Date

2022-10-10 to 10-11 (across different time zones)

Distance

0 km

Getting into Japan was tricky. I landed in Tokyo’s Hanade Airport on 11 October, which is the first day Japan’s boarder reopened to solo visitors. At the exit, there are a lot of people holding posters waiting to pick up their guests.

A long line of quarantine staff wearing pink were waiting for us. The QR code Quebec government gave me for my vaccination statues didn’t work here, so originally I was forced to do a PCR test. The protocol was very different from the Canadian one: it required spiting a huge amount of saliva into a tube. While waiting for the result, I found a digital copy of my 4th vaccination proof which I showed them and they let me go. Japanese government requires that all foreign visitors must have received at least 3 vaccines and that the proof be clearly indicating the brand of the vaccines.

When I went to pick up my luggages, the staff who recognised my red Ortlieb bag directed me to meet the other 3 staff who were looking for me with my bags and bike. Japanese people are really polite and apologetic, even if it’s not their fault, the first thing they do is to bow and apologise for keeping me waiting. This is much appreciated but can makes me uncomfortable. At the same time though, they are also very meticulous and obsessed with protocols and details: they required all visitors to fill out at least 3 forms, which I had only prepared one. So it took a long time for me to be officially entered in Japan.

Due to reduced wait time, I was in such a rush to get to another side of the airport to get on my connecting flight on time that I ran up stairs and in the hallway. This is quite a scene to see as I appeared to be the only person doing so. Japanese people are very punctual, and running in a rush seems to be a breach of social conduct.

At the Chitose Airport in Hokkaido I met up with my Taiwanese friend at 11pm. After many attempts at communication, we succeeded in booking a minivan to our hotel in Sapporo. Here English doesn’t work so well, I had to use my broken Japanese and Google translate to communicate.

After much tribulations, we finally arrived safe in our hotel room (which is rather small for two people, but this seems to be the standard size of hotel room). Tomorrow we will get the necessary supplies then head to Wakkanai by train to start our bike trip.