Travel to Osaka was a short Shinkansen hop from Hiroshima. The trip was made to feel longer by the accumulated exhaustion catching up to us after a week of ambitious tourism and lots of walking in not always gentle terrains. Our energy level results in not much tourism stuff and fewer pictures.

Hakodate is the Hokkaido city that we've most visited. Past visits were mostly in the snow, flying up from Tokyo to cross country ski and wander the city in the snow. It is far more interesting and historical than Sapporo - more like Otaru, but bigger. The city has built up the historic areas directly focusing on tourism, both foreign and domestic.