapporo, which is the largest town in the northernmost island. Coutesy of a 10 hour train ride that included three connections, and a three mile long underwater tunnel. I hate tunnels, and I hate underwater ones the most. Thank god they sold beer on the train, I put myself to a slightly buzzed sleep in anticipation of that leg of the journey. It is quite a different japan here. There are many mountains, that are constantly mist covered, and it is a whopping 24 C here in the afternoon, instead of the 37 that I encountered in Tokyo. Not really different so much in terms of the people, though since this is a lot less cosmopolition of an area I'm treated as a more novel amusement than the sometime indifference and disgust that I get in Tokyo. Speaking of which, I met an acupuncturist from Tokyo at a bar last night. She thought that I was working for the U.S. government, as that's the only reason an American would come up here, but I convinced here I was merely a student, no not at student there, indeed I was 19 instead of 25... etc. She didn't speak a word of english, so the conversation got bogged at some points, but was an interesting exchange none the less. I wandered around a few beer gardens last night, and went to the Sapporo beer factory, various shopping factories, and various downtown underground Malls. I also walked through Hokkaido University today, which yeilded some interesting conversations with female students there, but nothing of substance was said. Tonight I might head into Shinjiku if I have the energy, which will be a very interseting experience. Shinjiku is open nightly till 5am, and has 4,500 different night life activities, from porno flicks to bars to karaoke, etc. I'm not really one that's keen on nightlife in the first place, being somewhat provincial in nature, and I'm even less sure about doing this thing on my own.. but Japan is a very safe place, and it might be good to get out and develop some real distractions. Can't wait till school, and the U.S. of A.. I'll try to keep the journal updated a bit more often. Peace,-J