By Haven Tobias

For The Transcript

When a traveler first encounters Japan, there appear to be two Japans: there is a Japan that exists now, not just modern, but post-modern, already shaping the 22nd century; there is a traditional Japan, the Japan of the flowering of Zen Buddhism, the arts and of the samurai warrior and the Shoguns.

Is the same Japan both modern and traditional -- yin/yang? I think so. Nonetheless, there will be two articles about my recent trip to Japan and this one will emphasize the amazing modernity and the next, the idyllic legacy, as if they were distinct, even though they blend.

Starting out

I began my sojourn this past fall on Japan's northernmost island, Hokkaido. This is an unusual place to start, for Americans. There are Russian and Korean tourists on Hokkaido and a lot of Japanese tourists too, but few Americans. The standard tour for Americans is four or five days in Tokyo and three or four days in Kyoto and then back to the states. It takes a lot of energy -- both the world's resources and one's own -- to get to Japan. Furthermore, Tokyo and Kyoto are particularly expensive. I suggest that if you expand your itinerary and include some of the less trafficked areas, you will not regret it.

Not that Tokyo and Kyoto are not worth one's time. But I am glad I did not miss the scenic drives on trains and buses from Hokkaido south to northern Honshu island. Specifically, I am glad I did not miss spending the night on Lake Toya in the Shikotsu-Toya National Park, in southern Hokkaido, where the G8 summit will meet in 2008.

I enjoyed the stopovers in Hakodate, the "gate city" on southernmost Hokkaido and then Aomori, the "gate city" on northernmost Honshu. And I am particularly glad I traveled through the exquisite Towada Hachimantai National Park, with its dozens of waterfalls, wide ones and tall ones and cruised Lake Towada, in northern Honshu. I enjoyed the northern Honshu city of Sendai very much and even though the shores of nearby Matsushima Bay are becoming crowded with less than scenic buildings, still, one can understand why the poet Basho, famous for his haiku, was captivated by the area.

I also would not want to have missed western central Honshu and specifically, the cities of Takayama and Kanazawa. Indeed, if there were one city in Japan where I could pick to live, it would be Kanazawa. I spent part of two days on Mount Koya, also known as Koya-san in south central Honshu. There are no hotels on Koya-san. I spent the night in a Buddhist monastery and while I have stayed in Buddhist monasteries before, for weeks at a time, my one night in this mountain-top, Japanese Buddhist monastery was an unforgettable experience.

Full speed ahead

But tranquility is the subject of the next article. Post-modern Japan is high-speed. In the early 20th century, militarization and modernity came fast to Japan and now everything is fast. For example, the bullet train is fast and faster still is getting on or off the bullet train, if you are not at a terminal station. If you pick up or get off the bullet train at some intermediate stop, you have a matter of seconds to get on, or off, as the case may be. If the arrival is scheduled for 10:08:20 and the departure is scheduled for 10:09:02, they aren't kidding. The doors close at 10:09:02. If you meant to get off, but didn't make it fast enough, the doors won't open again and you'll have to get off at the next station. If you wanted to get on, but didn't make it fast enough, the doors won't open again and you'll have to await the next train.

Many trains and vehicles go through mountains, because that's faster than going over. Since there are many mountains, between where you are and where you're going, particularly on Honshu, travel is sometimes not very scenic. (As an aside, I'll note that there are still scenic trains. The train ride from Nagoya to Takayama through the Japanese "Alps" is a delight. Go soon, tunnels are probably on the horizon.)

What is scenic about train travel in Japan is the train stations. The most architecturally stunning train stations in the world are in Japan. I haven't been everywhere, but I boldly state that there isn't a more amazing train station anywhere than the train station in Kyoto, opened in 1997 to commemorate Kyoto's 1,200th anniversary. (Yes, it is yin/yang that this futuristic marriage of plate glass and steel designed by Hiroshi Hara was created in Kyoto, the premier classical city of Japan.)