My destination was Nakashibetsu, a small town near the Kuril Islands in northeast Hokkaido, where my friend Miho's parents live. We got there on Christmas eve and I thought of attending mass. (I only go to church for the Christmas eve mass, a practice which began in order to please my parents when they were alive.) The little Catholic church in town was almost full for the service and there was a spirit of camaraderie (in a town filled with Buddhists, Shintoists, and atheists) that added warmth to the service. I heard all the familiar Christmas carols and hymns sung in Japanese. We lingered after the service and were surprised to discover that the Filipino population had penetrated this far north in Japan. There were two females and they told us that more of their countrymen were working as "trainees" in the surrounding farms. Miho said they were probably working for slave wages in jobs that few Japanese would accept.
Although our flight had been delayed the previous day due to a snowstorm, the local council had swung in to action and the snow had already been shoved to either side of streets. The temperature never fell below minus 10 degrees during my visit, and the sky mostly remained blue.
We drove us to Kaiyodai, a nearby scenic spots which in summer, attracts hundreds of cyclists and motorcyclists who roam Japan. The spot offers panoramic views of the countryside. There is a farm nearby and a short, interesting trail, and the Kuril Islands can be seen at a distance. On this winter day, we only saw two other visitors and a lonely fox who strolled through the snow. As on previous visits, I rang the bell a number of times to signal my return.
This tiny sushi bar, with its glowing sign, was cosy on a winter night. The husband and wife team served up the most authentic sushi and sashimi. The ingredients were fresh because the ocean was not far away.
I am always pleased to see the attendants at service stations. They are cheerful and polite and serve with a smile. I have been going to the petrol station in Sai Kung for more than 10 years and am never recognized and there is hardly a "Thank You" or a smile.
We went to a nearby coastal town of Teurito to watch geese and I saw this sculpture, a plea for the return of the Kuril Islands from Russia. Russia captured the islands at the end of World War II and has held on to them. Billboards have been erected all over this area asking for the islands to be returned, but this was the first time I saw a sculpture.
I am afraid japan missed the boat. The return may have been a possibility during President Yeltsin's time, when Russia was down in the dumps. A few million $ in Yeltsin's bank account and the islands would have been returned.
The geese migrate from Siberia. They have a wing span of 5 feet, are beautiful at a distance but their pecks can be painful. When we fed them, the smaller ducks gave a good fight to the geese.
Every morning, I took a walk around town. Nakashibetsu is not a busy place and it was even quieter in winter. The other pedestrians were old ladies, who didn't drive. The shopkeepers cleared the sidewalk opposite their shops, so walking wasn't dangerous.
Shopping appeared to be the main activity in winter. The parking lots near supermarkets were always full and many drivers kept the engines running for as long as 20 minutes or more (to keep the cars warm) while they shopped. I know the Japanese to be environmentally friendly, so this practice disappointed me. Another unpleasant experience was seeing dogs kept on long leashes outside homes in the freezing cold. Nakashibetsu has hardly any crime, so there was no excuse for "guard" dogs and for this abuse. I once saw a Corgi tied in this manner. Corgis are certainly not guard dogs.
Snow crabs for sale. They are huge, delicious, and expensive. I was told that cheaper crabs are now brought from Siberia.
A view of the garden during a snowfall. The house does not have central heating and the gas fire was always too hot for me.
Knowing that I would be spending much time indoors, I took along David Halberstam's monumental tome (all of 719 pages) The Coldest Winter, an account of the Korean War. I read slowly and managed to get through only half the book in three weeks.
On New Year's Day, we visited the town's small Shinto Shrine. The streets were deserted and not many people were at the shrine, either.
The family at the New Year meal. Thankfully, we sat on chairs. seafood was the main item on the menu and there was no waste.
On New Year's eve, I watched an all night musical show on TV. My favorite act was by the "Funky Monkey Babies", an admirable name for the three musicians, I thought.
I finally got to see the famous Japanese cranes, called Tancho locally. The Tancho is a graceful bird, about five feet in height, a wingspan of six feet and weighing only about 12 kilograms. About a hundred years ago, they were thought to be extinct, but a flock of 20 birds were found in 1924. Their habitat was soon declared a national monument and the local people began to feed them during the harsh winters, although they themselves had little to eat during those difficult times. The Tancho has made a comeback and about 600 birds were counted recently. They are nonmigratory and are the pride of Hokkaido if not all of Japan.
Their takeoffs and landings are a treat to watch.
We visited the Akan National Park, about which I have blogged before. The previous visits to the park, which covers about 100,000 hectares, had been in summer. The Park is covered with virgin coniferous forest, especially Sakhalin Spruce and White Firs, and abounds with deer and foxes, which I have seen, and bears, which I have not. Volcanoes, hot springs, and deep, clear water lakes abound. The Park is one of the most beautiful places I have seen.
"The woods are lovely, dark and deep ..."
We stayed the night in a bed & breakfast on the shores of Lake Kussharo, which is a crater lake with a circumference of 57 km within the Akan National Park. It is also Hokkaido's largest fresh water lake. The place was run by a couple from Osaka and made the best use of the surrounding hot springs. It had an enclosed hot spring bath as well as an outdoor bath and the entire building was heated by hot spring water.
We were treated to a 6-course dinner, which came as a surprise. Used to light suppers, I had an uncomfortable night. As we were having dinner, a fox appeared outside our window, looking for mice. At breakfast, a number of fat squirrels and birds also went on feeding within sight.
As we drove towards Teshikaga town, we stopped to feed some geese. Soon, a whole flotilla of geese surrounded us, screeching and darting around for the bread that was thrown at them.
We stopped at the Eco-Museum Center in Teshikaga, hired snow shoes, and trudged up the mountain. We were the only hikers. In the biting cold, the exhilarating experience warmed us up.
These snow barriers can be seen all over Hokkaido. They prevent snow from nearby fields from being blown on to the road.
On the way back to Hong Kong, we stayed overnight at Odaiba. Walking around the next morning, I came across this long list of "do not" in the nearby marine park, which reminded me of similar lists near ong Kong beaches and in country parks.
A clear Tokyo sky. Not a fleck of snow in sight.
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