Faraway mountains with faraway friends

In this one we're really in for a treat. We're headed for Japan's northernmost island, Hokkaido, and the story is this: Alex' parents have a friend from way way back, Kazimierz Kogut, who has lived in Japan for the last 28 years running an English school in the town of Kushiro on Hokkaido, with his Japanese wife Nobue. Alex' parents haven't met him for 30 years or so, but got in contact before we went to Japan, and Kazik and Nobue invited us to come and visit them. They made big plans for us to see the spectacular national parks of eastern Hokkaido, Kushiro Wetlands National Park and Akan National Park, both of which Kushiro is conviently close by. We took a 16-hour sleeper train from Tokyo to Sapporo (Hokkaido) Wednesday evening, and after a brief layover in Sapporo continued by train through the beautiful, wild, mountainous and sunny Hokkaido countryside. With the chilly wind from Siberia, the wide open spaces, the snowy mountains and the small farms in the valleys, Hokkaido doesn't feel all that different from Scandinavia!

The Koguts have designated half of their house to the English school.

Kushiro River, where fishermen line up, runs just one minute from the house.

Needless to say, Nobue and Kazik were fantastic hosts. From the smiling, jumping welcome at the train station, to the delicious oden supper, to the evening onsen trip, to the late-night beers and funny stories, our first day in Kushiro was thoroughly delightful. But the real fun started the next morning, when we set out for a long day of sightseeing in the national parks. Following Nobue's uncle, who knew the mountain roads like the palm of his hand, we got all the best eastern Hokkaido had to offer. The first stop was an observatory overlooking Kushiro Wetlands, an important ecosystem for wildlife and birds, especially the very endangered Japanese cranes. Although the winter had only just released its icy grip and the expansive marshes looked rather brown and lifeless, the very informative and interesting displays in the observatory told us all about the many organisms living there, and I felt the passionate biologist in me reawaken!

Alex and Kazik learning a bit of wetland ecology 101.

Whoever says Japan is crowded hasn't been to Hokkaido.

Next we drove to the beautiful Akan mountains, and made a stop at Lake Mashu. Our guidebook (which Kazik didn't have much faith in!) said it was considered the most beautiful lake in Japan, and although Kazik kept apologizing for the weather and was sure that we didn't like it since it wasn't sunny, the truth was that we were both totally fascinated by the amazing landscape. The lake is in a deep volcanic crater (caldera), with steep hills on all sides. The six-hour hike around it looks amazing and is one I'd love to do! The place reminded me of something from Westeros north of the Wall.

Look at how the weather is playing with the light!

The tiny island is the volcano summit, and the Ainu call it
"the old woman that became a god". How Game of Thrones can you get?

Just a short drive on came the next highlight: The volcanic mountain of Iozan. We were immediately met by the sulphurous smell of rotten eggs that we'd grown to know, and a cloud of steam pouring out from a hillside. As we got closer we could see the thermal spouts, pools of boiling water, all surrounded by a yellow layer of sulphur-loving bacteria. Fascinating!

Nature! Stop being so amazing!

The mountain's leaking.

Then we drove to Lake Kussharo, the largest lake in Akan, famous for its Kussharo sea monster, geothermal shore which keeps a strip of water ice-free, and where you can dig down in the beach sand with your hands to get to warm water. 'Twas a fun place.

The birds enjoyed the ice-free water by the heated shore.

Alex enjoyed the foot bath on the heated shore. In the background is the sea monster.

Digging down in the hot sand was a neat feeling.

After all these sights and a nice soba lunch, they dropped us off near Akan International Crane Center at a hotel, where they had reserved us a room. We enjoyed an evening hike, a fine dinner and the hotel's own onsen, and visited the crane center the next morning. One of Kazik's students, Miyuki, works there as an English interpreter, and she gave us a private tour of the exhibitions and open-air crane cages. It was extremely interesting, as it is basically a textbook example of successful conservation biology. The cranes were thought completely extinct in the 1950s as noone had seen them in 20 years, until a farmer discovered a few of them on his field. He began feeding them, and today the crane center lies on the very same field, continuing the feeding program and taking care of injured cranes. There are now over 1500 of these beautiful and fascinating birds.

Waiting for lunch, Japanese style. Nobue's uncle is joining us.

150-160 cm. tall, the Japanese cranes are among the largest crane species.

The trend is definitely going the right way.

Miyuki sent us on the bus to Akan town, where Kazik and Nobue would come to pick us up that afternoon. We spent the day there hiking around in the beautiful weather at the foot of the majestic mount O-Akan. We saw bubbling mud pools (geothermal activity is so cool), a cute little marten (mår), amazing blue-sky views of the mountains, and went for a long off-road hike crashing our way through the woods and the half-rotten snow. A great and not so un-Norwegian way to spend Easter Saturday! We also had lunch in the Ainu village (Ainu is the indigenous people of Hokkaido) where we found a restaurant serving delicious venison Ainu dishes and playing Todd Terje, our brand new favorite music from Norway, on the stereo, which was a pretty cool surprise.

It was one of those days.

Not an entirely un-Norwegian day to spend Easter!

The Ainu kotan (village) was woodcarvingly touristy, but quite nice.

Boiling mud pools - check. A novelty to me!

Lake Akan is famous for its marimo, green algae balls. The Japanese find them very
kawai (cute) and advertise them alongside other badly photoshopped attractions.

Driving back to Kushiro we had amazing sunset views of the mountains Me-Akan and O-Akan out the back window. Back at home, Kazik and Nobue first sent us for a mandatory onsen soak, to get all the intolerable stress and fatigue out of our bodies, before taking us out for a wonderful kaitenzushi (sushi-go-round) restaurant. Again we could grab whatever we desired, and the little score-keeping plates were soon stacked high. Needless to say it was incredible, soon rivaling Akio's treat in deliciousness. Some favorites from this more northern-style selection were sakhalin (a Hokkaido freshwater fish - related to salmon but with smooth, white meat), sea urchin and whale meat sushi, and the fantastic day was again finished with more beers and good stories.

Our last day in Kushiro was Easter Sunday, and we all went to Kushiro's catholic church for mass and an Easter party afterwards. Kazik also took us to a shinto shrine where we visited a little museum and joined a monk who showed us all their different ceremonies. Shinto is, alongside Buddhism, the main religion in Japan. Our day of departure was wintery sunny and clear, like most of our days on Hokkaido. Before our train left I took a beautiful run along the Kushiro river. I zoomed along up to Kushiro Wetlands, where there were nice views and inquisitive Sika deer, but struggled back down in the fierce headwinds, reminiscent of crossing a lake on skis. Back at the house after a shower, coffee and cake, the Koguts filled our arms with snacks for the train rides and our backpacks to the brim with gifts. What a stay, what hosts! An enormous thanks to Kazimierz and Nobue for giving us a great Hokkaido adventure, we are so grateful.

I honestly had no idea Easter eggs were an actual thing!

Alex and Kazik being guided around Kushiro's largest shinto shrine.

We made several long farewells on the train platform!

Kazik and Nobue bought train tickets just to come on the platform with us.

We spent the night in Sapporo, and continued the next day to Hakodate, through the underwater tunnel to Aomori which connects Hokkaido and Honshu, and on to Tokyo by shinkansen from Aomori. It was a long trip, but the night in Sapporo and a nice lunch break and a bit of walking around in Aomori broke up the train rides nicely. We left behind the nice weather on Hokkaido, but now we're for a few last days in Tokyo.

Back to big city life

Having left the great outdoors of Shikoku behind, our bullet-train rolled into Shin-Osaka station on Sunday 13th of april in the afternoon. This modern metropolis was quite the contrast from the distant lands of Iya Valley we'd left only hours earlier. Osaka had been described to us by other travelers as quite an uninteresting city and, though not fully believing it, we didn't have soaring expectations - surely, no Japanese city could compare to Tokyo's splendor. The city, as we would soon learn, resembled Tokyo only at first glance. The ever-present, tantalizing neon lights, and busy streets with people of all shapes and fashions, quickly gave way to other realizations.

Plenty of lovely food to be had here - enjoying some tomato
 sauce-covered okonomiyaki

Not an uncommon sight in Dontombori - doing the tennis dance for
a commercial of some sorts.

First and foremost, Osaka is all about food! "Why, isn't Tokyo all about food as well?" you might ask in confusion. Well, let me tell you - Minami, the main entertainment district, literally has at least one restaurant in every building. Either while walking down the streets of the Americanized Ame-mura (with its own miniature statue of liberty), or while going people-watching on the crowded Dontombori you are sure to find a delightful meal at a reasonable price. A party for your palate - cheap sushi, okonomiyaki-pancakes in tomato sauce, set meals straight from the grill, even succulent yakitori-skewers to go with your beer - your stomach will be full long before your eyes end their feast.

You can even make your own food replica here! Taking a shot at sampuru (sample). 

Delicious squidballs? Nope, they're made of wax!

Osaka is generally a lot cheaper than Tokyo,  and we quickly found a capsule-hotel (no more manga kissas for now), all complete with its own hot spring spa, or onsen, in the basement. Japan is situated in a volcanic zone on the Pacific Ring of Fire. As a result, the country is littered with thermal hot springs, and bathing in them is probably the favourite pastime activity of the Japanese. When we first came, we didn't quite understand what all the fuss was about, but we have really been caught in the onsen's whirlpool, and find ourselves visiting it ever so often - it's really got out of control. Also, a cold draft beer never tastes as good as after a bath in this hot-water heroin.

A no-show lunch date with a hungover Japanese we'd met earlier ("very so so sorry, i slept too much"), led us to a thrifty district, quite different from the busy Minami and Umeda. We explored second hand stores and artsy cafés hidden in quiet alleys, but it was soon time to leave for Tokyo - we had unfinished business to attend to.

Plenty of alternative fashion and pop-culture to be had,
 like the winding alleyways with thrift shops... 

...and vintage rock and punk record shops.

Tokyo part II would prove to be quite different from part I. While heading to Ueno park I heard someone shout "Alex". Behind me stood a typical "salaryman" in a black business suit, and as he removed his sanitary mask, I saw a familiar face beaming back at me. It was Akio, our Japanese friend, who had crossed the Nepali border with us, and accompanied us in Pokhara! A coincidence? Don't be silly. We had contacted Akio beforehand, and he offered to let us stay at his apartment near Ueno park. This we did, and we got a great show of Japanese hospitality. We have been told that it is quite rare for a Japanese person to invite you to stay with them, but if they do, you're in for a treat! Akio shared his one-room flat with us, showed us everyday life at the local bars and public baths, and we even joined for a cliché Japanese morning exercise session in Ueno park. Sure to say, our perspective of Tokyo shifted drastically. Suddenly, we were no longer spectators, but participants in everyday life, and we are so grateful for this opportunity, and the unending hospitality Akio showed us the two nights we stayed there.

Our Japanese friend even treated us to a sushi-go-round dinner,
and let me tell you, it was a feast!

Of course, we hadn't completely become residents of Tokyo. Like many Tokyans, Akio had a long work day, and in daytime we explored more of this captivating city, adding a few districts to our ever-expanding list. Ginza gave us the imperial palace, at least the gardens with old ruins - all that's left open for visitors. Harajuku, Tokyo's fashion district, ranged from Gucci and Dior to second hand stores, extravagant art galleries filled with girls in "Lolita" outfits and other alternative eye-catchers. 

Not sure if palace guard or Japanese tour group. It was a regiment of them!

Harajuku's Takeshita-dori was packed with japanese alt-culture and,
of course, tourists seeing what all the fuzz is about.

Stray a little from Harajuku's main road and find cool art galleries like this one.

A scenic monorail-trip took us to Tokyo Bay, complete with beach promenades, skywalks, theme parks (even an onsen-themed one), and the obligatory ferris wheel. You wouldn't believe you were only a short distance from a hectic city - truly a district made for leisure.

I mean, who would have thought they have beaches in Tokyo?
No, wait, they have everything in Tokyo. 

Also, they really have a thing for big statutes here. Like this huge Gundam
replica outside DiverCity (don't ask, it's a shopping mall)

On our last day in Tokyo, we visited Yasukuni-jinja. Now, we have put a lot of thought into trying to understand this place. The jinja itself is a shrine honoring the spirits of all the soldiers fallen in Japan's various modern wars. Here's what we can't grasp, though: over 1600 class A, B and C war criminals are enshrined and honored here. Many government officials even pay official visits to the shrine.  Next to the shrine is Yushukan museum - a confusing effort of honoring dead soldiers, and making excuses (not apologies) for past war atrocities, with some Japanese history in between. How a modern, civilized, and peaceful country like Japan can deny and excuse its terrible history with nationalist propaganda like that is really unfathomable, and has left a big stain on my otherwise great impression of this strange country.

Ouside Yasukuni-jinja - a place subject to much international "controversy"
(nothing controversial about it, really - I'm sorry, it's just plain wrong.)

Is really an exhibition of WWII weapons and boasting about glorious
 battles the best way to honor the fallen soldiers?

To finish off - one of the main reasons we came back to Tokyo. One place caught our attention as a place we didn't want to leave Japan without, but it was fully booked two weeks in advance! As we finally made it to the Ghibli museum we could see why. For the uninitiated, Ghibli is the animation studio behind magical movies such as My Neighbour Totoro and Spirited Away. We are both fans of Hayao Miazaki, the brains behind the movie studio, and felt perfectly at home in the mysterious house. With no set route to follow and many rooms to explore and get lost in, we did just that. Hours were spent marveling the fascinating exhibitions, containing artwork and creative displays with themes from the movies. We had a wonderful experience, but time had come to leave Tokyo once more. Our next destination would be the far north, the barren island of Hokkaido!

Outside Ghibli museum - the overgrown house gives you
that mysterious tingle from the very start!

Aand obligatory pose in front of the giant from Laputa,
I told you they have a thing for big statues!

Queer lodgings

It's been a week since we've last spoken, and it's been a packed full week for our part! Our Japanese adventures have really been flying by, and I could have sworn it's a month since we were in Hiroshima. There's a lot to bring you up to date on, so I'll get started.

Next on our "Exploring Japan" agenda was island-hopping by bicycle on the famous cycling route Shimanami-Kaido. It goes over a series of bridges which ultimately connect the main island of Honshu with the lesser island Shikoku to the south. The many small islands dotting the Inland Sea in proper skjærgård-style (see below) are rural and picturesque, and the route between the cities Onomichi on Honshu and Imabari on Shikoku has been well prepared for cyclists and grown very popular lately. We figured this was a great way to escape from the cities and see some of Japan's less developed countryside, so we took the train from Hiroshima to Onomichi last Thursday, dropped off our luggage and rented bicycles easily in Onomichi, and set off for the first in the chain of islands.

What a fitting name for our bikes... ref. the last book I've been reading.

Nothing passes time like kilometer markers!

The islands were lovely, the weather was great despite the headwind, the bike trails were well marked and prepared. Before every bridge the trail made a big detour in order to get the slope up nice and smooth and never steeper than 3 % incline. We made many detours from the "recommended" 75 km route, up several of the places where the map warned about "steep hills - you can do it!", to get temples, cherry blossoms, spectacular views and fun descents. We stopped half way and spent the night in a forlorn private guest house, owned by an elderly couple, with whom we were the only guests. Equipped and decorated in the mid-eighties, drafty and unheated, currently undergoing out-of-season maintenance, the place felt stuck in time and oddly surreal. But the sneezing grandmother brought us lovely supper trays, and they kept the onsen on an extra half hour for us, so we were plenty happy. We'd carried a DVD with us for a while and wanted to test it in the DVD-player we thought we saw in the living room, but when it turned out to be a VHS-player, we decided to call it an early night and piled our blankets high.

It's fun when straying from the main route is so rewarding!

After all these temples... A couple more won't hurt.

Nice to get some variation from the flat coastline.

The islands were full of orange and lemon groves.

That little speck, that's Alex enjoying the sunset out on the end there.

In Imabari we retrieved our bags, returned our bikes, and had a quick izakaya meal before catching the train to the castle town of Matsuyama in the evening.. The famous castle dominates the city from the top of a large hill downtown, but we made our way to Matsuyama Youth Hostel in the Dogo area just outside town. Japan's oldest onsen, Dogo Onsen, attracts loads of tourists, and the neighborhood had a lively, touristy holiday feel to it. Still, our four-floor hostel was totally empty. With a fire in the fireplace and all the heaters cranked on max, the atmosphere was a very different one from the night before. The cat laid in front of the heater and the grandfather of the house laid on the sofa by the fireplace all day, but the grandmother prepared a feast of a breakfast buffet for us the next morning.

The climb up Catsuyama ("Castle mountain") was just too strenous!

Built in 1600 but burned down after a lightning storm, the current
main keep is from 1820 in late Edo-style.

The grounds were already stately and royal - can't wait to go inside!

The venerable Dogo Onsen, complete with steam-art.

We had a great day in Matsuyama, enjoying both the onsen, the magnificent castle and the charming city, despite the drizzle.

In the evening we continued to Iya valley, a really remote part of Shikoku deep in the mountains, where we had booked a rafting trip! Yeah, our adventure sports horizons are further broadening! At the desolate train station (think Norway's... Audnedal, or something) we were picked up by a charmingly Australian-accented HappyRafter, who drove us way way up the mountain side on narrow, winding roads to an isolated hut. With no food since Matsuyama, we managed to buy a couple cups of dried noodles from our host before bed. The place had a proper mountain "hytte"-feeling, and we couldn't wait for the morning and the promised spectacular view from the urinals!

The cherry blossoms aren't quite finished yet high in the mountains.

The next day was rainy and cold, but with all our warmest clothes on we enjoyed a tranquil morning before getting picked up for the rafting. After a delicious udon noodle lunch at the bottom of the mountain, we met our guide Mark at HappyRaft's riverside headquarters. It wasn't super enticing to get out of our layers of clothes and into the rain - or the icy river! - even with wet suits. But as soon as we were on the water we were beyond worrying. What a wonderful sport! The action-filled whitewater rapids, interspersed with peaceful stretches of paddling down the beautiful river canyon, was a fantastic combination. Alex and I were the only costumers of the day, so we got to ride in a tiny three-person with Mark - offering much more action than we normally would get on the low-season river (in late summer it would get up to five meters higher). We got to play around lots, capsize in whirlpools and jump off rocks. It was great fun! Here's a selection of the pictures and video (later) they sold us.

Fast-paced action...

... and slow-paced serenity...

...and all the fun we wanted to have in between!

It was in fact a very elegant somersault!

With a scenic train ride to Osaka on Honshu that evening, seeing everything we passed in the dark the night before, our Shikoku journey was concluded. A special island with a different feel to it than "mainland" Japan, Shikoku was a great little loop on our trip!