Land of Squid, Shrines, and Tunnels Hokkaido

[NOAL]

    I can't pinpoint the exact moment when I came up with the notion, or what exactly sparked the idea to take a small bike tour of Hokkaido Japan.  Most likely I saw something on a website I found called Hokkaido Wilds.https://hokkaidowilds.org/  However it happened Hokkaido seemed like a great place for a first bike packing adventure for a number of reasons.  Camping is easy.  It is acceptable to camp in public parks, beside shrines, or even schools.  If you do find a campground there will be very few campers, they usually cost under $10 , have showers, and sometimes laundry!  There is also little to no crime in Japan so no need to worry about having your bike stolen. 

   Sounded like a great idea when I first started thinking about it a couple of years ago at the beginning of the pandemic.  The problem was the pandemic.  Japan remained totally closed to outsiders until this past April.  Around June I made the decision to start preparing for the trip.  I found a flight from SFO to Sapporo with a connecting flight and four hour layover in Taipei on China Airlines. it was a good deal around $1150 so I pulled the trigger. 

To prepare for the trip I started riding the bicycle everyday with the packs on.  As I started to get into better shape I added more water, camping equipment, etc.  Here's what the bike looks like with packs on.




i also had to pack the bike for transport on the airplane. A week or so before the trip I got an empty bike box from a local bike shop, partly disassembled the bike, packed it up and it was ready to go.

Here's the bike in the box after I picked it up from oversized baggage in SFO when I got back.  It's kind of a weird feeling putting your bike in a cardboard box knowing thatTSA is going to most likely unpack and repack it but it turned out to be O.K. and I felt more comfortable with it by the end of the trip.



I chose my route for this trip based on the weather forecast (some days with rain and thunderstorms) and that the leaves had not started to change yet.  I would be riding from New Chitose airport down the Southern Peninsula of Hokkaido to the city of Hakkodate and then returning to the airport by three hour train ride.  The total mileage in riding was about 360 miles which broke down to 50 or so miles a day.  50 miles a day for bike trip is good because it allows for time to site see, take photos, and get to a town or campground before dark.

[Brad Young]

To be continued?

My first question is are you there now or have you been and come back?

[Brad Young]

My first question is are you there now or have you been and come back?

I looked at your photos (the extra ones shown through the links). They're dated "October 3, 2023." It's still October 2 in California. I think you're there right now.

[NOAL]

OK great that first section was a test to see if the photos posted up.

Day One: 

I arrived at New Chitose Airport in Sapporo around 3 in the afternoon.  The airport has a hotel (with onsen hot spring) in the domestic terminal.  I opted to stay there because otherwise I would have had to either assemble the bicycle in the airport or take it on a train to Sapporo.  Staying at the airport turned out to be great.  The staff also offered to hold onto the box for me if I booked another night before my return flight.  This does not seem like a big deal but it is a major time saver.  Throwing something away like a bike box and packing material is not an easy task in Japan (we will get to garbage an recycling later) and having to find another bike box in Sapporo without a car would also be no fun.

Grabbed some food and a couple of tall cans of Sapporo from the Lawson convenience store in the airport, went back to the  room, wrenched on the bike and watched some Sumo wrestling.

Day 2

Woke up a grabbed the free breakfast at the hotel.  It was buffet style.  1/2 Western and 1/2 Japanese food.  Pretty good. 

The weather forecast had rain so I decided to hit the road around 7.  The first section of riding was to Lake Shikotsu in Shikotsu-Toya National Park. The countryside starts only about a 10 minute ride out of Chitose.  I think it is about 20 miles or so to the lake which was a gradual climb on a bike path almost the whole way! 



You can ride all around the park on bike paths and there is even a campground if you want to camp.  I did not see another person on the bike trail the whole day.



I chose to ride the across the bottom of the lake toward Mt. Yotei.  Nice ride in the woods with views of the lake here and there.







After an hour or so  I encountered my first tunnel of the trip. ( little did I know how many tunnels there were to be)  This tunnel marked the beginning of a climb up and out of the National Park and also the end of the sweet bike path.  The climb was not too bad maybe a 6% grade with short sections of 8%.  Most of the riding was next to one of the rivers feeding the lake. At the top of the pass there is an observation platform.  There was no one here.  O.K.  I'll just go ahead and say from here on out there was never any one at any site seeing spot except me.  Also, no one spoke English and I did not see any other Westerners.





You can barely see the lake way in the distance.



The observation deck was not the true top of the pass.  There was still a long tunnel to get through.  This tunnel was the first  "scary tunnel" i encountered on the trip.  The scary part is there is no shoulder and the tunnel is not very wide.  This particular tunnel was also uphill and maybe a few kilometers long.  It is crucial to have lights on the rear and front of the bike. Front to make sure no one tries to pass another car in the tunnel and has a head on collision with you.  More tunnel talk later.

After getting through the tunnel it was a long fun descent down a meander mountain grade which deposited me in flat farmland.  Consulting the map it looked like the next town with camping possibilities would be Kimobetsu.  Just outside of town there is a very nice Shinto shrine.

Steps up to shrine






This was a very nice shrine. It appeared that the town had recently done some major renovations.  Almost every town has a shrine.  Then there are also shrines at places in nature like mountains, the ocean etc.  Unfortunately they are almost always locked.  There were a few instances where the front door was open so you
could view the interior but not enter.  I will not go into deep detail here about Shintoism but basically the shrines are a place to purify yourself and they often have connections to nature. 

Not much in Kimobetsu.  A small town next to a river.  Only one restaurant with a specialty dish of Venison Curry.  Sounded pretty good but first I need to locate the campsite.  On the map there was a campground a few kilometers out of town.  Turned out it was some farmers who had converted part of the farm to campsites.  The sites were all set up for car camping so the owner let me stay in a field for free when he saw I was riding a bike.  Pretty nice campground.  I set up my tent and headed back into town to grab some of that curry!  To my surprise the curry shop closed at 5pm.  This would be the first of weird hours that restaurants kept in the area.  Oh well,  I guess I would have to hit the Lawson convenience store.

Convenience store food in Japan is remarkably good.  This particular one was a Lawson. There is also Seico Mart, Family Mart, and 7 eleven.  Lawson and Seico Mart usually have an extensive offering of hot food which is on par with most food you get at a Japanese restaurant in the U.S.  Things like fried croquettes with meat , mashed potatos, and curry fillings.  There are also prepared bento boxes, noodle dishes , tons of pastries, katsu sandwiches,  buns with meat or bean fillings you name it. All super cheap and quality.  I ate a ton of Onigiri while riding the bike.  In fact, i renamed the gas tank pack the onigiri tank.  Onigiri is a rice ball with a filling of salmon, tuna and mayo, plum, etc wrapped in seaweed.  After the exchange rate they are about 50 cents.  For dinner I opted to go with a hamburger steak bento with rice.  By the time I got back to camp it had started to rain.  Ate dinner in the tent and went to sleep.  It rained all night and was humid.

[NOAL]

Day 3

Woke up at 6.  I discovered on the trip that people generally are all awake at 6 a.m.  There is sometimes music that is played through a loudspeaker in towns for when to wake up,  when to eat lunch 12, and the end of the day 6pm.  The end of the day can be accompanied by brief news.

It was really overcast so I had to pack up the tent wet and get on the road.  The campground I stayed at was on the Eastern side of Mt Yotei.  I could barely see it the night before through the fog and mist.  By the time I got to the side with the park entrance things cleared up and I could see the mountain.  It's kind of like a mini Mt Fuji.  In fact, it's top is capped with snow in the winter and spring.  No snow in the summer.




I decided to take a ride up to the trailhead.  It was a pretty steep hill climb for about a mile.  One last section was over 12% and I had to get off and push.  I was rewarded with finding a very large campground with maybe 75 campsites.  Only 3 were occupied.  There was also an unmanned visitor center open 24 hours. It had pay showers which I gladly took advantage of.  I was toying with the idea of hiking to the summit but there was lightning in the forecast.  It was nice to just take a break after a shower, grab a drink from the vending machine and look at the mountain.

Campground



Mt Yotei Shrine



The next town from here was Niseko.  Niseko from what I could tell is a major skiing resort town. The riding just past the town all the way to the coast looked good from the map. Twisting mountain roads with climbing for miles.  Just as I started the climbing the rain started.  Took a break at the 7 Eleven and grabbed a couple of sandwiches.  Shrimp cutlet one was memorable.  After a few kilometers I was out of the town and the weather turned into a full on thunder storm.  The temp was in the low 70's so at least it was not cold.  Just before the summit I found an amazing sulfurous hot spring with pale blue water.  No people.  There was also a closed campground and a closed Onsen resort. 



View of the next town Iwanai



Top of the pass before descending into town



The rain stopped as soon as I reached the other side of the mountain and before I knew it I had arrived at the coastal town of Iwanai.  After spending all day in the rain I thought I would try my luck staying at a hot spring resort.  There were two on the map and I figured it was during the week and would not be that busy.  I got to the onsen and used google translate to ask for a room.  Turns out that weekdays are indeed slow.  So slow that they give the chef Monday-Wednesday off.  I could stay but no food.  Town was not that far away but the hill climb back to the onsen in the mountains was not trivial.  The onsen desk clerk was really tickled that I was riding a bicycle.  He just kept saying "Bicycle...Bicycle.....Bicycle....."  20 or so times and shaking his head.  This would turn out to be a common reaction from people in the area.  Once I told them I was from California and was riding my bicycle they would just say "why?  why here?" and laugh.  This guy turned out to be nice and callled his friend at town at a business man hotel and had them hold a room for me. 

There was a camp ground just outside of town but when I saw the location the next day I realized staying at the business man hotel was a wise decision.  When I got to the hotel they let me put my bike in a shed out back where they keep tools and stuff.  Turned out to be a nice hotel.  Very small rooms but very clean.  I took a nap and then went for a walk around town.

town shrine






Iwanai  is a pretty sizeable town.  There is a center of town that shows many restaurants but many of them had strange hours or were only open on the weekends.  Ended up finding a small sushi restaurant run by a elderly husband and wife. Watched some more sumo wrestling on the TV.

After sunset I went back to the hotel and did some laundry.  Laundry machines were great.  You don't need to bring detergent.  There is a button with an option to have the washer dispense it.  They also have a separate machine for shoes with a microwave looking compartment in top with posts for drying. 





Kicked it in the business man hotel the rest of the night.  Grabbed a couple of Sapporo tall boys from the vending machine in the lobby and watched some more sumo and another show where people had to eat strange recipes.

[NOAL]

I got back last week.  I'm slow posting stuff like this.  Another installment or two tomorrow night.

[JC w KC redux]

I think he might be punking us 

Leave it to NOAL (brilliant freakin' idea)

I think this deserves some kind of award. Sneaker Award perhaps?

I've always been told Japan is a wonderful place to visit.

My dad went there on business a couple times in 1969.
There were some wonderful slides from his trips but they somehow got tossed when our old house got cleaned out.
I thought my sister might have kept them but we never found them.
I might have a few old photos. I do remember the businessman hotel he stayed at had a bath house with geisha girls.

No one knew what sushi was back then.

[JC w KC redux]

I was wrong about the year. I only have a couple photos from Japan and they are 1966. I know he went to Hong Kong (the slides) and also to Taiwan and the Phillipines (also in the photo album along with one picture of him at the Red China border.

Not meaning to take anything away from NOAL's post - I think your trip is amazing dude!



Overlooking the North China Sea





On the world's fastest train - the Tokida





At the businessman hotel in Kinosaki Japan - check out that spread!

[NOAL]

Nice photos JC.  The last one looks like he is staying at a Japanese ryokan or inn.  They are both wearing yukatas or robes that are given to guests to wear during their stay.  I will get to ryokans later in the TR.  There are not geishas at ryokans.  Just a server who serves you in your room.  That is what appears to be going on in your photo.

[JC w KC redux]

I do remember the businessman hotel he stayed at had a bath house with geisha girls.

He probably didn't tell me that - just the musings of a 7 year old

I guess they didn't let you ring the Bonshō 

I was surprised the last camp site looked unappealing since everything else looks so nice.

I just read onsen etiquette. Interesting.

[NOAL]

I guess they didn't let you ring the Bonshō

i rang it.  It's totally fine. 

I was surprised the last camp site looked unappealing since everything else looks so nice.

I should have just pushed on to the Mt. Yotei National Park campground.  The farmers were nice.

I just read onsen etiquette. Interesting.

It is very interesting.  There are different kinds of onsens ranging from resort hotel types, very traditional inns, onsens with no lodging that serve as public baths etc.  The public bath house and onsens are important in Japanese culture.  Hokkaido has a lot of volcanic activity so pretty much everywhere there is a town there is a hot spring. 

[JC w KC redux]

i rang it.  It's totally fine. 

Hokkaido has a lot of volcanic activity so pretty much everywhere there is a town there is a hot spring.

That's cool. I wonder how much that thing weighs and what it sounds like. I am imagining a very peaceful tone.

Lack of volcanic activity should not be a problem on any of Japan's islands.
Super interesting geology - a volcanic island arc/subduction zone.
We should never be surprised when Japan has HUGE earthquakes.

[NOAL]

Day 3  Iwanai to Setana  80miles

Woke up at 5:30 again and was on the road by 6.  Stopped by the Seico Mart to pick up some food for the day.  When I was coming out of the shop I heard some music that sounded similar to a Mister Softee truck.  Turned out to be a garbage truck.  They even have cartoon characters on the side.


Stocked up on food it was time to hit the road.  Just as reached the edge of town and there were less buildings it became apparent that I would be dealing with a very strong head wind for much of the day.

White caps = Strong Wind


Crossing the river leaving Iwanai.  The mountain in the background is the one I rode over the day before.



The whole coast from here to Hakodate is fishing villages.  There were thousands of houses some old and well kept, some abandoned and falling down, some
new. The one common thing was they all had small boats.  Then every so often there would be a large commercial fishing facility.  Here's some buildings just outside of town





About 15 minutes out of town was another tunnel.  This one was the type that has no shoulder.  Being new to the tunnel game i neglected to note the length in meters that is posted at it's entrance. Later after i figured this out I would have a snack, pee, etc if I knew I would be underground for a long time.  This one was long.  Like longer than both spans of the Bay Bridge. There was also construction going on in various parts which means that only one lane functions.  There is a signal guy and you have to wait for the cars from the other direction. Bicycle goes last.

Pull out in tunnel





Construction in the tunnel 


This tunnel is where I had one of the scariest moments of the trip.  I could see a semi approaching me in the opposite lane.  Suddenly another semi decided to pass.  I had just enough time to jump off the bike and up on to the 18" of curb.  I put the back wheel behind my legs and slammed myself and the bike against the wall seconds  before both trucks passed me in both lanes.  Yikes! 

Here's the other side of the tunnel.  To the left of it was a small park with a gazebo type structure.  This was the campground marked on the map.  It would have been super windy.  No facilities and no water.  Not to mention there was another stretch of tunnel that started up 500 ft down the road.  I was glad I did not opt to camp there.



The majority of the ride consisted of beautiful seascapes, and many many tunnels.  Here and there were small waterfalls into the sea. 



After a couple of hours I reached Cape Benkei where there is a large statue of Benkei the Warrior Monk.  This guy was a bad ass that lived about a 1000 years ago.  He was supposed to 6' 6"  which for back then in Japan meant he was a giant. Hit him up on the ole Wikipedia.  Its a pretty good read. 

There is also a lighthouse at the cape (which I forgot to take a photo of somehow) and a building that has art from local residents.  It is with a vending machine inside so you can have a coffee while you look at the art.  There were some nice photos of the Benkei statue taken by different photographers. Cool place.

Benkei



seaside art gallery



The seascapes here are right up there with anything you would see on highway 1 in California.  Maybe I have just seen the Mendocino Coast, Point Reyes, Big Sur etc so many times that seeing something new made an impression on me. At any rate the coast here was jaw dropping.  The further I rode South the ocean became more clear and a bright Azure blue.  Spectacular.


Another tunnel


A short tunnel  (sorry a little blurry)



Around 4 o clock I arrived in the city of Setana.  The cities on the coast were very sleepy. There were a lot of abandoned store fronts and very few people out on the street. It was still pretty windy out.  The previous night's lodgings after the exchange rate came out to a whopping $40.  The prospect of a clean bed a shower etc was tempting so I decided to hit up the Google maps to see there were any business hotels here. Nope.  There were about 4 places marked as inns.  I found the first two addresses but there were no signs on the door and they did not appear to me at the time to be lodging. In hind sight they most likely were but I did have the balls yet to go knocking on the door.

The third place I found looked more inn like.  I poked my head in the door and the set up was more familiar.  There was a big genkan or area where you take off your shoes, a lot of shoes, and a check in window.  There were also a lot of kids running around and toys everywhere.  I said hi to one of the kids and he went in the other room to grab his dad who was the innkeeper.  We did some Google translating back and forth, log books were consulted, heads were scratched, numbers crunched and the inn keeper came up with the figure of 11,000 yen for the night including dinner and breakfast. After the exchange rate about $70.  I said great and he gave me a tour. 

Most of the places I stayed tried to make it clear to me upfront the differences between a Japanese Inn and a Western hotel.  Not trying to discourage but just to make sure I would be satisfied with the stay. Like pointing at me and gesturing sleep on floor.  O.K.?  This inn was the most basic of the 3 i stayed at on the trip.  Nice and clean but definitely no frills.  All of the bathrooms were shared and there was a shared bathing area set up like an onsen where you cleaned off and there was a bath you could sit in.  I don't think it was fed by a hot spring.  All of the guests were served dinner and breakfast downstairs.  I asked the owner what I should do with my bike.  He said just leave it in the genkan or entryway.  This would be the answer for the rest of the trip.

upstairs at the inn



basic room with tatami mats



futon laid out for bed



There is also a tiny TV if you want to watch some sumo wrestling.

I went down for dinner at 6 and it became more clear the specific function of the Inn.  When you stay at a Ryoken you do not get to choose what you eat.  If the meal is not served in your room it is usually all on the table when you arrive in the dining area  That was case here.  I was seated at a table with an elderly gentleman.  All of the other guests were seated on the floor at low tables  It was all men.  No women.  Then I realized that patrons were all construction workers, forestry service people, maybe the guys working in the tunnels.  This particular Inn was a working man's Inn. 

The food was super good.  Grilled cod, deep fried squid sticks, octopus and tuna sashimi, a spicy Korean style pork and bean sprout dish, pickled daikon, lotus root salad, rice and miso soup.  I regret not taking photos but the old guy across the table was already staring at me.

After dinner watched some volleyball on TV and went to bed.

[Tuff Chik]

WOW - what a great trip so far!  I'm ready to read the next day's adventure.

Awesome pics - can't imagine how you felt in the tunnel with the 2 semis - YIKES!!!  Glad nothing happened.

[NOAL]

Day 4 Setana to Otobe 56 miles

Breakfast at the inn is served at 7am.  Same deal as the night before. Come downstairs and the food is sitting on the table. This was the first complete Japanese breakfast I had on the trip and it was good.  It also contained the one thing that I was not able to eat but I did get down half.  Natto also called fermented soybeans.  I had tried Natto in SF about 15 years ago and could not do it then.  I thought maybe this natto is better.  Nope.  Same.  These fermented soybeans have a snot like slime holding them together.  I watched as the construction workers dump the whole container into a bowl of rice pour a healthy amount of shoyu (soy sauce) on top and devour it in 30 seconds with gusto.  I thought I can do at least half of that so monkey see monkey had a hard hard time.  My rice bowl was now contaminated and I had to eat all the contents so it would not affect the rest of my breakfast.  The best description for natto is hot garbage.

I ate everything else on the trip.  Sometimes i ate things and had to ask what I ate later. Those questions were sometimes answered and in some cases I still dont know what it was.  Sometimes I was told later what it was and if I was told before hand I would have entered the experience biased.  The rest of breakfast was excellent.  Grilled Salmon, nori strips, a block of tofu with bonito, hard boiled egg, miso soup, rice , small salad, and.....that natto. 

After breakfast had a small pantomime/google translate/my very limited Japanese chat with the inn keeper.  Turns out he has a sister that went to school in the Bay Area.  I showed him some photos of the beaches near Half Moon Bay and we had a good laugh about how I traveled half way around the world to ride my bike to something that looks like home. After saying good bye it was time to hit the road.

The main highway  229 at Setana heads inland and the coastal road 740 narrows down and passes through Karibamotsutadoritsu Natural Park. Phew thats a mouthful.  Truthfully I had to copy and paste that in there.  This stretch of highway contained the best scenery of the trip and the most amazing shrine that I unexpectedly happened upon.

Futorobentensha Shrine





Of course there were more tunnels



That last photo of the tunnel is good because next to the entrance you can see how they have the hillside contained so it will not slide down and block the entrance,  It is hard to imagine all these areas covered in snow but for most of the year they are.  Japan does a great job with infrastructure.  Instead of building roads over mountains or on the sides of cliffs that will get washed out they just go straight through the mountain.  There are also long sections of road that are covered to protect from avalanches and big structures that block snow drifts.  The roads are also in primo condition.  No potholes etc.  There were people out on the road working on the bridges and tunnels everyday I rode.

By this point I had seen a lot of shrines.  I have only posted a few of them here and there were dozens that I did not even stop to take photos of at all.  With shrine fatigue set in I almost passed up one of the best parts of the whole trip.

Sometimes you cannot see the shrine from the road all you will see it a gate and a path or stairs leading somewhere.  That was the case when I saw this:



Hold up now those steps look real steep.  Are those ropes on those steps?  Yep.  O.K. got to check that out.



About 120 something steps.  The photo does not reflect how steep these steps are in real life.  If you fell down these steps you would die.  Not a good place for a college student to live.

Then I saw this



Interesting.  The ropes continued up a sustained steep trail that involved climbing washed out root systems of trees.  I was gaining quite a bit of elevation pretty fast


next I came up on this and thought  "nice shrine but no one would build that massive gate and steps for this"





That's right because the ropes continued up hill



The trail got even steeper.  I would say the elevation gain with the mileage was similar to doing the approach to Higher Cathedral Spire.  It was also extremely humid and about 80 degrees.  I was sweating. 1/2 hour later I came up on this:


Aha.  Now where's the shrine?  Pass through the gate and I see something


Whoa.


There were sections missing, loose parts, and it was hard to tell what exactly was holding the thing up.  Onward.

Next




Had to look at this for a bit and think about it.  It was about 40 ft up a vertical wall that looked like 5.4 or so climbing to get into a cave where I could see a corner of the shrine peeking out. The drop below the face into a drainage gully that went to the sea was about 150 ft.  If you fall you die.  The rock was pretty good quality except it was dirty because everyone used the iron ladder rings.  The rings looked O.K. but what were they attached to?  There was also all of these ropes and cables that had been left over the years that would be very easy to get your foot tangled up in.  i chose on the way up to just climb the rock which turned out to not be that bad.



made it.  This shrine's offerings were all alcohol themed.  I just left some coins.  Amazing view too. 

sorry blurry


amazing view



now to get back down....To get down I opted to use half rock half iron rings. The rings were attached to posts at the top.



Alright time to head back down to the bike.  On the way down I saw an elderly man just past the first shrine.  (O.K. i lied earlier. I did see somebody site seeing)  He looked like he was in his 80's.  He did not speak any English but gestured back and forth and from what I could gather he was climbing up to the cave.  I noticed some locking carabiners on his pack so maybe a climber?  Cool.

Back down at the road I could look up and see where the cliff is.

[Brad Young]

Once I told them I was from California and was riding my bicycle they would just say "why?  why here?" and laugh...

Exactly what I thought.

And yet this seems to have been one hell of a lot of fun. Good for you to just pick something so... random. And make it a ball.

J:C.: those photos of your dad. Wow.

[NOAL]

And yet this seems to have been one hell of a lot of fun. Good for you to just pick something so... random. And make it a ball.

It was fun!  Not really as random as it seems. I have always wanted to visit Japan but when I was younger it was very expensive.  The exchange rate at the moment makes it very affordable.  It has been fluctuating between 143-150 yen to 1 dollar.  Basically everything is 1/3 off. 

I would like to visit all of the prefectures in Japan on the bike from top to bottom.  Then after that or in between Taiwan.

[JC w KC redux]

Great read and amazing trip but I can't figure out those rings/ropes. Is the one a bridge over water? (labeled "next")

Do you just climb on one set of the rings? (seems the most logical for something that looks crazy).

[NOAL]

The bridge looking thing is over a gully.  The end of it is somehow attached to a cliff face.  The iron rings are meant to climb like an aid ladder up to the shrine.

I forgot to put the name of the shrine. It is Otosan or in English father.  It dates to 1454.

[NOAL]

I got back on the road and about an hour later it started to rain. Every evening I would check the weather for the next day and it would not mention rain but usually in the afternoon it would start up.  I think the weather there is really unpredictable because it is humid and has all of these mountains next to the ocean. The next town I had my sites on was Jinyacho.  There was a campground in town on a jetty island thing.  Everything I read about it said things like "best campground ever"  As much as I wanted to stay at the best campground ever I told myself if it was still raining when I got to the town before Jinyacho (Otobe)  that I would just look for lodging.  It was. 

As some of you may already know I am not a huge fan of camping.  Especially car camping.  I don't mind it if say I am backpacking and I have no choice or if I was on the bike in the middle of the desert.  When it's raining, super windy, humid, or mosquito season being confined to a tent sucks. I also never get good sleep in a tent. 

So I found a 3 star onsen resort that had an available room. Being the off season the restaurant was not open.  After the exchange rate it was $60.  Not bad.  They had a pretty good onsen with 2 outdoor baths and 2 indoor baths.  All four were different temps.

Here's how the Onsen thing works.  Most towns will have an onsen.  There are also many onsens out in mountainous regions that are destinations upon themselves.  Most of them allow you to use the facilites for a small fee even if you are not a guest of the resort or hotel.  Sometimes there is a ticket machine in the lobby.

One side of the onsen is for women and one for men.  Blue is men and red is women.  If you are a guest there is usually a robe in your room that you can change into.  There is also a towel and somewhat long washcloth.  Usually the first thing you encounter inside is a bunch of baskets in cubby holes.

  Put your clothes, towel, slippers etc in the basket.  In this room there is usually mirrors, hairdryers, sometimes a washing machine, cold drinking water, a scale.  This is for later.  If you have valuables or your room key there is a set of small lockers with a key you can keep on a wristband.

O.K.  now you are butt ass nekkid with nothing but a wash cloth.  You can hold the wash in front of your junk if you are modest or just let it all hang out. Head on into the bathing area.  There are stations here with stools and plastic bowls or sometimes in the nicer joints a wooden bucket.  Sometimes the stools and buckets are in middle of the room and you have to take one to your station.  At the station there is a soap dispenser, shampoo dispenser, and maybe conditioner?  So sit down on the little stool and start washing.  You can use the the shower head on a cord and for a good rinse there is a faucet to fill up the bucket to dump over your head.  Make sure you get all the soap off your body.  Getting in the bath with soap or shampoo is super bad form.


Now take the washcloth and fold it into a square and put it on top of your head.  Pick a bath to your liking and get in with the other dudes. It is totally acceptable to make old man groaning sounds, sharp breathing noises, or maybe a ahhh when getting in the water. Sometimes it's super hot so you gotta ease in there.  There's usually a step you can sit on to get half your body in and then sink in  all the way up to the neck.  The real badasses just get in all the way to neck from the start. If you do this you definitely got to make  some kind of grunting noise or a loud exhale.


Do not put your washcloth in the bath. That's why it's on your head.  It's acceptable to wipe your face with it while in the bath.  There is usually a super hot bath, a warm bath, and a coldish one.  The coldish one sometimes has a ladle next to it.  This is for rinsing off before you go back to the hairdryer room.  So when you have had enough rinse off and use the washcloth to get as much excess water off your body as you can.  Head on back to the hairdryer room. If you got hair you can dry it.  Sometimes in some more fancy resort places they might have a little cooler with popsicles in it.  I did not encounter any of those.  Usually there's a vending machine with tall boys of beer and other adult beverages in a can.  Highball whisky soda in a can, lemon cocktail drink,  etc.  Grab something or two here and head back to the room to watch Sumo wrestling.

After i did the onsen it was time to find dinner because the hotel had nothing.  Otobe only had two restaurants.  I picked Cafe Nodoka.  Looked pretty good a cross between Italian and Japanese food.  Pasta with seafood etc.  It was also only two blocks from the hotel.

The cafe turned out to be super fun.  There are three women working there that were around sixty years old that appeared to be friends.  I kind of got the vibe that working at the cafe for them was a way to get out of the house and be social with each other.  When I came in they all came out and we used google translate to ask each other questions.  They told me about their families, suggestions for local site seeing, what living in Otobe is like during the winter etc.  We had a lot of fun and laughed a lot.

The food was also really good!  I opted to go for something hearty and got omu rice (egg over rice) tonkatsu (deep fried pork cutlet) and beef curry.  Top notch.
Also hanging out I had a couple of beers.  Everytime you order a drink they bring you a little snack with it.  First I got a small seafood salad and next an assortment of squares of cheese.  Because they liked talking to me I got a third snack.  This snack looked little deep fried nuggets of something.  As we were talking i was munching on them. They were good crunchy on the outside and a little soft inside.    After a few I asked what they were.  Deep fried pork intestines.  Hey, not something I normally eat but now would definitely repeat. 

I said my goodbyes and made Instagram friends with Michiko.  She made some helpful suggestions for what to do for the last few days of the ride.



Back at the hotel watched some TV and then turned in.