The less than glamorous side to Japan's railways.

Tokyo : done.
(including a very early morning at the famous fish market as well as a lonely planet recommendation for a restaurant specialising in river eels)

Now off to Sapporo.

This involved 3 trains, the first of which was a shinkansen or bullet train. 700+km in 2 and a half hours is pretty impressive. The next two were local trains up on hokkaido. These have a couple of carriages for passengers without reservations (we had tried but no more were available), a view of one of which you can see above. 3 and a half hours to go 180km and not a seat to be had.

Not brilliant.

Now into the hotel, beer in hand and planning some food.