Yokote, Japan - awesome snow festival, and a short recap

The next morning, we got up, had "breakfast" at the hotel again (Rony didn't even bother going down this time, watched a really funny program on TV that teaches kids to speak English (by repeating the words "win" and "lose" 900 times), and then we checked out of our hotel.

We went to the train station nearby to put our luggage in lockers, since we were taking the night bus to Tokyo that night and didn't want to carry everything with us all day. We then walked around Morioka for a few hours before leaving for our 3-hour train ride to Yokote.

We fully intended on sight-seeing in Morioka, but it was snowing and really cold, and the truth is that even the things we wanted to see weren't worth seeing. So basically we walked into a lot of stores, bought some gifts for our family, and then went to the train station when it was time to catch the train to Yokote.

The moment we arrived in Yokote, we knew we were going to have fun: 2 of the station's employees were handing out amazake (which we told you about yesterday)! Totally awesome. And to make things better, there were a few cute snow sculptures right by the station and the staff kept taking pictures for everyone there! Of course, we were the only non-Japanese people there, but we've already gotten used to it.

Train station staff giving everyone amazake

Our expectations for Yokote weren't extremely high, considering it is a tiny town, but it turns out that tiny towns have the best fun! Our first stop was close to the train station, and everyone was (of course) excited to see us. More people offered us amazake, but we were still drinking the cup that we got from the train station staff (which, by the way, did not stop them from trying to give us more anyway).

We then walked in to a small building where they were selling all kinds of food, one of which was vegetarian gyoza (so yummy!), plus it was a great opportunity to warm up a bit. As we ate, we walked around the looked at the really beautiful pictures they had there - there was some kind of an exhibition about the town in that hall.

Gyoza

One guy gave us some juice to drink - we're not sure what it was, but it was delicious, and it had a carrot on the sticker - and Rony picked out a baked noodle-type ting (we have no idea what it's called), and when we wanted to pay, the seller said it was on the house! People just love giving us free stuff here! :-)
 

When we were done, we walked outside to see the little kamakuras, which are like little igloos. They generally have candles inside, and other warming devices, so they are warm when you walk in. Before we had a chance to see which way was up, the guy who gave us the free drinks told us to come with him, and he had us stand in front of a kamakura whose entrance was shaped as a heart, and told us to give him our camera so he can take a picture (this, of course, was all in sign language).

So we did, and he took a picture, which didn't turn out great, so he told us to go into the kamakura and the picture is so awesome, that people think it's Photoshopped! But it isn't. :-) There were a few other people there who saw us inside and took pictures of us, too (we're famous!), and a few little girls who kept walking up to us and saying, "Hello!" - they were really cute.

One of the kamakuras

When we were done, we started walking toward the main kamakura site. Once again, we passed the ladies with the amazake, who, once again, tried to give us more. We passed, and not 20 meters later, there was a huge table with sake and another sake-based liquor (that wasn't warm). They gave one to each of us (we each had a different one), and they couldn't stop laughing at our (Talia's) facial expressions because it was so strong. Also, they were drunk. :-)

We didn't know exactly where to go, but we just followed the crowd. Along the way, the town had set up a bunch of lights and special snow fixtures so we wouldn't, heaven forbid, get bored along the way, and some of them were amazing! One of them looked like a menorah, and Talia took a picture, but she accidentally deleted it, so oops.

Some of the stuff along the way

We arrived at the main station, and at first it was similar to the Sapporo festival since there were a bunch of snow sculptures, among them Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. As we walked on, we saw a huge row of kamakuras with people inside them and their shoes OFF! We took pictures, just like everyone else, of the people inside the kamakuras. They were all warming up amazake (and offering it to us, of course!) and also rice patties, which tasted to us a lot like the pita bread that you make out of flour and water at a camp fire.

Talia with Donald Duck

The rice patty

Along the way, of course, we were handing numerous packs of tissue paper, and some of them (from the local police) actually had hand warmers on them, too! And another group was handing out packets that had hand warmers and a notepad! Totally awesome.

At one kamakura, there were 4 14-year-old girls, who were adorable, and they invited us in. At this point we couldn't say no, especially since they were trying so hard to speak English for us. Talia wasn't thrilled at the prospect of removing her shoes at sub-zero degree weather, but the truth is that it was really warm inside because of the fire in the middle.

Us and the cute 14-year-olds, who kept us well-fed

We sat with the girls for around 15 minutes, during which time they kept feeding us (apparently they learn to feed the foreigners at a very young age), and had to move on since our time was limited. If we were staying in Morioka for the night, we would have taken the last train back, but we had to catch the 11 pm train to Tokyo, so we were on a tight deadline.
But we had time to see the food market that was around the corner and Talia bought a banana covered in chocolate on a stick which was delicious.

Bananas on stick, some covered with chocolate, some with other stuff we didn't try

All in all, the evening was awesome. We ate too much, drank too much (liquids in general, we didn't get drunk or anything), and had an awesome time, ooohing and aaahing all along the evening. We were truly sad to leave Yokote and its festival, especially since there were a few more stations that we hadn't had a chance to see.

One of the last thing we saw in the festival: Kamakura made of plastic bottles!

When we got back to Morioka, we had about half an hour before our bus to Tokyo. Why a bus?  Because our JR passes had expired the day before and we had to pay for this ride, and the night bus was the cheapest (when you factor in 1) having the extra day since you travel at night and 2) not having to pay for a hostel for that night).

In theory, the night bus is great: The chairs are individual, you can lean back really far, and you can even prop up your legs. Every window is covered, including the passage to the driver, so it's almost pitch black in there. As a bonus, each chair has an individual pod-like top that you can pull over your head (not on it, just over) that makes it dark for you, but totally breathable.

The cool seats in the bus

So where's the problem? The night bus to Tokyo is not direct. It makes about 8-10 stops along the way, geographically located exactly 3 minutes after each time Talia fell asleep (which is more than Rony was able to do). Each time we came up to a stop, the driver would announce it on the loud speaker, and people would get off, and others would get on. So while it was fairly comfortable, definitely more comfortable than a flight is, we didin't really get any sleep at all.

About the JR pass: We've mentioned it a few times. The pass is a train pass that you can purchase outside of Japan and is only available for non-Japanese tourists. You can purchase it in 7-day, 14-day, and 21-day denominations, and it allows you to travel an unlimited amount of times and distance within the given time period.

We purchased the 21-day pass and only started using it when we left Tokyo for Kyoto, and, like we just mentioned, it expired the day before we had to go back to Tokyo. The pass cost us 57,700 yen (about $700) each. Expensive you say? Not when you calculate how much the train would have cost us.

We calculated the trains we took, and the grand total is, wait for it.....155,000 yen which is about $1860! 

Pics from this festival (in addition to the ones from the last post) you can see in this link