旅のエッセイ / Travel Essay - MAGIC HOUR

Memories of Goshougake (Originally posted on 2023-Apr-9)

Last year, I went to Sukayu Onsen during the New Year holidays, which was an unusual case for me. Basically, I believe it is better to stay at home during crowded New Year’s holidays and go on a trip after the second week of January.

When I visited Goshougake Onsen in Akita Prefecture two years ago, I learned that Hachimantai Visitor Center was offering snow trekking tours. There is a mud volcano surrounding Goshougake Onsen, which can be viewed from the trails during the summer months. It would be wonderful to see it in winter, as the scenery can be quite fascinating. Since I tend to act quick on my trip plans, I had thought to go back one year later in winter, but I had to give it up due to the construction work at Goshougake Onsen.

I maintained my forward-looking attitude for another year and started to make inquiries and reservations last October. I heard that there were a 2-hour trekking tour for beginners and a 3-hour trekking tour to fully enjoy the spectacular view. I have chosen the 3-hour course even though I had never worn snowshoes. I was able to rent everything from snowshoes to clothing, so it seemed to be a fairly easy way to have fun.

I had decided and booked on dates in mid-January, more than 3 months prior to the visit. I might have been too forward-looking, because I had been waiting for the visit almost two years. A phrase “too much of good thing can be bad” came to mind. I wondered if I would be alright.

On the way there, I flew from Tokyo Haneda to Odate-Noshiro Airport and travelled further from Odate to Goshougake Onsen. On the way back, I took the Akita Nairiku Railway from Takanosu, where was near Odate, to Kakunodate and returned to Tokyo on the Akita Shinkansen.

When main purpose of the trip is photography, difficulties are always the weather. Normally, I would like to spend longer time in one site, rather than visiting multiple sites in one trip. This way, I can have several opportunities to take photographs, higher chance to have nice weather.

Unfortunately, when I use the transportation service of Goshougake Onsen, I am not able to participate trekking on the day of arrival nor departure. I would have to stay two nights and join the trekking only once on the middle day.

I could not control the weather. Despite I could not prepare for the worst, I only hoped for the best. This methodology has never worked in my life.

It turned out, the afternoon of the day before the trekking was fine, and the morning of the day after the trekking was fine. Yet, it snowed on the day of the trekking, which was the most important day of three. I should be satisfied with the winter scenery even if cloudy, but snowflakes can be annoying because they would show up in the photos.

On the day of trekking tour, I was guided by two locals supposedly as a safety measure. I am a middle-aged man with an unusually stiff body, so I was relieved and grateful. We did some warm-up exercises and headed out. The fresh snow felt good.

It was my first time for snowshoe trekking, but the crampons worked well and it was easy to get used to. Climbing hills and sliding on the slopes, they were extremely fun. The view was even more spectacular than I imagined. It was wonderful to walk on a different route than the trails in summer.

As for the photos, the visibility was poor due to the snow. It is the same in life, being positive forward-looking attitude does not always bring positive results.

I am persistent to travel, so I will keep forward-looking attitude and try again next year.

COLO’s Traveler Guide: Goshougake Onsen

The times and other information are based on the timetable at the time of the visit.

Day 1

Tokyo Haneda 0855 (All Nippon Airways ANA719) >> Odate-Noshiro 1005
Odate Noshiro Airport (airport bus) 1020 >> Nagakura-cho 1124

Lunch: Akita Hinaiya

Odate Station 1255 (Express Bus Michinoku) >> Kazuno Hanawa 1353
Kazuno Hanawa 1435 (shuttle bus) >> Goshougake Onsen 1520

Overnight stay: Goshougake Onsen

Tips for Day 1
– Lunch at Akita Hinaiya, with local Hinai chicken in oyako-don (chicken and egg bowl).
– Due to the heavy rainfall last year, the JR Hanawa Line was closed from Odate to Kazuno Hanawa. I took an express bus for this section.

Day 3

Goshougake Onsen 0930 (shuttle bus) >> Kazuno Hanawa 1020
Kazuno Hanawa 1032 (local bus) >> Odate Station 1203

– Akita Inu no Sato

Lunch: Hanazen

Odate 1357 (Tsugaru 4) >> Takanosu 1414
Takanosu 1438 (Akita Nairiku Railway Express Train) >> Kakunodate 1635

– Kakunodate Samurai District at night

Kakunodate 1901 (Komachi 46) >> Omiya 2139
Omuya >> Yokohama

Tips for Day 3
– On the way back from Kazuno Hanawa to Odate, I took a local bus. It was a long but interesting ride through the villages.
– I love the lunchbox called “Torimeshi (Chicken Rice)” sold at Odate Station (and other stations in Tohoku area), and the lunchbox shop has a restaurant in front of Odate Station. Usually the lunchbox is sold in normal temperature, but I was impressed by the freshly made warm chicken rice.
– In order to have river views, I wanted to make sure to have a seat on the right side of Akita Nairiku Line train from Takanosu, so I took JR limited express from Odate to Takanosu. I had a cup (cups, actually) of sake while looking at the snowy scenery of Ani River. It’s hard to resist.

Memories of Drift Ice (Originally posted on 2023-Jun-16)

Last year, I visited to Monbetsu and Abashiri to see drift ice because I thought there were fewer travelers due to COVID-19 outbreak. In fact, hotels and airline tickets could be changed at last minute. After a quick change of plans just few days before departure, I got into the clear skies and I was able to enjoy the drift ice.

It is a human nature to wonder if there are any birds of this year in last year’s nests. I wanted to go back to see the drift ice again. Due to my own arrangement mistake, I had to reschedule first half of the trip from Kushiro to Kawayu Onsen. However, as expected, I was not able to change my schedule for Abashiri and Monbetsu during the peak season of this year. I had a pretty much fixed schedule, and all I could do was to hope that the weather would be cooperative.

Unfortunately, the weather forecast was cloudy during my stay. If heavy snow was expected, I would have considered returning to Tokyo early, but the forecast was not that bad. I had to leave the weather to the gods of Hokkaido.

From Kawayu Onsen, I took a tourist bus to Abashiri. It was sunny early in the morning, but as I headed toward Abashiri, it gradually became cloudy. I wondered if there is no birds of this year in last year’s nests after all.

With a reservation made in advance, I boarded an icebreaker boat in Abashiri despite the poor weather. Although the scenery was magnificent, it was a bit of lacking from a photographic point of view.

From Abashiri, I continued the bus to Monbetsu. The windows of the bus on winter roads were dirty and the scenery outside was dark and somber. I fell into a sleep on its long way.

When I woke up just before Monbetsu, the light outside the window was slightly brighter. It was hard to believe at first glance, I wondered if the weather was clearing up. Was the weather forecast wrong?

When I got off the bus at Monbetsu Port, it was perfectly clear. I took an evening icebreaker boat for the sunset cruise. Last year, it was partly cloudy on the sunset cruise, so I might say that this alone was worth the trip to Monbetsu again. It was wonderful.

In the evening, I enjoyed at a local sushi restaurant.

The forecast for the next morning was cloudy again. Since weather forecast is just a forecast, it can be wrong. However, it is unlikely to be wrong for two days in a row.

By the way, the room on that day was exactly the same room in the same hotel as last year. If such a miracle could happen, I wonder if there could be some birds of this year in last year’s nests.

I decided not to have excessive expectations and went to bed. Still, it is human nature to be anxious, I had a nightmare that it was cloudy when I woke up.

When my alarm went off a little after 4:00 a.m., the sky was clear in reality. It was unusually cold, but my heart was warm. I headed for the sunrise cruise.

Thanks to the gods of Hokkaido, there were indeed many birds of this year in last year’s nests.

Memories of Kushiro (Originally posted on 2023-May-28)

In one afternoon of last year, I looked at 2023 calendar and discovered that if I took a Friday off in late February, I would have a long four-day weekend. At that time, foreign tourist demand to Japan was still low, and I wanted to go see the drift ice once again. I put aside my work for the day and started thinking about my schedule.

Since I have four days, I wished to participate in trekking around the Shiretoko Lakes during the severe winter season. After deciding on the schedule, I returned home early and completed my airline and hotel reservations. Because I made the arrangements a little too early, the Shiretoko trekking was not accepting reservations, I had to make its arrangement on a later day.

After that day, I was busy traveling. I went to the Maldives and got a bad sunburn, and then went to Kushiro on a whim. I forgot everything for the Shiretoko Lakes.

When I came to realize I had not made trekking reservation, it was already in January. Similar 4-day schedule seemed to come to everyone’s mind, and it was already impossible to make any trekking reservations at all. I checked several times to see if there were any cancellations, but it seemed to be impossible. It was a big mistake.

While I was in deep desperations, I found that the Kushiro Marshland Onnenai Visitor Center was offering rental snowshoes. I thought about it and recalled that the weather at Kushiro Marsh was not so good during my last visit in 2023. It would be good to revisit there.

I checked the flight schedule from Tokyo to Kushiro, and found that there were a few seats left, and the last room at a hotel in Kawayu Onsen, where I had to give up last time owing the JR Senmo Line was suspended due to an accident, was still available. In addition, initial onward air ticket from Tokyo to Memanbetsu, the gateway to Shiretoko, had been purchased at a fare that could be cancelled with a small fee. With all these conditions in place, I decided to give up Shiretoko visit and go to Kushiro instead. All has been fixed just about 10 days before departure.

I took a flight leaving Tokyo Haneda at around noon for Kushiro. The forecast for the first day was cloudy, so I did not have high expectations, but it was sunny when I arrived. Kushiro calls itself as one of the three best sunset cities in the world. I took a walk to Kushiro Port to watch the sunset.

The next morning, the weather was clear as predicted, and I took a bus from Kushiro Station to Kushiro Marsh. It was cloudy when we arrived at Onnenai, but it cleared up after a while. Finally, we were able to enjoy the winter scenery of Kushiro Marsh in the best weather.

It seemed that snowshoes were not necessary to walk along the wooden paths in the Marsh at that time of the year. Still, there was more snow than last December, so I could enjoy a different scenery. I encountered many deer. Contrary there were almost no human visitors, and I was able to enjoy the magnificent scenery in peace.

I returned to Kushiro Station by bus and took the JR Senmo Line to Kawayu Onsen. Local trains in Hokkaido are operated with only one or two diesel train cars. Nevertheless, it took a long time to get on and off the train due to the overflow of people into the narrow aisles. The train was delayed for about 30 minutes due to the congestion. Since the train ride is long in Hokkaido, the train should have one more car on occasional crowded days.

The weather did not stay fine for long, and it was cloudy when we got off at Kawayu Onsen station. I took a local bus to the onsen town center. It was a nice hotel with excellent hot spring water.

The next morning was forecast to be cloudy, but it was fine when I woke up. The bus to Abashiri would leave Kawayu Onsen around 10:30. I called a local cab company to visit Mt. Io-zan and back. The weather had been bad when I visited there a few years before, so I decided to give another try. The sulfur-yellow surface of the mountain was covered with a cloud of steam. It was a wild sight.

I had missed going to Kawayu Onsen twice in the past due to the weather, but this time, I managed going there because of my own mishandling of the arrangements. After so many trips I have made, I should have more control on making proper arrangements. However, as is often said, “all’s well that ends well.” As a result, I had a wonderful stay in Kushiro area.