June 24, 2023

These last three ports are new to us and are in the northernmost island of Japan, Hokkaido. Here are some shots of our arrival.  It was rainy but cleared up as soon as we left the ship.

Our tour was to the Onuma Quasi National Park. Our guide was Yuku.  She gave us information about this area of Japan.  Sapporo was the site of the 1972 winter Olympics and it gets 16 feet of snow a year.  There is a lot of skiing in this area.  It is known for beautiful nature and the fishing industry.  

Mount Hakodate rises 1100 feet on the southwest of the city.

Yuku told us about the many brown bears in the area which are much bigger than the black bears in other parts of Japan.  They are kind of like the grizzly. She gave us a little quiz about what to do if we encounter a bear (while assuring us that we would not!) You are supposed to make eye contact with the bear and slowly back away. Children wear bells on their backpacks because the bears really don’t want to encounter humans and the bells warn them away.  I guess. .

There is really no specific rainy season here, it can rain at any time but it doesn’t last too long.

The park is really beautiful.  It consists of 126 islands that are formed by the lava from the eruption of Mount Hokkaido.  It forms a spectacle like a traditional Japanese garden, created entirely by nature. 

We hiked on two trails. The first one was the island hopping Shimaneguri-no-Michi trail which takes you on 7 different islands connected by lovely bridges.  We saw some birds but no other wildlife.  No bears for sure. The second was the Oshima-no-Michi Trail which includes A Thousand Winds monument.

After our hike and some shopping with  coffee for Norm and some local specialties to eat, we took a boat ride on the lake.  What a serene place.

We went back to Hakodate and experienced the Morning Market which was another amazing fish market.  Hakodate  is surrounded by the ocean on three sides and the fish in every restaurant is always fresh. The specialty is squid which comes in a variety of forms from raw and wriggling to deep fried  and even as ice cream which we saw people eating at the snack bar.

We found a restaurant for yet another ramen lunch.

The market had a place where you could fish for squid then eat it raw.  We did NOT do that but we saw someone catch one.

The crabs were enormous and so were the apples, melons and peaches.  We bought an apple at the park and a peach at this market.

Yuku also sang to us on the way back to the ship. She was sad for us that the ship was leaving at 3 PM because she said Hakodate has one of the three most beautiful night views along with Naples and Hong Kong and we will leave too soon to see it.

The local people waved goodbye as we left.  Another beautiful Japanese port. It makes me want to come back to do a land trip throughout Japan.