Toya Day 68: The Northernmost Point in Japan

This was it. Wakkanai. The place we’d been anticipating for so long, and it had now all come to fruition. The place we’d come to see – the Northernmost point at Cape Soya – was only hours off.

The day was a cold one – quite in line with the weather reports from the internet. We headed to JR Wakkanai Station, where the bus terminal to Cape Soya is located, and we ate breakfast in the bakery in the station – some very nice varieties of bread and some wonderful coffee – nice, heavy food for the cold of the day!

The completely frozen road just outside our hotel!

The bus to Cape Soya arrived, and we boarded it with anticipation. The bus goes along the coast of the very cold-looking Sea of Okhotsk, and past several beaches that you really wouldn’t want to sunbathe on! It was a long, forty-minute wait to reach the Cape, but it was exciting.

Still better than Blackpool, though, I think 😉

We arrived just past midday. The bus stop is just next to the northernmost point monument, so we headed over immediately.

It was a very satisfying feeling. At 12:25PM Japan Standard Time on the 24th of November 2012, I was the Northernmost person in Japan.

Me and Brendan as the Northernmost people in Japan, stood on the Cape Soya Monument in Soyamisaki!

One could even see the Sakhalin Islands from the Cape – these are disputed territory between Japan and Russia, and the weather needs to be clear to see them. It was good to be able to do so, especially as the weather took a rapid turn for the worse! The snow picked up along with the wind, and the temperature according to a gauge on the souvenir shop was -11°! It was very cold in Soyamisaki.

The distant, disputed Sakhalins.

We began searching for a cafe, but to no avail. Much of Soyamisaki was closed for whatever reason, with only the gift shop being open. So we headed in and loaded up on Northernmost souvenirs 😉

The main street in Soyamisaki – a very bleak place!

We then headed up the hill to the observation point, from where you could see the entire town as well as the Monument to Peace – commemorating a Korean Airlines Plane which was accidentally shot down over disputed Soviet Airspace – essentially 300 people killed for political stupidity.

The view over the town from the Observation Point – Soyamisaki is a fishing port, and as such has a large dock.

Anyway, the bus back to Wakkanai wasn’t due for a while, so we flicked through the visitor books in the bus shelter – not many foreigners seem to come here, with perhaps five or six entries in English. We wrote our own messages, of course, mine wishing luck to those that had come in November. It really was very cold!

The Monument to Peace.

On our return to Wakkanai we headed into a department store for some quick shopping and a bite to eat, and then we headed to our next Wakkanai Adventure – getting lost on the Russo-Japanese Industrial Docks!

We were trying to find something called the Riyu Harbour Onsen, and our instructions said to follow straight down the docks. So we did. Literally. We ended up on a dark, kilometer-long wharf which, no joking, was the kind of place that hostage exchanges take place 😉 The Onsen was visible on the other side of the harbour, and it was literally less than 50 meters away, but we couldn’t reach it! We had to walk all the way back around the dark, bleak docks to get to it.

It was worth it though. It was a truly wonderful Onsen – one of the best I’ve been to. The water was slightly yellow in colour and had a slight oily texture to it. The baths were spacious and luxurious, and outdoor baths in the snow are so fantastic it’s untrue. It also gave me my first taste of a coldwater bath – two attempts to enter failed me, but the third, with Brendan’s encouragement, gave me an intensely wonderful Onsen experience. The coldwater bath is made all the better by heading to a hot Onsen afterwards, where a tingling sensation erupts across your body as your pores expand. I used ‘Shiro-tastic’ to describe the Yakiniku place yesterday – that sums up this as well.

Our final act in Wakkanai was to get dinner. We went to a small Iizakaya specialising in seafood which was recommended on Wikitravel. Of course, the menu was all in Japanese, and there were no pictures to speak of! A kind man from the next table offered a little help – recommending clams and fried tofu – both of which were delicious, and then we made a game out of the rest of the meal 🙂

Basically, I ran my finger across the menu, and Brendan said when to stop. It actually worked out rather well – we ended up with some lovely cracker-esque things, some fried chicken, some rolled omelettes, and – best of all – a whole fried squid! All of it was quite delicious, and it was a very enjoyable adventure of a meal. I also got a lemon sorbet after simply asking for ‘dessert’, which was also tasty!

Wakkanai had been great, but we had an early train in the morning, so we then headed back to our hotel and, in an odd moment of being sensible, headed to bed 🙂

Toya Day 67: To Wakkanai!

Taka would be driving us to JR Abuta Station, but from there, we were on our own. Since we’ve arrived, we haven’t gone much farther afield than Muroran – but that was about to change. This would be our first real adventure.

If was a chilly day, but come the evening the weather in Abuta would seem positively temperate. As is the way with Japanese rail transport, the train pulled up to the minute on time, bound for Sapporo Station where we’d have to transfer to the Soya Main Line.

The road ahead!

With a few bits of last minute advice from Taka, we departed. The train was quite busy, and while we’d been expecting that since it was a National Holiday, we hadn’t expected it to be this busy! When we got on in Toya, there were no seats left and we were already in the pit between the carriages. That, however, swiftly got worse. By the time the train passed through Date, the number had grown to twenty or so people, and by the time we reached Muroran, it had gotten to about 50! We could barely move, but it was only a short two-hour train ride at least.

In Sapporo Station, which is quite huge, we had a 45-minute layover after what was an exhausting trip from Toya. We went into a fast food chain called ‘Lotteria’ which I’d never seen before. I settled on some trusty fried chicken, which was rather pleasant and, as things would turn out, quite necessary.

As we boarded the JR Super Soya Limited Express for Wakkanai – a train which would take six hours – we began to think about things. This was our first real adventure in Japan, the first time we’d been out of our comfort zone alone. If we were stranded in Date or even Muroran or Sapporo, then the worst-case scenario would be a heartfelt but embarrassing call to Erica or Taka. But Wakkanai – six hours by train and goodness knows how far by car!

The view from my seat – it was a somewhat old train but it was comfortable. It was also quite empty.

The Soya Main Line is interesting because it goes such a long distance. You can see the snow getting thicker as you go further North, and you can see the landscape changing. Once you pass Asahikawa, there are no real major settlements until Wakkanai and you just pass through hours of stunning countryside. The train stops at some minor stations, but the area is quite sparsely populated.

The view from the train about halfway to Wakkanai.

The sparse, bleak Northlands of Hokkaido 🙂

One of the Stations on the way to Wakkanai – this one was about 2/3 of the way there.

 

 

When you eventually reach Wakkanai, the cold hits you the second you step off the train. You can tell it’s much further North than Sapporo or Toya. As soon as you leave the station, things become even more apparent – not a single patch of pavement or road isn’t covered in snow and ice – and this ice is at least two inches thick. Bearing in mind that this is only the cusp of Winter, one can only imagine what the place is like in the middle of winter!

We headed to our hotel, which was simple enough to find as it was just along the main road. We then dumped our things and went to pursue dinner.

This walk took about 40 minutes as we headed to the Minami-Wakkanai area (which is where the entertainment district is). We eventually settled on a rather lovely Yakiniku restaurant, wherein we ordered a platter of raw meats and seafood to barbecue including wagyu beef, lamb, cow livers (my favourite!), horumon, shrimp, sausages, scallops and a few vegetables. It was all very tasty! It was what you might call a Shiro-tastic restaurant!

We then headed back to our hotel to retire for the evening, making use of its bathing facilities. It was very small – large enough only for two people – but it was a very good temperature and source of water. Honestly it ranks among my top few onsen, despite being so small. Our rooms are also fantastic, very clean and very comfortable with fantastic staff who have been very helpful and friendly.

I definitely recommend the ‘Tabinoyado Ubukata’ if you ever visit Wakkanai!

Toya Day 66: A Mini-Yukigassen

Thursday. Abuta day. We’d gotten out of it last week because of the social welfare group but no such event was on for today. And do you know where we were working?

Irie.

The very name instils fear, does it not?

As Yako drove us there, we offered him ¥10,000 to take us to Sobetsu instead. Then, as we approached, we offered ¥20,000 to carry on to Date! Sadly, his integrity prevailed, and he dropped us at Irie. Remembering the proximity to Jeremie’s apartment, we contemplated an escape, but eventually decided against it on the basis that it was a bit cold outside 😉

But Yako, it’s so crisp and shiny!

Upon entry, we were presented with a choice – the door to the left, or the one to the right. The right contained the stern lady from last time, while the left was a new thing for me. I talked Brendan into the right door on the basis that I’d done it last time, and I was surprised when immediately, all of the children ran away from me!

They came back, however, when they were told to get changed to go on a walk, which we all did. We went to a nearby park to collect Pinecones, which would later be used as Christmas decorations. There were a lot in the park to collect, and the kids made an admirable job of it – at least until we got to the part where there was snow!

While Abuta in general has far less snow than Toya, it still gets some, and some is all you need to have a snowball fight 😉 The kids caught on to this pretty quickly, and we were soon having a big snowball fight in the middle of the park! I’d like to claim that I won, but one little girl was so relentless and accurate that, in all good conscience, I have to grant the title to her 🙂

After lunch and story time, we headed back to the Abuta Office, but then we found out that we’d have to walk to Kazekko, so we set off pretty quickly. Kazekko isn’t far, but we weren’t the most confident on the way to it and furthermore, if we did go early, then we could go to the Seicomart on the way!

Ah, the trusty old Seicomart 🙂 How I do love you…

And that we did. Sadly, there was no fried chicken available, but we bought some chocolate and shared it out with the children on the way to Kazekko.

At Kazekko, we did the usual playing cards, playing dodgeball and drawing things that we usually do, but this time something happened. We were assembling a Jigsaw Puzzle of a map of Japan with some of the kids, and we almost had it completed to find that two pieces were missing! It’s kind of irritating when that happens.

Upon our return to Toya, we had a Japanese lesson with Takaku-san. Today we were covering question words, and while simple in theory, remembering which ones are which is tough initially! We also told Takaku about the weather in Wakkanai, which we’d found out earlier in the day. Hazard a guess?

So this is what Wakkanai is like when it’s not despicable!

On Saturday it will be -3 degrees. As the Japanese would say: さむい！

Speaking of Wakkanai, after a brief Onsen visit we spent the rest of the night packing for it! Tomorrow, we depart for the northernmost place in Japan – and probably also the bleakest!

Toya Day 65: Blizzard!

Well, today was one of those days where got to spend the morning in the office as well as the afternoon, so a large part of this will be me talking about snow and cameras 😉 Sorry in advance.

So, when we set off for the Office it was cold but there wasn’t any snow. However, that was about to change – roughly half an hour after we arrived, a huge blizzard blew across Toya which lasted several hours, replenishing the snow from the other day which had largely melted. It was seriously heavy – it put several inches on the ground, at least! It was impressive to watch.

After we’d finished lesson planning, we began to get back to the usual thing that we do of looking around on the internet. This time, we looked up what the Japanese tend to have for Christmas dinner. Some of you may have already seen this on Facebook, but it is quite simply KFC. The Japanese have KFC for Christmas dinner.

Seriously.

This is apparently down to marketing in the 1970s. KFC noticed that their Christmas sales were higher because foreigners wanted to eat chicken for Christmas. They latched on, and marketed the concept to the Japanese public, and it was wildly successful. Colonel Sanders has literally stolen Christmas in Japan. Of course, Project Trust told us to immerse ourselves as much as possible, so we may as well take their advice to heart on this one 😉

Then, my new camera came! It’s a Sony Cyber-Shot HX20V or something like that, and it’s fantastic! It has a 20x optical zoom which is incredible, a full-metal body which is really nice to hold, and as a bonus it’s one of the few Sony products still manufactured in Japan (most are manufactured by FoxConn in China, who also make products for Apple and Nintendo among others).

By the time we went out for lunch, the snow was, depending on your interpretation, either wonderfully deep or horribly deep – I’m the prior, and most in Japan seem to be too, but I can practically hear you all through the computer screen saying ‘I’m glad I’m not there!’

The garden outside the Office, post-blizzard. A winter wonderland!

And by the time we’d finished work, it was even deeper. The snow had peaked at about five inches, and that was just one day. This is only the start of the snowy season, too – the worst is still a long way off!

The lakeside at sunset covered in snow 🙂

The road to our house, once again looking like a winter wonderland!

The road out of town 🙂

 

 

As is always the case on Wednesday evenings, we then taught the adult classes. With my advanced class, we worked on intonation, and how it can change the meaning of words and sentences. An example would be ‘That’s wrong’ as opposed to ‘That’s wrong!’. The prior is a very factual, unemotional and even in tone. It would most likely be used to mean ‘that is factually incorrect’. However, when you add the exclamation, it becomes much more passionate, it becomes louder and more emotional – it would most likely be used in the context of something being morally wrong as opposed to factually wrong.

I also learned that the French apparently dip biscuits in coffee instead of tea. Now that IS both objectively and morally wrong!