It had taken nearly seven hours but we made it. The first express train took us from Abashiri on Hokkaido’s far northern coast through five hours of its national park-like interior of forests and plains, or at least that’s what…

It had taken nearly seven hours but we made it. The first express train took us from Abashiri on Hokkaido’s far northern coast through five hours of its national park-like interior of forests and plains, or at least that’s what…
It was a period of rapid change. Men and women walked in kimono and haikara (high-collar) Western fashions on noisy streets of horses and rail-riding street cars hemmed in by wooden Japanese merchant shops and the latest in English architecture.…