Friday – Saturday, Jun 24 – 25 [Sofia]
Flight to Tokyo Narita International by United was uneventful and felt quick. This time we are staying at Millennium Mitsui Garden Hotel right in Ginza, in the middle of everything, and just 10 min walk from Tsukiji market. We exchanged our JR passes in Narita, boarded Narita Airport Express and in an hour were in Tokyo JR station. From there we took one stop on JR Yamanote line to Yurakucho station and walked to the hotel via underground passes that connect several subway lines underneath Ginza. We even found the correct exit for our hotel (A2), however hotel entrance was not directly connected to it. We still had to come up and look for it, but found it quite easily. The room is small but very modern and well organized, with a separate shower, toilet, and sink. We took a power nap and then headed out to explore and hunt down some dinner. One sushi place we tried was all booked up, and it was generally getting late. So we took a quick taxi ride to Takashimaya Nihombashi department store and found our beloved Taiwanese dumpling restaurant Din Tai Fung, which we craved since our China and Hong Kong trip the year before.
Sunday, Jun 26 [Leon]
Woke up early, feeling somewhat jet lagged, and went to find Starbucks that I saw the night before. It turned out to be a historic Starbucks – first one to open in Japan back in August 1996, about to celebrate its 20th anniversary. We both had lattes and split a kind of quiche, and felt much better. Then we walked to Yurakucho station on JR Yamanote line, got to Tokyo station, and took a train to Kamakura. We spent most of the day in Kamakura - walking around and looking at temples and shrines. It was pretty crowded, mostly with Japanese visitors, because it was Sunday and the weather was very nice. We first visited Engaku-ji Zen temple, and then Kencho-ji temple. Then we walked about a mile to Kamakura town center, where we visited Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu Shrine and then walked down Wakamiya-Ojibwa Street, picking up snacks along the way. Afterwards, we boarded a local train called Enoden bound for Hase station. The ride took only 5 minutes, after which we walked over to Kotokuin Temple to see Daibutsu (Great Buddha) statue. It was not as big as the one in Hong Kong on Lantau island, but it did not require a long climb up multiple staircases either. Then we visited the Hase-dera Temple with its beautiful hydrangea gardens, located on a hill overlooking the sea. After leaving Hase-dera, we walked down to the shore and took a stroll on the beach towards Yugahama. It was a black volcanic sand beach, similar to some of the beaches in Hawaii. The water was warm and there was lots of people enjoying all kinds of water activities – surfing, paddle-boarding, windsurfing, or just swimming. I wished I had a paddle-board, as that surf looked like fun. After that, we found Enoden Yugahama station and took a very crowded train back to Kamakura. It's good the ride was only 4 minutes! Getting back to Tokyo, we decided to take a train to Shinjuku and go for dinner at our favorite tonkatsu place Katsukura, since most other restaurants we wanted to try were closed on Sunday. Katsukura was still there, on 14th floor of Takashimaya Shinjuku, and still as good as we remembered.
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| Ginza Starbucks - first in Japan |
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| Temple gate in Kamakura |
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| Temple garden in Kamakura |
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| Daibutsu at Kotokuin temple |
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| Hydrangea garden |
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| Yugahama beach |
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| Tonkatsu at Katsukura Shinjuku |
Monday, Jun 27 [Sofia]
Yesterday was a long day – we walked over 11 miles! Today we are taking it easy with a fish breakfast in Tsukiji market at Sushi Zanmai. After finally getting our maguro, chutoro, and otoro fx, and then hanging out in the outer market a bit, we walked over to our favorite Hama Rikyu Garden, which looks as beautiful as 2 years ago with amazing contrast of dark leaves, blue sky, and Tokyo skyline backdrop. After an hour we caught a tourist boat to Asakusa which passed under 12 different bridges. From Asakusa we took a train to Ueno to look at the public park there which was recommended as a great place to visit, but ended up quite ordinary and disappointing. It was getting hot outside, so we took subway to Shinjuku and found Isetan department store. This store had a basement section with an amazing display of various gourmet foods to try and buy – caviar, cakes, chocolates, sausage, fish, produce – you name it, they had it. It was sort of like Eataly in New York, but 10 times better. We tried a few things, but they didn’t have all that many samples. This is where we wished we’d VRBO’d it in Tokyo, instead of just booking a hotel room… Anyway, then we did some shopping in Shinjuku and Leon bought a couple of Maker’s Kamakura shirts – a much better deal than buying them in New York. Since Monday many restaurants were closed, our dinner options were limited. So, we decided to go for an early meal at Katsukura again, since we were already pretty close to Takashimaya Shinjuku. Leon tried a different cut of pork today, which was a bit leaner than yesterday’s.
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| At Hama Rikyu garden |
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| At Hama Rikyu garden |
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| At Hama Rikyu garden |
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| Desserts in Isetan department store |
Tuesday, Jun 28 [Sofia]
We had some doubts about what to do today. The forecast was 100% rain all day, however it improved a bit by the morning. Also, the forecast for Nikko was somewhat better, so we decided to brave the rain and headed out to Nikko. This required us to take Shinkansen and then switch to a local JR Nikko line. Once there, we had to take a bus to reach the temple area. Altogether, the trip took about 2 hours. Most of Nikko’s famous temples and shrines are clustered in one area – Togoshu and Futarasan shrines and Rinnoji temple. We saw a well-known but underwhelming "Sleeping Cat" sculpture and funny "Hear no evil, see no evil, say no evil" monkeys. The shrines are beautifully restored or under restoration and impress with well-preserved amazing wooden carvings and bright colors of the buildings.
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| Togoshu temple |
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| Three wise monkeys |
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| Carvings at Rinnoji temple |
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| Statues in Rinnoji temple |
Then we had delicious soba/ramen lunch in a small restaurant managed by a very kindly looking woman. After that we headed out in search of Kanmangafuchi Abyss – a beautifully wild rocky river gorge guarded by stone statues in red knitted hats. On the way back to bus stop, we passed by bright red Shinkyo Bridge; and then took a bus, followed by trains home. I listened to Great Courses program on "understanding Japan culture" which seemed to be very appropriate type of book to listen to in the middle of riding through Japanese suburbs.
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| On the way to Kanmangafuchi Abyss |
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| Kanmangafuchi Abyss |
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| Shinkyo Bridge |
For dinner Leon finally got us reservations to Bird Land yakitori restaurant, which has one Michelin star and is located right next to Jiro’s of “Jiro Dreams of Sushi” fame. It’s also next door to an excellent unagi (grilled eel) restaurant called Nodaiwa, where we went last time we were in Tokyo 2 years ago. We’ve been making fun of Birdland ever since we walked in there by mistake and tried to convince them we had a reservation there, even though our reservation was next door at Nodaiwa. Extreme confusion ensued and the whole situation was hilarious. So, we felt that we just had to go to Birdland for dinner this time around. The staff was just as confused as 2 years ago, the sitting was tight, and chicken non-impressive, although we approved liver pate – just like my Mom makes it. Not sure why this place has a Michelin star…
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| Dessert at Toraya in Ginza |
Wednesday, Jun 29 [Sofia]
Today we are taking the new Shinkansen to Hokkaido – it started running only in March! However, we could get seat reservations for 12:20 pm train only, leaving us with a free morning in Tokyo. We spent it happily shopping around and eating at Tsukiji market. We even bought a container of ikura and some tamago (sweet egg omelet) to take on the train with us. The inside of the market is just like we remembered it from 2 years ago – smells of fish, loud, with all kinds of sea creatures for sale and workers on little trucks and silent electric carts playing chicken with tourists. The Shinkansen ride was quick – about 4 hours – followed by a 20-minute local train ride to Hakodate. There we settled into Villa Concordia hotel (large room, obsolete finishes and decor) and went to explore the port with a big Starbucks overlooking the most beautiful scenery ever and old brick warehouses converted to shops and galleries. We took a 30 min sightseeing cruise and felt cold Siberian winds as the sun was going down. We were confused by dinner options – TripAdvisor was of no help and most places here are closed on Wednesdays for some reason. Finally, we ended up in a maze of makeshift structures where locals were hanging out. Leon bravely selected a place called Crab House, using the number of happy local customers as his primary criteria. We ordered a couple of simple but tasty crab dishes and sake in lacquered boxes; and then Leon impressed good-natured local drunks by drinking shochu straight.
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| At Tsukiji market |
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| Lunch on Hokkaido Shinkansen |
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| Hakodate harbor sunset |
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| At Crab House |
Thursday, Jun 30 [Sofia]
This morning we took a 1 kilometer walk to Hakodate morning market with the most impressive spread of fresh just-caught crab, salmon, herring, ikura, scallops, as well as fresh local cherries, melons, and other good stuff. This market is much smaller but better laid out, cleaner, and easier to navigate than Tsukiji. There is no tuna here but plenty of salmon, ikura, scallop, crab and other great seafood. We had donburi bowls with salmon, ikura, and scallops for breakfast; and then headed out by train to Onuma Quasi-National Park. The ride took about 30 minutes. Onuma Park sits on three lakes and has a fun hiking trail island-hopping from one little island to another. We took a couple more trails with one of them leading through a nice thick forest where we heard very vocal toads and saw a whole family of ducks with little ducklings.
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| Hakodate morning market |
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| Hakodate morning market |
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| Breakfast at Hakodate morning market |
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| At Onuma Quasi-National Park |
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| At Onuma Quasi-National Park |
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| At Onuma Quasi-National Park |
Returning back to Hakodate, we toured the historical part of the city which has a very nicely maintained functional Russian Orthodox Church, former British Consulate, Hakodate Chamber of Commerce Hall visited by 3 Japanese emperors in last 2 centuries. For dinner we headed out to Hakodate Beer – a huge monster brick warehouse with medieval-looking wooden doors – which was converted to a brewery/restaurant. We had surprisingly good local sausages, squid dishes, and good local beer.
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| Hakodate Russian Orthodox Church |
Friday, Jul 1 [Sofia]
Another morning in Hakodate starting with a visit to the market and fresh coffee at a cute newly opened coffee counter there. We found a restaurant for breakfast where we had seafood donburi bowls, even better than the day before. After that we went to Nippon Rent-a-Car right next to JR station and picked up our rental – white Subaru Impreza with a very vocal chatty GPS. We picked up our bags from the hotel and went to check out the view from Mt. Hakodate. It was a bit hazy but the views were great anyway. Then we started our drive to Lake Toya. I have read about fruit farms at Sobetsu next to Lake Toya on TripAdvisor, so we decided to head up there first. After couple hours of driving, we found a farm where we could pick cherries and strawberries. Strawberries were already past their season, so they were small but incredibly sweet. They also had 2 types of cherries – orange and red – and we attacked the sweeter red version. In an hour Leon said that he never ate so many cherries combined in all of his life and I felt like bursting at the seams if I ate one more cherry. We decided to explore around Lake Toya and scout a good place for lunch. Lake Toya is a caldera lake with a perfect round island in the middle. Surprisingly there was no shops or restaurants around the lake and the drive around took a good hour. We stopped on the lakefront and decided to take the last boat tour of the day to the island – very pretty and peaceful ride disturbed by seagulls behaving badly and taking food from passengers.
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| Better breakfast at Hakodate morning market |
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| View from Mt. Hakodate |
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| Cherry orchard at Sobetsu |
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| Lake Toya island |
Our Hotel Windsor is up the mountain and is famous for hosting the G8 summit in 2008. We had to look up what countries are included in G8 – doesn't seem there is any logic in that list. The hotel is so remote that we had to go for their dining options. We chose their teppanyaki restaurant, strangely named Out of Africa, with amazing views of Lake Toya below. Even though the chef did not do any fun tricks, he did serve us the best A5 Hokkaido wagyu beef. I was a bit concerned that he will chop it up into small pieces but that didn't happen. Afterwards, we sat at the bar overlooking the lobby. Leon had a special select Nikka whiskey and I went for whiskey chocolates, while a singer resplendent in his cream-colored suit and red suede shoes performed Motown’s greatest hits. He must have been from Detroit, lured all the way to Hokkaido by all the great beef and fish.
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| Lake Toya view from Hotel Windsor |
Saturday, Jul 2 [Sofia+Leon]
It's raining all day today! We could not even see the lake when we woke up – just gray clouds and a wall of rain. Not a good day for our planned hiking around Lake Shikotsu nearby. So, we decided to switch around our plans and headed to Nikka distillery in Yoichi and then to Otaru. The drive to Yoichi took about two hours – there is no highway going there directly from Toyako, and GPS took us on a scenic route of farmlands and country roads, one of which was actually closed. We did drive through the famous skiing town of Niseko, which was pretty dead now in the middle of summer. Nikka distillery is very pretty, with evergreens planted in front of grey buildings with red roofs. The distillery has the same roots as Yamazaki distillery outside Osaka, but the founder decided to move to Hokkaido because of its special barley and water. It also reminded him of Scotland, where he spent several years studying how to make whisky and met his future wife. We enjoyed the tour but did find much of aged whiskey during tasting or in the store.
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| At Nikka distillery |
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| At Nikka distillery |
Another hour of driving brought us to Otaru, which used to be a herring capital of Hokkaido, an important trading port, and was even branded the "Wall Street of the North" in early 20th century. There is a number of handsome historical buildings that served as bank offices during Otaru’s heyday, now converted to museums, restaurants, and shops. We visited Otaru’s finance museum which was surprisingly informative. Then it started raining heavily and we ran from store to store on the main shopping street to avoid rain. The stores sell all kinds of crystal jewelry and china and other toys. The shops also had an amazing selection of desserts, chocolates, and soft serve ice cream made out of local milk. At the end of the street we stopped by a music box museum which has all kinds of music boxes made out of wood, crystal and mirrored shiny surfaces. There were also a couple of large old 19th century style jukeboxes with big perforated metal disks playing magical serene mechanical music.
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| One of Otaru's historic bank buildings |
Since it was getting late, we decided to have an early dinner in Otaru, instead of driving back to Windsor Hotel with its limited and solid-but-overpriced dining options. We found a place on the main street we saw earlier called Fuku Sushi, and had a surprisingly good selection of nigiri and sashimi. Walking out of the restaurant afterwards, we discovered that the rain had mostly stopped and the sky was clearing up and darkening at the same time. We walked towards the parking lot where we left our car along Otaru’s canal, looking at the old low-slung trading warehouses lining its shore.
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| Otaru canal |
And then it was time to drive back to Toyako. The drive back took about 2.5 hours, through mountain passes on narrow twisting local roads. It was dark and foggy, and in a few places we saw little mountain foxes with bright red eyes looking at us from the roadside as we drove by. There were also countless wild mice and chipmunks running across the road in front of our headlights. We also passed by an incongruous looking rollercoaster in a place called Rusutsu, which also had a number of big hotels and skiing lodges. This whole area must be really lively during skiing season, but now we were about the only car on the road. By the time we got to Windsor, the fog was so bad we could barely see anything in front of the car. In any case, we parked and went upstairs to pack and relax a bit after this long day.
Sunday, Jul 3 [Sofia]
After a great buffet breakfast in Hotel Windsor and stopping by Lake Toya to say goodbye, we drove up to Lake Shikotsu via Hokkaido Expressway. We started with a nice one-hour hike to Mt. Tarumae active volcano, 650 m elevation, going through nice thick woods. We planned to go around the caldera, but it was uncomfortably windy on top, making it hard to even just stand and breathe, so we quickly decided to turn around and go back down. We drove up to Lake Shikotsu village, which had some nice shops and restaurants on a side of the lake. Leon focused on finding the best soba noodles (he didn't have soba in Japan yet, and that's our second week here!) and grilled whole sockeye salmon. After lunch, it started raining and we drove off in search of Moss Canyon. Even though we successfully found it after driving around, it was closed. There was the famous Marukoma Onsen on the way, in a decent-looking ryokan, where for a small fee we dipped in the lake-view open air onsen, which was an amazing and relaxing experience. Another hour of driving and we are in Sapporo. Here we are staying in an ultra-hip Cross Hotel. Leon had to drive our car literally into a box, where a robotic system took it down to park in an underground garage. Hopefully we will see it again in future, or perhaps the robot will return with a Mercedes or Lexus, instead of a Subaru. We explored around town and shopping arcade a bit and then went for dinner to Tokuju Shinra-Tei yakiniku restaurant, which serves local Hokkaido Shiraoi brand wagyu beef, with a Korean twist. We ordered 4 different types of meat and beef tongue, which Leon masterfully grilled at the table. We both agreed that the place is worth a second visit and made a reservation for Tuesday right there and then.
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| Hiking up Mt. Tarumae |
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| Top of Mt. Tarumae |
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| Lake Shikotsu |
Monday, Jul 4 [Leon]
After waking up in Sapporo, we looked outside and noticed dark clouds and gathering rain. The forecast called for chilly weather and 20% chance of rain. So, we looked up the weather at Noboribetsu, which looked better – a bit warmer, sunny, and almost no chance of rain. Being heliotropic creatures that we are, we got our car and headed straight for Noboribetsu. The drive took about an hour and a half, but it was mostly on Hokkaido Expressway at decent speed. At Noboribetsu, we walked a few trails around volcanic area called Hell Valley, with steam vents, active geysers, and lakes with bubbling hot water and mud. Unlike similar volcanic landscapes we saw in Hawaii, this place was also very green, making it look much prettier and more hospitable. Trails were well maintained and easy to navigate. After walking a few kilometers of trails and taking lots of pictures, we found a nice foot bath in a stream with hot volcanic spring water, and settled to relax for 15-20 minutes. The water was hot and tingly, and feet felt pleasantly relaxed afterwards. Then we drove back to Noboribetsu main shopping street and had to park in a 7-11 parking lot, since we couldn't find any other parking. Lunch options were limited, so we grabbed a quick meal of salmon and rice, followed by a delicious blueberry/yogurt ice cream made with local milk. The drive back to Sapporo was uneventful, although we hit a bit of traffic getting back into the city. After changing and resting a bit, we went out to Sapporo JR station. As expected in Japan, this was another metropolis with several huge malls and a zillion smaller stores, multiple dining options, and everything in-between. I bought two shirts at Uniqlo, and then we went to BIC Camera store, where Sofia was awed by the variety of hair appliances on display. Then we took subway to Susukino – the largest entertainment district north of Tokyo. It was similar to Shinjuku as we remembered it from two years before – bars, small eateries, and clubs – all full of people despite it being Monday night. We wanted to have Hokkaido specialty Ghengis Khan lamb for dinner, however the place we wanted to go to – Daruma Honten – had a two-hour wait or longer at all of its locations. Finally, after walking around for an hour looking for a suitable place to eat, we settled for a simple little izakaya a block away from our hotel, where Sofia got her fix of fried chicken wings and I got my fix of shimesaba, all washed down with a generous amount of sake and shochu. The place was pretty full and we were the only non-Japanese there. We got to observe a group of young Japanese guys and girls on an after-work outing, which was a lot of fun. We came in around 9:00 pm, and they obviously had been there for at least an hour already, and didn't leave until after 10:00 pm, and that's on a Monday night! Since we don't speak Japanese, we couldn't warn them of the dangers of smoking, excessive drinking, and sleep deprivation. Oh well, they wouldn't have listened anyway…
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| At Noboribetsu |
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| At Noboribetsu |
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| At Noboribetsu |
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| At Noboribetsu |
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| At Noboribetsu |
Tuesday, Jul 5 [Sofia]
Full day in Sapporo today and we decided to make it a no-schedule no-driving day. We started with going to former Hokkaido governor’s mansion – a famous local landmark which had a few curious historical exhibits and a room dedicated to Japanese Northern Territories. Apparently Russia and Japan are still having discussions about the ownership of these 4 islands in the Kuril chain which has changed multiple times throughout history and remained under Russian control since after World War II. In 1999 the islands were opened to visit by Japanese and Russian tourists in a manner of "come over, there is nothing interesting to see here anyway". We walked over to Hokkaido University botanical garden which was very well maintained and very peaceful, with lush greenery, dark pine trees and a beautiful rose garden. From there we continued to Odori Street Park and the former Court of Appeals building with a rose garden that can put botanical garden’s display to shame. There was a very cute playground for kids, with slides, swings and little streams and pools of water. Odori Park is really just a street in the middle of the city with beautiful artistic flower displays. For lunch we went to Japanese Soup Curry place called Picante recommended by a nice reception girl from our hotel. The Soup Curry concept is unique to Hokkaido. You select your stock base, meat and spice level 1-5 and eat it with rice served separately. We bravely went for level 4, with seafood, pork, mushrooms, and lots of good vegetables – eggplant, carrots, potatoes. The spice level was quite manageable once the soup cooled down, even though I felt my makeup melting and sinuses clearing out.
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| In the garden of former Hokkaido governor's mansion |
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| Roses at the botanical garden |
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| Roses in front of former Court of Appeals |
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| Odori Park flower displays |
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| Soup curry at Picante |
The rest of the afternoon was dedicated to shopping. We went to a couple of good department stores, exchanged money in Hokkaido bank – they had a big branch with several dozen people working manually doing some mysterious Japanese banking transactions. In a Parco department store on B2 level we had some great ice cream – black sesame and blueberry. After that we took a subway back to JR station, got lost in underground mall city and made our way to BIC Camera store where we admired a variety of Japanese household goods – dozens of varieties of teakettles and hair dryers.
For dinner we went back to our favorite yakiniku wagyu beef place Tokuju Shinra-Tei where we ordered beef tongue, tenderloin, short rib, and beef liver. Liver was great but short rib was way too fatty to our sophisticated little palates. We wanted to take a cable car to the top of Mt. Moiwa for a night panorama of Sapporo, and took a street car to the base station. However, the tram ran very slow, and we just missed the last cable car at 9:30pm.
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| Yakiniku at Tokuju Shinra-Tei |
Wednesday, Jul 6 [Sofia]
Today we are moving off to Asahikawa. Seems that Asahikawa may have some interesting places to see – for example, a zoo with penguins is always great. We decided to start with Biei village quickly mentioned in our guide book and drove straight there from Sapporo in about two hours. Biei is a beautiful natural playground for tourists, with picturesque colorful flower fields, farms, and white-capped mountains in the background everywhere. We stopped by a couple of viewing points for pictures and then drove to a flower farm, with fields of lavender, daisies, poppies, marigolds, and all other kinds of flowers. You could rent a golf card or an ATV to drive around massive fields. They also keep lamas for show and for valuable wool which they use to knit souvenirs. After some driving around, we found a cattle ranch called Chiyoda Farm where we ordered two lunch-portion steaks, with rice and vegetables and salad. We also went to say hi to cows, rabbits, alpaca, a couple of cute pony horses with bangs, and goats. I fed some grass to a big horse and almost lost a digit – this horse’s got horse teeth!
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| Poppy fields in Biei |
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| Flower fields in Biei |
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| Flower fields in Biei |
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| Horses at Chiyoda Farm |
After lunch we drove to see a blue lake created by accident – they were trying to control landslides and created a big hole filled with water. Aluminum deposits are seeping through soil into the water making it appear turquoise blue. After a few more minutes of driving we saw a pretty impressive waterfall over a bridge. Searching for a better view I climbed into a pipe where we took about 100 steps up, which got us to a parking lot of nearby hotel, without any view. Stopping on a way at Biei Senka for fresh farm ice cream with red bean paste, we drove for another hour to get into Asahikawa Grand Hotel. Once again, Leon had to drive our car into a box. The box rattled and looked unstable. Asahikawa Grand Hotel is built and furnished in a luxurious style of late eighties, but the staff was very helpful. We took a stroll through pedestrian area to JR station, and then went for dinner at Matsuo Genghis Khan. The marinated grilled-at-the-table lamb was delicious!
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| Blue Pond |
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| Genghis Khan lamb at Matsuo |
Thursday, Jul 7 [Leon]
After a great breakfast at Asahikawa Grand Hotel, with ikura and fresh tomato juice from locally grown tomatoes, we headed out to Daisetsuan National Park. I had to drive out of the box in the garage, which was rattling and shaking, just like the night before. The drive to Mt. Asahidake ropeway station took about an hour. We parked and took the gondola up to Sugatami Station at 1,600 m elevation. The scenery was breathtaking – green trees on lower slopes, tundra-like shrubs higher, with colorful rock formations, large patches of snow, crater ponds, and active fumaroles (steam vents). We decided to hike a fairly easy lower trail first, stopping at each viewpoint to admire the scenery and take lots of pictures. At one of the points close to fumaroles, you could hear the loud hiss of steam being released, in addition to seeing and obviously smelling the white sulfurous smoke. The fumarole openings were colored yellowish green by the minerals. I took a video with iPhone to record both the sight and the sound. It was also amazing to see snow and actually walk on snow in July while wearing just a t-shirt and swatting away flies and other insects. The two crater ponds next to each other – Kagami and Suribachi – showed the reflection of Mt. Asahidake summit above. The third pond called Sugatami, larger and further up the slope, was still mostly frozen. The easy lower trail ended there and started looping back down to the ropeway station. So, we had a decision to make – try to hike all the way up to the summit at 2,291 m, or go back down. It was a perfect day for a mountain hike/climb – warm and sunny, with light cool breeze, and exceptionally clear visibility in all directions. We may not get conditions like this even if we do ever come back… So, we decided to climb. It was a hard mountain hike, with many steep sections, rock scrambles, and loose shale giving way underfoot. We did pretty well though, taking just one break to eat some crackers, and reaching the summit in about 2 hours. The view from the top was absolutely amazing. We lingered there for about 20-30 minutes, enjoying the view, taking pictures, and eating a quick lunch of crackers, nuts, dry cured salmon, and water. Then it was time to start our descent. All the way up, especially on steep sections with lots of loose rocks, Sofia wondered aloud how she was going to make it down in her Nike gym shoes. And as expected, going down was harder than climbing up. We had to constantly evaluate where to step and be on guard for loose rocks and sliding gravel. My Merrell hiking boots worked better than Sofia's cross trainers, but not as well as expected. Of course, on the way down we met a guy from Melbourne, Australia, who was hiking up in flip-flops, because his boots were stolen. So, we couldn't really complain about footwear. Still, Sofia said she would seriously look into buying a pair of proper light hiking boots for our next trip. Anyway, we finally made it back down and took the ropeway to the parking lot. Then we found an onsen a few minutes away and spent 15-20 minutes soaking our tired bodies in hot spring water. Feeling somewhat refreshed, we drove back to Asahikawa, only to discover that our first and second choice sushi places had no tables available. We had to settle for the third choice – Tenkin Sushi – which was ok but generally unremarkable. They had decent shimesaba, and we had a few pieces each. Afterwards, we wanted to go for a drink, and on a hunch walked into an empty little place called The Lucky 7 Lounge. The decor was straight out of Disney movies, with a picture of Walt Disney on the wall above the bar. More importantly, they had 17 year Hibiki, which we attacked with gusto. The bartender was very friendly, and being the only customers at this early hour of 9:00 pm, we actually managed to have a conversation with him, despite his very limited English and our non-existent Japanese. And that's how we celebrated our conquest of Mt. Asahidake and wrapped up this long fun day.
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| Mt. Asahidake |
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| Mt. Asahidake |
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| Mt. Asahidake |
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| Mt. Asahidake - at the summit |
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| Mt. Asahidake - descent |
Friday, Jul 8 [Sofia]
We checked out of the Asahikawa Grand Hotel and drove to famous Furano flower farms visited by millions of tourists every year looking for a perfect lavender field. Apparently Farm Tomita is so popular that JR even opens a train stop every summer on a route next to Tomita to accommodate flower-seeking tourists. The lavender fields were very pretty – deep dark purple color, with all plants perfectly lined up on one level. The farm was overcrowded though and had an overload of souvenir shops. We tried a lavender ice cream cone which had a very subtle flavor and decided to look for better less commercialized farms. We found couple of them, with different flowers, orange and red poppy flowers being our favorite. The lunch consisted of purple and white potatoes from one of the local potato farms and a quarter of melon topped with ice cream – no need to mention, all local.
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| Lavender fields at Tomita Farm |
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| Furano flower fields |
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| Furano flower fields |
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| Furano melon & ice cream |
Furano is a little town at the bottom of the mountain and has a dubious honor of receiving the most snow out of all Japanese cities. A friendly gentleman who checked us in was also a ski instructor, retired after working for Japan Airlines. He offered us skiing lessons if we visit again in the winter. He also recommended an excellent sushi restaurant and izakaya. Nigiri sushi at Fukuzushi right behind our hotel was fresh, extra-large, and overall a work of art. All chefs were very skillful and welcomed our weak attempts to speak Japanese. Izakaya Robata was a small hole in a wall place which we had a hard time finding at first. On the way we saw a very good looking black cat with its own backyard and scratching post. The cat obviously thought herself to be a superior creature right at the top of the food chain.
Izakaya Robata was small but cozy, wooden, smoky and smelled like garlic inside. A big teakettle and a pot were perched on the big open charcoal fireplace in the middle of the room. Later we found out that hot sake was boiling in the pot contributing to the aroma. Simple monotonous music streaming from an old radio added some ambiance. We drank great smooth Otokoyama sake, while trying to decide whether to order some food as well, looking at what other customers were eating. Unfortunately, we were still too full from dinner. The owners were very friendly and so were all the other patrons. We sat there drinking sake for good 2 hours and left very reluctantly.
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| Izakaya Robata |
Saturday, Jul 9 [Leon]
Woke up at 5:00 am, packed last few things, loaded into our car and drove out at 5:45 am. The hotel staff was very nice to give us some pre-packaged food in lieu of our included breakfast – coffee, locally produced milk in little cute bottles, some bread rolls, and 4 hardboiled eggs. The drive from Furano to New Chitose Airport was easy – just under 2 hours on virtually empty roads. We turned in our car at Nippon Rent-a-Car, took a shuttle to the terminal, and checked in for our Vanilla Air flight to Narita. Then we ate our breakfast while waiting for the flight, which was on time. Our United flight from Narita to Newark was being delayed however, so now we had an extra hour to kill at Narita airport. Instead, we stored our luggage and took a local Keisei train to Narita City. Although it was raining, it was still nice to come out, get some fresh air, and hunt down some grilled eel for lunch. We found a very crowded eel restaurant, where cooks were skinning, slicing, skewering, and grilling eel right up front. So, our last lunch in Japan was grilled unagi and Kirin beer, not some airport food. Then we walked further down Omote-sando street to pay a brief visit to Narita-san Shinshoji temple and surrounding park. And then it was time to get back to the airport, pick up our bags, find United check-in counter, and say goodbye to Japan. Until next time!
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| Unagi lunch in Narita City |
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| Shinshoji temple garden |
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