So I mentioned before that I had a few roadtrips planned for the next few weeks, including a big one down in the southwesten part of Hokkaido. Even though the train would be more convenient and probably cheaper, I decided to drive because I wanted to see more of the island and have the flexibility to go wherever I wanted while I was in the area. I was thinking about it last night when it occured to me that I should probably start looking at how exactly I was going to get there. Fortunately, my supervisor got a big roadmap book for me when I first bought my car and I finally looked at it for the first time last night. When I opened it up I saw this:


Apart from being dazzled by all the pretty colors, everything is in Kanji! And Kanji that you can't just look up in a dictionary either. There are pink roads, light green roads, dark green roads, blue roads, rainbow roads, etc. and to make it worse, there's a legend on the maps that shows closeups of different intersections and how to exit them!

Needless to say, I have quite a bit of homework to do before I go. I know the green roads are expressways after accidentally taking one while I was exploring a few weeks ago (and not being able to exit until the end). I also know the blue colored roads are toll highways because there's one that runs between Asahikawa and Sapporo that charges a fee of... wait for it... 3800 yen ($38)! Insanity! It's no wonder that taking the train in Japan is so cost effective, they charge an arm and a leg just to drive on the highways. I have to make a stop in Asahikawa to pick up a JET and her sister and then continue onto Sapporo to pick up Callie, so I'll end up having to take that highway anyways. From there it's another two hours to Shakotan where the party is being held. From my house to Shakotan and back its a distance of just over 700 km. I have a pretty good sense of direction so I'm hoping I'll make it ok. I think the worst part will be trying to navigate through Sapporo, a city of almost 2 million. There's an awesome website I found that lets me plan roadtrips, tells me the distances between cities and also which highways to take so I think I'll be alright. Besides, if I do manage to get lost I'll just use my cellphone GPS to tell me where I am ;) Ah, I love Japan. I like getting lost and discovering new places though so I'll probably be doing a lot of it!