14/09/2018 / Last updated : 07/02/2023 d.d Hiking / Walking

Hiking Oirase Gorge to Lake Towada　奥入瀬

Day 43, October 2016, Awake well before the 6.30 alarm that D. set to be on the safe side, as we have to make an early start today. It is a cold, windy morning with patches of blue sky but ominous dark clouds racing overhead. We are in a hurry to leave, so a cold breakfast and canned coffee before we drive to the Oirase Gorge, pausing only to take yet more autumn leaf pictures. Oirase Gorge Arriving at Oirase Gorge, we mistake where to stop and as a U-turn is difficult on such a narrow windy road press on and finally stop in the mid-section of the gorge, Ishikedo. […]

26/07/2018 / Last updated : 06/02/2023 d.d Temple / Shrine

Osorezan, communing with the dead　恐山

Day 39, October 2016, Yagen Valley　薬研渓谷 We wake to a fine day and breakfast in the early morning sunshine. Before visiting Osorezan, our plan is to walk along a small, nearby river, so we drive a little further up the valley. The footpath, we discover, is in the pine trees and very gloomy. It runs along an old, narrow gauge railway line, now barely visible and the river can hardly be glimpsed at all through the undergrowth, so the prospect for the walk is not encouraging. In the end, we walk back along the road – there are almost no cars – and take lots of useless pictures of the […]

21/07/2018 / Last updated : 14/07/2022 d.d Japan road trip tips

Michi no Eki – Roadside Station

Sleeping in your car (Shachuhaku) On any given night, at a rough guestimate, there are scores of elderly people sleeping in their cars the length and breadth of Japan. This is not poverty or eccentricity but, rather, practicality. Plus, yes all right, a bit of eccentricity. A number of people, not all elderly but the retired have the time to travel, choose to sleep in their cars rather than spend money on hotels. This saving makes it possible for people to travel all over the country, for days, weeks or months if they so choose. For many it is sightseeing, visiting the many beautiful shrines and temples, castles, mountains, hot […]

28/05/2018 / Last updated : 06/02/2023 d.d Hiking / Walking

Hokkaido Komagatake　北海道駒ヶ岳

Day 34, October 2016, Kijihiki Height　　きじひき高原 It is a fine morning the rain having been blown away in the night. We drive from the campsite, on a gated road, higher up the mountain to a viewing point of Kijihiki Height that provides a panorama of Onuma Lake and Hokkaido Komagatake volcano. Having gazed from afar, it is now time to make a more detailed acquaintance with Komagatake so we drive down from our vantage point to the lake. Hokkaido Komagatake Skirting the lake shore, we find an unmade-up track heading volcanowards which we follow. This takes us up the lower slopes of the volcano, past signs that say no motor […]

18/05/2018 / Last updated : 19/03/2023 d.d Scenic Drive / Spots

Michi-no-eki ‘Maoi no Oka’ to Lake Toya

Day 31, October 2016, Michi-no-eki ‘Maoi no Oka’ & ‘Salmon Park Chitose’ We wake to a rather cold morning but we used our new duvet for the first time and very warm it was. The michi-no-eki ‘Maoi no Oka’ is very busy. Cars are constantly pulling in from the main road to take advantage of the incredible vegetable market. Some of the produce on display is extremely large. Huge hakusai (Chinese cabbage), for example, but there are many other fruits and vegetables at what I believe are called “competitive prices”. We had noticed that the pressure looked a little low in the front nearside tyre and, as luck would have […]

13/05/2018 / Last updated : 05/02/2023 d.d Arts / Places of interest

Moerenuma Park – Noguchi Isamu モエレ沼公園

Day 30, October 2016, Moerenuma Park After Checking out of our better than usual hotel, replete after an excellent breakfast, we set off to investigate ‘Moerenuma Park‘. At first, we don’t understand the place at all but we slowly realize that it is a huge space, housing various, massive artworks, most notably by Noguchi Isamu. Strange at first, but gradually, we approve as we wander between and climb the unassuming exhibits that sometimes are not obviously exhibits at all. Noguchi Isamu, Sea Fountain. As we approach Noguchi Isamu’s Sea Fountain, coincidentally, its scheduled display is beginning, otherwise we would, stupidly, not have made any effort to see it. But […]

04/05/2018 / Last updated : 05/02/2023 d.d Scenic Drive / Spots

Mikuni Pass to Higashi-Daisetsu　三国峠から東大雪

Day 27, October 2016, Mikuni Pass We emerge into a windy but dry morning and decide to return to Sounkyo gorge to check the autumn colours. The day is fine but the closer we get to the mountains the more the weather deteriorates. It is very windy with frequent heavy showers. Numerous rainbows prop up the clouds for kilometer after kilometer as we skim along very straight roads boarded by mixed, but mainly birch, forests. It is all very pretty despite the muted autumn colours and the background threat of serious rain. That eventually envelopes us as we cross the Mikuni Pass, the highest road(R.273) in Hokkaido. The pass itself […]

02/05/2018 / Last updated : 05/02/2023 d.d Scenic Drive / Spots

Lake Akan – Ainu art　阿寒湖

Day 26, October 2016, We return to Tsuruimura , there is no action at the bridge, but we can hear activity in the fields a bit further down the road. We drive a little and stop to take pictures of about 60 tsuru(Japanese crane) in a field just for the record. They are too far away for a real photo; just dots like sheep on a hillside. Tsuru viewed, we are off to Lake Akan having had enough wetlands. However, Lake Akan proves to be a big disappointment given its fame. Lake Akan & Ainu Kotan The dismay begins with eating a lunchtime sandwich, on a damp bench, looking out over […]

michi no eki