7 August, 2017
When we arrived back after a day’s drive in Abashiri a couple of days ago the normal car park was full so we had to park the car in the hotel stacker car park. At least it is under cover but this morning we need to retrieve it. I was amazed that although I drove the car in to the stacker it was returned about faced. Nice and easy to drive off.
The stacker is the same height as the hotel – 9 stories high – and the car spaces are bigger than our hotel room.
The drive from Abashiri was mostly through rural townships until we reached the Teshio-dake National Park area in the middle of the island. The scenery was typical pine forests and limestone mountains. As we climbed into the mountains the outside temperature dropped to about 17 deg. C and then we joined Route 33 expressway. Although the speed limit on the expressway is 70 kph we latched on to the back of a 7-car convoy that sat on about 120 kph. Once we dropped down to the rural plains again close to Pippu the temperature had risen to a very warm 30 deg. C.
Our stay for the next 4 nights is at a self-catering Airbnb traditional Japanese house. The house is next to a local ski area and used by snowboarders in the winter. When we booked this place we could not find any reasonable accommodation in this area and since Lynn was wanting to stay at more traditional Japanese places we chose this one. The floors are covered in tatami mats and the beds are futons. I would call this place a bush shack but it resembles a half finished shed that is only one level better than a tent. At least it has a toilet, bathroom and washing machine inside.
We dropped off our luggage and set out to explore the town and to buy some supplies. The local town (Pippu) is a town on the verge of extinction and has no restaurants or supermarkets. The only place within 10 km is a small 7-11 store. While we were driving through town we noticed that the main street was cordoned off for what seemed to be a town fete. The purpose was difficult to determine since it was all in Japanese but it looked like the local politicians were taking advantage of the small gathering to do some grandstanding. And lots of team games!
Since it became obvious that we were not going to find any decent restaurants or supermarkets in this tiny town we headed to Asahikawa. There, we found a great supermarket and lots of potential restaurants but parking is an issue and the half-hour drive each way is a deterrent so Lynn suggested that we buy some meals that we can prepare at home.
Tonight we had a simple salad with prosciutto, cheese and a baguette. At least we have a nice bottle of French wine to go with it.
By the time we had sat on the floor Japanese style for an hour or so my back, hips and legs were aching. It is no wonder that there is a large number of older Japanese who walk with a stoop. Will we survive a night on the futons? Will we be able to walk upright after 4 days here?
The house seems so typical of things that we have seen in Japan so far. It seems that the house was half built and then the owner decided that it is good enough so why do any more. It is a bit like eating soup with chop sticks. Perhaps there is a better way? Like, concrete the floor, add some chairs and some beds?
8 August, 2017
The night’s sleep was surprisingly good. It is very quiet here and the futons were much softer than they looked and so much softer than Chinese hotel beds.
Today we were planning a full-day drive to Cape Soya at the far North Western end of Hokkaido. Russia is only a few hundred kms away. Since we had a slow breakfast we decided to go to the Cape tomorrow and today we will just visit the Otokoyama Sake Brewery and Museum in Asahikawa.
Otokoyama’s history started in the Kanbun Era (1661-1673) as a sake brewery in Itami. Since then, the brand continued to gain popularity through the Edo Period to the present day and is considered the most famous sake brand in Japan. The drink of choice of the shogun families and painted by Utamaro in his ukiyoe wood block prints. The area is blessed with underground waters originating from the snows of the Daisetsu mountain range combined with a harsh cold climate during the fermentation period (November-March) which is perfect for slow, low-temperature brewing.
We spent the first part of our brewery tour checking out the vats and looking at the old sake-making equipment. We also watched a video on how sake is made and some history of this brewery.
It was all very interesting but Lynn was keen to get to the tasting part.
The brewery has a very strict policy on drinking and driving. The Japanese have a zero alcohol limit as well. Therefore I was tagged as the designated driver and only Lynn could participate in the free sake tasting. After 6 glasses of different sake she was talking shorthand but still wanted to taste the brewery’s gold medal sake. The gold medal sake required a payment of JPY200 (about A$2.50) so after fumbling about for the cash she was given a very full glass (filled to the brim) of the good stuff. It was so full that she had to sip some out before she could lift it up. I am sure that the shop attendants thought that she was incapable of lifting the glass to her lips. I have to admit that I was thinking the same.
I asked Lynn later if she could distinguish between the ordinary brew and the gold brew. She replied that she could but couldn’t tell me how.
We bought a bottle of the extra strong 18% alcohol sake that should last us a couple of days.
We finished the tour with a walk around the brewery awards and the Edo-era wood block paintings which featured Otokoyama sake.
9 August, 2017
Today is going to be a very long drive up to the most northern tips of Japan to Cape Noshappu then to Cape Soya. Unfortunately after yesterday’s sunny weather today is cold, wet and windy.
Cape Nosappu is a point on the Nemuro Peninsula located where the waters from the Pacific Ocean meet those from the Sea of Okhotsk. The Cape Nosappu Lighthouse is the oldest in Hokkaidō, built in 1872.
The Cape is very close to the Habomai Archipelago, which is administered by Russia. The closest island, Signalny Rock, is just 3.7 km away. As such, Russian patrol boats frequently appear on the strait. However, Japan claims the sovereignty over these islands. Consequently, the cape houses a lot of monuments dealing with Japanese claims on the territories, such as the House of Nostalgia for the Homeland, the Bridge on the Four Islands, and others.
As we leave the town Lynn spots a building with a sign, written in English: “Russian Restaurant”. The only one that we knowingly have seen in Japan to date.
It was a cold, bleak and dreary day and considering that this is the height of summer I would hate to be here in 6 months’ time.
After a warm coffee at McDonalds we head off to Cape Soya which is the most northern point of Japan.
Mamiya Rinzō (1775–1844) was a Japanese explorer of the late Edo period, born in the Tsukuba District, Hitachi Province, in what is now Tsukubamirai, Ibaraki Prefecture. Later in his life he would become an undercover agent for the Tokugawa shogunate. He is best known for his exploration and mapping of Sakhalin, which resulted in his discovery that Sakhalin was indeed an island and not connected to the Asian continent, although this had already been discovered by Jean-François de La Pérouse in 1787, who charted most of the Strait of Tartary and visited Botany Bay in Australia.
In 1785 Japanese explorers reached almost to the Strait of Tartary on the west, Cape Patience on the east and Urup in the Kurils. In 1808 Mamiya sailed up the east coast and Matsuda Denjuro up the west coast. From near Cape Patience Mamiya crossed the mountains to join Matsuda. The next year Mamiya sailed into the mouth of the Amur River and reached a Chinese trading post. In 1852 Mamiya’s maps were published in Europe by Philipp Franz von Siebold.
Cape Sōya is the northernmost point of Hokkaidō. It is situated in Wakkanai, Sōya Sub-prefecture. The Monument of the Northernmost Point of Japan is at the Cape, although the true northernmost point under Japanese control is a small deserted island called Bentenjima, 1 km northwest. Since the cape is just 43 km away across La Perouse Strait from Cape Crillon, Sakhalin Island, Russia, it is possible to catch a glimpse of the island of Sakhalin on a clear day – but not today.
There are more than ten monuments at Cape Sōya, including the Monument of the Northernmost Point of Japan, the Tower of Prayer (a memorial to Korean Air Lines Flight 007, shot down in 1983), a statue of Mamiya Rinzō, the Monument of Peace (a memorial to the sunken submarine USS Wahoo which was noted on our visit to Pearl Harbour last year).
It is a three hour drive back to Pippu this afternoon through some interesting mountain areas and some very uninteresting rural areas and dilapidated country towns.
Some of the child-like road work barricades continue to amuse us. We have seen giraffes, ducks, reindeer, hello kitties and happy faces.
Occasionally we came across some interesting buildings but most were unimaginative concrete boxes in various states of decay.
10 August, 2017
After the 6-hour drive yesterday we plan to do a short drive to the town of Biei near the Asahikawa airport. We will take the long way there via a few back roads through the local hills.
The drive past the airport had lots of car rental companies, petrol stations and tourist information shops but it wasn’t until we hit Biei that we noticed a remarkable difference in this rural town to most of the weed-infested, rusty and declining rural towns that we have seen so far.
Biei is a very fine and modern village that is obviously booming from the winter snowshoeing and cross-country skiing tourists and summer cyclists with artists’ galleries, workshops and coffee houses.
Not a weed to be seen in Biei and we even stopped in at a local, French-style bakery for a couple of freshly baked muffins.
Just out of Biei town is the Patchwork Road (Patchwork no Michi) and the Observatory Park where you can get panoramic views out over the undulating fields to the mountains in the distance.
We bought a coffee and eat our fresh muffins while looking out over the sunflower field.
After a very easy day today we have to head back and pack up for our drive back to Obihiro tomorrow to return the hire car and take the bus to Sapporo. Staying in the shack at Pippu has only been just tolerable so it will be nice to get back to sitting on a chair and sleeping in a proper bed. I just can’t understand why you would build an expensive framed house and still have a dirt-floored kitchen and no modern appliances (except for a microwave oven) in the kitchen.
11 August, 2017
We are on the road back to Obihiro by 8:45 am. The drive through the mountains was great fun although the entire trip was in heavy rain.
It is a public holiday today. Mountain Day or some such nonsense so there is plenty of traffic about. Still, we made good time and arrived at about 11:30 am. I dropped Lynn at the bus/train station while I returned the car so we had 3 hours to kill before our bus to Sapporo was due to depart. While we sat in a coffee shop sipping our cafe lattes (yes, we are back in civilisation) we discussed the possibility of swapping our bus tickets for an earlier bus. The next bus is due to go at 12:30. It is now 12:15. I raced over to the bus terminal which was shut due to it being a public holiday so I then raced over to the smaller dispatch office. It is now 12:20. The lady in the office said it was possible so she logged into the computer to see what was available. 12:25….. The printing of the new tickets was taking an eternity….. Lynn was still camped in the coffee shop so I still had to get her and the luggage to the bus….
We made the bus by about 60 seconds (everything goes on time in Japan!). After we had boarded we realised that this bus was not only a faster express to Sapporo it was also going to stop closer to our hotel. Bonus! We should be in Sapporo by 4:00 pm instead of the original 6:15 pm arrival time.
The bus ride was very comfortable. We had very fast, free Wi Fi so I watched a few Netflix movies and Lynn read her book. The bus (English translation) was called a Potato Liner. Not sure why but we had a pit stop half way back and made good time. We were warned on departure that there would be a half-hour delay in the scheduled time due to road works on the Doto Expressway. Sure enough we were exactly half an hour late on arrival in Sapporo. Still, much better than arriving at dusk as per our original plans.
We checked in to the Mercure in Sapporo. Ahhhh… much better than the shack. We will be here for 7 nights and I plan to do some relaxing and catching up. The hotel is right in the middle of the restaurant area of town so before we unpacked we headed out to check out possible restaurants for the next week.
Tomorrow is expected to be raining all day so that suits me just fine.
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