Kushiro - the North Island

22nd June 2014 

Yes, the North Island. I couldn’t believe the souvenirs with North Island on them. Kushiro is actually a small city of 181.000 on the northernmost of the four largest islands of Japan – Hokkaido. Now they tell us it’s known as the city of the mist! Oh yes? The last several days have been accompanied by the blast of the fog horn – distant inside but a real ear ripper outside. This ship is different in many ways, one of them being the scarcity of open decks. One pool is partially roofed and the pool next door, in the “conservatory” is completely enclosed but the roof apparently does slide back. Yet to see this but Tokyo reputedly had 26C today so we live in hope of a thaw soon with temps at 9.1C. A third pool out the back we haven’t explored yet. Anyway swimming is off the menu for a certain person.

There is a rare crane native to this area. The population has increased from 20 to 1000 after special efforts and designated wetlands with feeding stations were established for their preservation.

We took a chance and booked on a tour that had a Japanese guide. We figured natural beauty is natural beauty. Although we couldn’t understand a thing the guide said it was fun to watch her. I think she must have told funny stories all day as our fellow travellers laughed and clapped all the time.  We found it fascinating as her voice was full of expression and what sounded to us like strange noises. Her face was a study in animation and her white gloved hands were always on the move demonstrating her point.

We stopped at the crane lookout – too much mist to see anything except a sign warning that this was a bear habitat. We bussed on through farmland and fields of rice, wheat, vegetable crops and a few houses. The houses were very plain; usually two storied and quite square looking but some of the gardens were gorgeous; the trees shaped and the vegetable gardens in perfect rows. In one little town the entire population seemed to be out weeding and planting about a mile of garden along the roadside.  The climate here also makes dairying a major industry. The poor cows were mostly in barns and not always very clean looking. There were  deer, goats, horses and a surprising number of miniature horses. I don’t know what they would be used for. There are also wild bears, foxes, squirrels and deer in the forest areas.

 

We were actually on our way to Akan – a spa town, surrounded by three volcanoes, with hot springs and baths, a ski resort in the winter, and home to the marimo algae which grow to the size of small hollow soccer balls in the caldera lake here. We went by ferry to the exhibition centre to see them and some of the local quite large fresh water fish. There were some very modern small boats at the wharf too; also lots of fishermen in waders, fly fishing for the likes of the fish we had seen.

 We had a tasty lunch, the food seems very healthy. You ignore the waffle makers of course. We had a wander around town afterwards. The thought of showering and washing hair before you could go for a bath didn’t appeal. The men were on one floor and women one the other. You go in naked of course but have a towel to drape around you if you wish, and drop before getting in. One bath was 41C and another 36. We were already hot surprisingly enough although it was cold outside in the wind.

The shops were open despite it being Sunday, and were full of all kinds of wooden carved items that looked very handmade – all made in Japan though! Heaps of deer antlers were for sale along with little jars of marimo spheres. Very unusual.  As we wondered we came across some concrete tanks so walked through the gates to check them out. We realised there were fish and fresh water crayfish in being grown in them.

A long day topped off with a local snow freeze – a big deal to the locals.