From the pleasant Karuizawa we hitchhiked back to the metropolis of Tokyo to finish the last of our glass ‚homework‘. We still had two studios to visit before we had seen the majority of the glass studios in Tokyo. With short notice, Rie let us stay with her for another two nights and so we started the next morning well rested. Our first stop was Chofu Glass, which is a medium sized studio in a Tokyo suburb. Glass makers can hire a working space here and kiln casting and other courses are offered for students. Unfortunately we didn’t get a chance to meet the owner of Chofu Glass, however we were re-united with Chiyuki who we had got to know at a Fresco Studio. Up until three weeks ago she had worked there, but then left to join Chofu Glass. After this short visit we returned to the city, to Sarue Glass Studio. This was so unassuming within a residential area that Franca thought we had got lost once again. However the glassmaker’s pipes were sticking out of a wide open window. Already from the outside, you could tell that the studio space was small and confined. It is indeed very cramped with two furnaces, a mini sanding area, six heating drums and adjoining work benches, although this is one of the bigger studios in Tokyo where you can rent space.

All packed up, we collected our passports from the Chinese embassy the next day. It was good that we had been granted a 30 day visa. After this we quickly left the city and hit the road towards Hokkaido. At around 6pm we found ourselves at a service station in the middle of the mountains. Right behind this, there was a big pile of wood chips. Perfect; as the ground was still a bit too cold for camping. Louise collected a few pine branches and together with the woodchips we constructed a lovely 5cm thick mattress. We set up the tent on this, had an ice cream for tea and went to bed. It was cosy until the wind shook the tent and it all collapsed. On the stony ground we hadn’t been able to tighten up the guy ropes enough. We climbed out and out of fear of the oncoming storm, we rolled everything up and moved into the disabled toilet. The toilets were open 24 hours and there was even a gurney in the disabled area. This seemed like an acceptable alternative for us. However, the next morning we were sick and tired of the non-stop announcements and the country music played in the toilet.

We had breakfast really tired and gathered the last of the leftover pegs for the tent, before we made our way further in the direction of Hokkaido. With the help of just two cars and our first Japanese truck we managed to travel a fair way. The people in the second car had invited us for Japanese noodle soup, ramen, and the truck driver was so happy to have met us that he even organised our onward journey to Hokkaido. While he was driving he called a friend, his boss and the ferry and so booked us two tickets for the boat the next day. He and his boss invited us for dinner and we were allowed to stay the night in a nicely made up bed in the truck company’s ‘container-office’. We were woken up at 3am and the boss drove us through the night all the way to the ferry. While we dozed in the truck, he bought us both a take-away breakfast. We said our goodbyes and caught the 7.40am ferry to Hokkaido. Still glowing with all the happy coincidences and new experiences we reached Hokkaido in beautiful sunshine.