THERE were no shakes last night, praise be to the gods. We all got up early. My Dad being my Dad, he was banging on my door at a ridiculous hour, insisting that we get to the railway station hours early. There to spend hours sitting round our luggage, watching the commuter rush. I seized this opportunity to get out for a bit of fresh air, and have a look round.. As I remarked to my man Gotaro in Kyushu at the time: "Unfortunately I cannot go south this time. I am in Sapporo Hokkaido now. Went through the underground tunnel and past what must be one of the strangest train stations in the world... Tappi Undersea Station. Which is located 100 meters underneath the ocean floor..." . Those distant hills were calling us. That long black beach is called 99 Ri Beach ("ri" being a Chinese mile)... I am not sure if it is really 99 Chinese miles long, but it is cool name nonetheless. And a famous place for surfing! ..