Summer in Hokkaido (Aug 2010) Part 2

Day 5: Day Visit to Sapporo

The 1st railway line in Otaru. Now just a part of history

It was 7:45am when we had our breakfast at the hotel at Otaru. It was actually just coffee, tea and a piece of bread. That's it and I called it complimentary snacks only. We bought those one day unlimited pass between Sapporo and Otaru. Since today was a city tour, we decided to leave our car behind. It took us about 25mins to walk to the JR Otaru Station and we passed the original rail line that ran through Otaru. 

Past and Present Combined. Electric bulb in kerosene lamp

Could not recall how the train ride was, but it ran along the coastline allowing us to enjoy the gloomy skies with the vast grey ocean. When we reached the Sapporo station, it was an immediate reminder of the crowded back at Shinjuku, Tokyo. The Sapporo station is like an all-in-one place with shops, shopping malls and the station itself all dumped together. Our first stop for the day is the Ishiya Chocolate Factory. It was still raining on that day and we had to brave through some winds and rain to reach the factory.

Factory from the outside

Ishiya Chocolate Factory

Shiroikoibiti ("White Lovers)

Ishiya Chocolate Factory is one of the popular visited tourist attractions. Tourists come here to see the chocolate museum,  purchase the Hokkaido most famous 白色恋人 ,Shiroikoibiti ("White Lovers) biscuit. This is a sandwiched biscuit with white chocolate filings and now it even comes with chocolate flavor. The products were available is all parts of japan especially airports and tourists gift shops. This is also the most sort after souvenir when anyone visit Hokkaido. My advice to tourists. You can get cheaper price at the airport than the factory and don't have to carry them around until you leave Hokkaido. For us, we didn't know that and bought ours at the factory and carry them all the way for the rest of self-drive trip. 

Serious biscuit business

Back to the factory, it is a very big place with museums and a production plant. You can see the staffs running the production line and biscuits are rolling out from the ovens and packing into little packs. At the end of the suggested tour route, we ended up at the chocolate shop. There were hordes of people carrying boxes and boxes of goodies queuing for payment. Guess most of them were buying souvenir gifts for friends back home. The shop also had a demo area where they were making the Tsumugi log cake, how each layer are made and then recoated again to make the next layer. We left the factory shop at 12noon to look for lunch. 

Lunch at shopping mall

 

Could not recall how we ended up in a big shopping mall but we had a real authentic Japanese sushi and they serve us the food not from a conveyor belt. Only problem was that  we have to order in piece of paper that we had to write on. With my basis Japanese class back in school, we scribbled characters for the staff to pass to the sushi masters. The shopping mall has an adjourning beer factory museum and you might have already guess, the famous Sapporo Beer. We did a bit of shopping and after that didn't venture out any further due to the bad weather and decided to take the train back to Otaru.

 

On the train heading back to Otaru

Ferris whel at Otaruchikko

The return journey on the train seemed slower, maybe because we were tired already. Again the train ran close to the coastline and the weather seems to be getting better. Just before we reached Otaru station, we saw a big Ferris wheel with a big shopping mall at the station of Otaruchikko and decided to alight and have a look. That was where we had dinner and we chose a western food at one of the restaurant. The shopping mall was like a big factory outlet but the brands were more local than imported. The mall is close to the sea and the view was calming and relaxing. At 7pm, we went back to the station to catch the train back to Otaru (just one more stop). We managed to catch a nice view of the Ferris wheel with the sun setting sky as the backdrop.

Crossing the road outside JR Otaru Station

Around 8pm we were back at out hotel rooms. Since it was still early, we went for an early night walk along the Otaru canal and the nearby shops again. Once again we discovered more new places. At the canal, there was a live band performance and crowds of people were gathering there.

The little Otaru Museum

Otaru Canal ( There was a live band performance)

Sushi shop still open

Opposite at the cross junction where the small eateries were, it has a hidden small museum that shares the history of the Otaru canal area. The museum is just made up of little rooms of exhibits and a little tower that we climbed to the top to see the cross road junction. The little museum was quite interesting to explore as it has narrow walkway and corners to look around.

Day 6: Leaving Otaru for Kutchan (Niseko)

Just check-out on a sunny day leaving Otaru

At the Mt Kenashi

Today's weather was sunny and warm. and it seemed that the good and bad weather were taking alternate days. After checking out from the hotel, we loaded our bags into the car and drove to the nearby Mt Kenashi (毛無山)viewing point to look at the city of Otaru. The weather was so good that the entire city and the horizon of the ocean could be clearly seen. Mt kenashi (Otaru) stands at 546m and can be reached from Otaru in 30mins. We left the city and took the mountain route 393 to reach the Mt Kenashi viewing platform at 470m. It was quite warm and after taking some pictures of the Otaru city, we left and started our long drive to Niseko. Problem with Otaru is the parking, everywhere you go you need to pay for parking. Seemed like everyone owns the land at Otaru. We took the route 454 that travels to the northern tip of the Otaru city near the Otaru Aquarium. There was a beautiful beach carved out from the rugged rock cliffs and we drove into an empty land close to the beach. Then came an old man asking us to pay for the parking of 500Yen. We just wanted to take a look but had to leave since we find it too costly just to park our car to have a look.The place was meant for beach goers for full day parking. 

Lunch at a highway rest stop. Got a farmers market

 We took the route 393 back to town and took the Yotei Highway route 5 to our next destination of Niseko. Around 1pm we reached the little town of Kutchan and after that we were roaming the narrow roads criss-cross crossing the Niseko area. The GPS directed us onto small roads which we would not know and it was quite relaxing able to drive among the trees and sunflowers that surprised us along the drive. 

Sunflowers near Hirafu station

Niseko Annupri Cable car

We reached the Niseko Annpuri at about 1:30pm, bought a return ticket on the cable car up the mountain. As the cable car climbed higher, we would see the distinct Mt Yotei, a miniature replica of Mt Fuji. The cable car climbed up the Niseko Anupuri mountain slowly with the fields of greens below us. In winter, these green plants will no longer be there, all replaced by the best powder snow in Hokkaido. 

Taking the cable car up

At the 1000m observation deck

The station ended at the 1000m view point with breath-taking view of Mt Yotei and the small towns below us. There was a marked trail to the summit which stands at 1300m. Wanted to hike up to the top but everyone else was wearing sandals except myself. 

Another 200m to the summit.

The chairlifts were not running in summer and visitors were few. We took the cable car back to the car park and drove to the nearby Mt Yotei car park where we would be going to the Half-Moon Lake (半月湖）. It was a small road that runs off the main Yotei Highway route 5. From the car park, it took us about 30mins to walk from the car park to the lake side.

Forest path to the lake

At the water body at Half Moon lake

 It was a nice walked to the lake as the route took us downhill to the lake. Nothing much to see and nothing amazing about the lake. Just that the lake on map looks like half-moon. The car park where we parked our car was also the trail head for hikers to climb Mt Yotei. Again, it was not planned and thus we did not scale this mountain as it would take a day to and fro.

Driving along the mountain road looking for hotel

We started to look for our hotel after we were back from the short walk to the half-moon-lake. Using the instructions that I had from the map, we had a hard time looking for the hotel. My booking for the hotel was in English but then we drove pass a hotel not having an English name and so we continued to drive on route 58 just outside of the Kutchan town. We drove deeper and deeper into the mountain area where the road became narrower. It was the wild plants that closed up on the road. Guess in winter these roads will become part of the ski fields. We made a U-turn back as the distance driven was too far. In the end we headed back to the last hotel we saw and drive in to ask. As we parked at the car park, the picture looks familiar from the internet. Bingo, we got the address right and check-in to our rooms.

Arriving at the Niseko Weiss Hotel

Our rooms have a view of the Mt Yotei and being not peak season, the hotel only has a few groups based on the number of cars parked outside. The hotel is called Niseko Weiss Hotel in English but guess this hotel is not popular with foreigners so there wasn't any English signage back then. The hotel is a good 25mins drive from the Kutchan town centre. There is nothing near the hotel except nature and this is indeed a quiet and nice place to relax.

At the rooftop with Mt Yotei (and shadow of hotel)

We went up to the rooftop to catch an unblock view of Mt Yotei and the greenery around us. Imagine in winter everything will be pure white. This hotel has an Onsen for guest and similar to those traditional Onsen resort where customers come in for meals and baths. We asked about dinner but were told that reservations have to be made for dinner during booking as they did not prepare our meals. The hotel reception was good enough to recommend us some dinner places in town. Well that will be a 20mins drive on the mountain road. Wonder how would those settle their dinner if they don't drive there. Maybe get a taxi to pick and drop them off.

Dinner at this restaurant at Kutchan

Inside the restaurant

We drove to the town of Kutchan and got ourselves dinner at one of the local restaurant which was already open for business. After dinner we drove back to our hotel for the night rest.

Day 7: Leaving Kutchan for Lake Toya

Sunrise view of Mt Yotei from our room

I was awaken by the bright lights of the morning at 5am. It was as if it was 8am in the morning. The way Mt Yotei and the morning rays of the sun painted its surrounding make it a nice morning photograph. Again my thoughts of scaling Mt Yotei in the morning. Problem with pre-planned itinery is that you cannot change plans without having to seeking other accommodations. In a country where language is a problem for us, better to remain on track on what was planned. 

Breakfast at the hotel, included

Breakfast at the hotel was provided and it was the best hotel breakfast we had for the entire trip. It was free flow of food and everything taste yummy. With the juices and deserts, it made the hotel stay ended with sweetness. 

Yakult Distribution shop

We left the hotel at 8:30am and drove into town to fuel up our car. We came across a yakult distribution centre where a few elderly ladies were packing Yakult for delivery to the nearby homes. We bought ourselves a few trays and off we continue to Niseko Town. Allow the way, the we revisit the Hirafu station.

Hirafu Station

Something special about this station that captured us. It was a very small unmanned station just beside the railway train. The station has only a small room for the station staff which was not around and a waiting area. Standing at the station seemed to bring us back in time where modern technology was not available. This Hirafu station is located between the Kutchan and Niseko Station. The road to the station was like a dirt road big enough for just one car. Sunflowers decorated the road in and out of the station. From here we took the small road that led us to the Niseko Ski town.

At the Niseko Town open carpark

In summer, it was quiet and the big open space car park was big enough for hundreds of car was left with just tens only. There was a hot spring foot spa but the signboard says it will only be turned on around 12noon. There were sign posts along the main street of Niseko warning skiers not to ski down the road. Guess that only happens in winter. The town has a clear view of Mt Yotei when the weather is good. As for us, today was the beginning of again bad weather. 

Local produce at farmers market

We left the town of Niseko at 10am and proceeded to our next destination of Lake Toya. Along the way we stopped by a local rest stop where farmers pool their goods to sell at the highway rest stop. There were food stalls and a supermarket selling local farm produce.

Lake Toya (southern part)

Lotsa sculpture around Lake Toya

A rock or look like an Egg

 

At around 1pm, we reached Lake Toya (洞爺湖 ,Toyaku),  after keying wrongly on the GPS and we headed up at the Toya Town facing the open sea (Uchiura Bay). lake Toya is actually a volcanic caldera lake as part of the Shikotsu-Toya National park. The lake stretches across 10km with an island in the middle of the lake called  Nakanoshmia. There is an active volcano by the name of Mt Usu which still gives off white smoke with the last eruption back in year 2000. The lake was said to be ice-free meaning it never freezes.

Our accommodation for the night was at the Grand Hotel Toya. One of the cheaper and older hotels unlike the expensive ones further down the road. As it was still early to check-in we parked the car and walked along the park near the hotel area around the southern part of the lake. 

Public Free Foot spa

There was a foot spa and after missing the one at Niseko, we quickly took off our shoes and socks and soaked our feet into the warm water. 

Lake Toya Volcano Science Museum

There is the 2nd floor of the building. The rest is below ground.

We visited the Volcano Science Museum housed together with the Toyaku Visitor centre. From there we walked over to the Konpira Crater Hazard Area. This is one of the attractions that gave some sadness. This park was the remains of the building structures left behind after the Mt Usu eruption back in March 2000. Remnants of buildings filled with mudslides and abrasions to the walls of the buildings showing how high the mudslides reached and the power of the nature moving the grounds. After touring the hazard area, we drove our car round the entire Lake toya. Halfway through we went to visit a waterfall at the north-eastern part of the lake. It was just a 20mins slow walk on metal structures to the source of the waterfall.

Cool forest walk to the waterfall

At the waterfall

Big Sunflower at the car park to the waterfall

It was quite an enjoyable afternoon walk with the cool fresh air from the river and forest. After the visit to the waterfall, we headed down to the Mt Usu park. The place was filled with tourists and parking is not free. Just besides the row of shops and the car park was a little hill outcrop that was sending white smokes into the air, indicating is well and alive. From there you can take the Usuzan Ropeway to reach the top of the mountain to visit the Toyaku Observation deck which overlooks Lake Toya and the Usuzan Crater Observation Deck that allows visitors to see the live Mt Usu crater that erupted back in 1977. It was already evening time and we weren't in quite of a mood to pay 1450yen to go up. Shops were already starting to close and that reminded us to get back to the Onsen town for our dinner before everything closes. 

Tea before the meals were served

 

We had our dinner at one of the restaurant and the staff gave us a table by the windows looking out to the lake. It was a meal of cold soba and some fried tempura again. Every night in summer Lake Toya will have a short fireworks session on the lake itself. After dinner, tourists will gather around the park waiting for the fireworks to start. The fireworks was fired from speed boats running across the lake. At night when it was pitch black, it was real hard to catch where the boats were from their dim warning lights.

Fireworks which started at 8pm daily during summer

 

Day 8: Leaving Lake Toya and heading back to Chitose.

We checked out of our hotel at 8am and today were a continuation of our visit to another Lake Toya attractions, the Nishiyama Crater Promenade. The park allows visitors to come close to the crater that was created in Mar 2000 eruption. It was just a few minutes’ drive from the town. The car park was some distance from the park and we started walking to park, bypass areas that were destroyed by the eruptions back then. Admission to the park is free, and there are boardwalks that guide your route to tour the entire park. 

Asphalt road that was "washed" away

Buildings served as a reminder

Used to be a road leading up to a hill (hill is gone)

The Nishiyama Crater was created by the Mt Usu eruption in March 2000. Asphalt roads were destroyed and twisted houses can be seen at this park. Looking closely at the side of the boardwalk, we could see white smoke coming out from the ground beside us. There was little vegetation as the ground maybe too warm for plants to survive. 

Noboribetsu Hell Valley

Our next stop before heading back to Chitose will be the Noboribetsu Hell Valley, also known as Jigokudani. We left Lake toya area around 9am and reached Noboribetsu around 10:30am. It was a short drive and the GPS route us to use the high mountain road (route 2) and we climb a few hundred meters into the mountains. 

Path leading to the spouting pool

  

Walking down to Hell Valley

The geyser well at the hell valley

When we reached the entrance of the hell valley, the smell of surplus filled the air. We followed the boardwalk and walked into the valley of the sulphur fumes and boiling steam water. Right at the end of the boardwalk is a gushing steam pool, the water will boils and spurts after certain time interval. people gathered around and wait for the steam to rise and fall. 

Another geyser well at the Onsen Village

Statues found the Noboribetsu Onsen Village

After the visit to the hell valley, we walked around the touristy Onsen village. There is this steam gushing (geyser) well that is located below a tunnel-like structure with a road running over it. We managed to catch the right timing when it spewed steam and water over a meter high from the well.

Oyunuma Pond

Smaller Pond

No entry sign unless you want to be cooked

 We follow the road and drove to the Oyunuma Pond (大湯沼). The pond is a sulphurous pond said to have a temperature of 50 degree Celsius. The water from this pond follows into the Oyunumagawa river which cut through the forested area. There is a smaller pond which has water flowing out via a drain to join the bigger pool. We left out car at the Oyunuma Pond car park and walked up a steep road to go to the natural foot spa. 

This way to the natural foot spa stream

Soak-it away

This foot spa is actually the run offs from the pond that cuts through the forest. We found a nice spot and sat by the huge log to soak our feet. It was not a short or long walk to the foot spa area, just follow the walking platform and you will reach the part of the stream that is not deep and safe for everyone to enjoy the spa. 

Around 1pm, we headed back to our car and started the long drive back to Chitose for our next day morning flight back to Tokyo. We did not take the expressway back to Chitose, but instead chose the scenic route 350 that runs along the Lake Kuttara. This route is a narrow road which at time we had to slow down to allow cars from the opposite direction to pass. We caught glimpse of the lake when the vegetation breaks away, but other than that we were mostly surrounded by tall trees. This route may be closed in winter so planned ahead if you intend to take this route.   

Route 350 cafe when we had lunch

When we were near the lake, there was a cafe which called itself Route 350 cafe and it was written in English. Knowing they have English menu, so we just stopped by the roadside and went into the cafe for lunch. This was quite a special cafe. It served more for people who were there to enjoy the lake. The owner runs the cafe and the water activities by the lake. There were boats and even a jet boat that maybe take tourist for spins on the lake. The interior of the cafe was special too, with walls decorated with handmade basket weave, car plates of US route 66. We ordered some pasta with seaweed and it tasted great. 

Lake Kuttara

Inside the cafe.

After lunch we took some time to chit chat and relax while looking out to the lake.  Then it was on the road again and we drove all the way non-stop to Chitose. At 4:30pm, we reached the Rera factory outlet at Chitose and this being the only factory outlet we could visit for this trip. It was quite a big place with many shops. 

Rera Factory Outlet at Chitose

BestrRamen I have ever tasted.

 

Nothing memorable as it was the same as any other premium factory outlet. But during dinner we walked into this ramen place which as a few ramen shops all setup along the same corridor. This is the same as the Asahikawa Ramen village. Again the choosing began and we chose one in the end. The ramen was the best I ever tasted, much better than the ones at Asahikawa. Till today that is still the best ramen I ever tasted. We left the Rera factory outlet around 7pm, fuelled up the car for next day return at the airport. We checked into the Chitose hotel and called it a day for us.

Window view out of the Route Inn Hotel at Chitose

 

Day 9: Leaving Hokkaido and Back in Tokyo

Back at Chitose Airport

Today we bid farewell to Hokkaido. We had our morning breakfast at the hotel earlier than opening hours, collected our car and drove straight to the airport. We did our airline check-in first before driving off again to drop the car back at the collection centre. Full payment was made to the toll-gate card and inspection of the car during return. We quickly hopped onto their shuttle bus to ferry us back to the airport. At 1:30pm, we were back in Tokyo, this time accommodation was at somewhere near Ueno so that we  could catch the next morning Skyliner train back to Narita International Airport.

Having sushi at Ueno

We knew of this old sushi place at Ueno, located just beneath the train tracks and went there for lunch. That was our 2nd visit there, the first dating back to 2008 when we first scaled Mt Fuji back then. Weather back at Tokyo was much warmer and for that day, there weren't any clouds in the sky to block the UVs. After some walking under the hot sun, we strayed into a shopping mall and enjoyed ourselves over ice cool red bean ice flakes. 

Green tea flavored, red beans and mochi

Crowded Shibuya

One of the shopping streets at Shibuya

After so many trips to Tokyo, we did not visit the busy Shibuya. So after the cold dessert, we jumped onto the metro and ended up at Shibuya. It was really busy with crowds of people roaming the streets and filling up the shops. This narrow boutique shops reminded of XiMengDing at Taipei. After walking around, we hopped back onto the metro again to go Ginza just to kill evening time. Less crowded than Shibuya as Ginza caters to more of the wealthy customers. It was a short walk around at Ginza before we went back to our hotel to do our last packing for the trip. 

Crater of Mt Fuji

The next day, we took the Skyliner train from Ueno station that goes direct to the airport.  Our flight was a Cathay flight that needs to transit at Hong Kong. While we just departed from Narita, we caught sight of Mt Fuji from the top. Use a videocam to zoom in and took a short. Could see the crater and the hiking path. Maybe it was the deprivation from Chinese food, once we landed in Hong Kong; we went for Tim Sum for lunch before our next flight back to Singapore.