MAGIC HOUR

The story goes back to the day I left for my summer vacation. I worked at home on that day, and my mother stopped my home during the daytime. She said she wanted to go to Hokkaido in the fall. I then recalled that the last time I visited Shiretoko in Eastern Hokkaido in the fall, the weather was not good and it was a little early for the autumn leaves. That time was in late September, so it might be good to try a little later.

While heading to Tokyo Haneda Airport after work, I checked schedule and found that all fit in mid-October. Since I was going to visit Shiretoko, I decided to go from Friday to Sunday and added a visit to a sushi place in Oumu Town as well. Using Wi-Fi in the All Nippon Airways (ANA) lounge at Haneda, I sinfully booked Japan Airlines (JAL) award ticket, and set off for Croatia.

While I spend days lazily after returning from the summer vacation, time to go to Hokkaido was approaching. I thought that accommodation fee in Shiretoko would probably be expensive the night before Sunday, so I decided to stay in Shiretoko on Friday and stay in Oumu Town on Saturday. However, to my surprise, the Hotel Hinodemisaki in Oumu Town was fully booked on Saturday night. I secured the last remaining room at the hotel on Friday night and decided to stay in Shiretoko on Saturday night. This would allow to visit Shiretoko Lakes on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.

When I arrived at Memanbetsu Airport on Friday morning, the weather was clear. This itself was wonderful, but the problem was poor weather forecasted for Saturday and Sunday. The bad weather during the last visit to Shiretoko was one of reasons to choose the destination in Hokkaido. If the forecast was correct, I would encounter bad weather in Shiretoko again.

I had a vague recollection that it was not too far from Memanbetsu Airport to Shiretoko. I also recalled that it was not too far from Memanbetsu Airport to Oumu Town either. If so, it would be a good idea to go to Shiretoko on that day while clear skies expected.

I rented a car at the airport and arrived at Shiretoko before noon. It was not crowded probably because it was on a weekday, and I went to the pathway. The autumn leaves stood out in the blue sky, and the blue sky and the autumn leaves were reflected on the surface of Shiretoko Lakes. It was beautiful.

When I finished taking photos and looked at the watch, it was just before 3:00 p.m. It was about time to head for Oumu Town.

I then realized that I had underestimated Hokkaido geography. When I entered the Hotel Hinodemisaki into car navigation system, it estimated time of arrival at 7:30 p.m. When I repeated the phrase “not too far” twice in Hokkaido, it would be quite far, or rather too far away. I had made a 7:00 p.m. reservation at the sushi restaurant in Oumu Town. Anyhow, I got in the car and started driving.

Since there is no such boorish thing as highway along the Okhotsk coast, I followed cars with highway-like speeds of locals and caught in slow-moving traffic in the towns. I arrived at the hotel by 7:00 p.m. despite unsteady speeds. I left my luggage in the room and made it to the sushi restaurant before 7:20 p.m.

From this point on, I hardly remember anything. I disliked driving, so I felt a great sense of relief by the safety arrival. On top of that, there were delicious sushi served. Without a second to think about, I ended up drinking like fish.

When I came to realize, it was 4:00 a.m. and I had been asleep in bed. The hot spring in Oumu have a high salt content probably due to its proximity to the sea, and they are quite warming. I thought it would be a bad idea to leave without taking a bath after having come all the way there. Since it was too early in the morning, I thought there would be no one in the bath. It should be nicely quiet. I still felt a buzz from last night drinking.

I went into the bathhouse without thinking anything at all. A voice called out from the darkness, “good morning”. It seemed that there was a night shift employee taking the bath in his break time.

I calmly responded “good morning” but I could not help myself blushed.

Since the beginning of June, news media said that Japanese government considered subsidy program to expand domestic travel. I thought it was a good economic stimulation program, but for me, it could be obstacle for my weekend trips as all airplanes, trains, hotels would likely be clouded. I had decided to make a last-minute twist to find destinations before the subsidy program began.

Since I had set my plan in June, the rainy season would be the biggest concern. While Okinawa would be out of the rainy season by late June, Hokkaido also seemed to be nice choice as no rainy season there.

I was tempted to visit Rebun Island one more time, but last year’s stay was nearly perfect. I did not think I would be able to surpass that, so I decided to pass. It might be a little early for lavender season, but I would like to visit Biei and Furano for typical Hokkaido farming scenery. The gateway is Asahikawa Airport, and there were some seats available on frequent flyer award ticket for round trip.

However, Hokkaido is said to have something called Ezo rainy season. Although I had been watching the weather forecast every day, there was no chance of sunshine in the forecast during the period I planned to visit. I was not sure if it would be a good idea to go to Hokkaido farmlands while it could be rained all the time. At a late night before few days prior to the departure, I decided to cancel the trip.

It was in the middle of rainy season south of Honshu. I had taken a day off from work, but it might be a good idea to work on that day if there were rains everywhere in Japan.

No way. I was not a such kind of guy, so I did my best to find a place where would not be rain. As expected in the last minute, airline tickets to Okinawa were expensive, and the hotels on Taketomi Island, where I had wanted to visit, were fully booked. The only other destinations that looked promising weather were the Izu Islands and the Kii Peninsula.

All Nippon Airways (ANA) had a flight from Tokyo Haneda to Hachijojima of Ize Island, and there were seats available for the award tickets. I was somewhat tempted to go to Hachijojima, but the accommodations where looked good were already fully booked. I had to give up the idea.

Last year, I visited Koyasan (Mt. Koya), which was my only stay in Wakayama Prefecture. It would be nice to know Wakayama more. I decided to visit the Kumano Kodo Trails on the Kii Peninsula, which also had been in my mind for some time. I decided to fly to Nanki-Shirahama Airport by Japan Airlines in the morning of the first day. Then I would take trains on the return trip, which would be easily rescheduled depending on the weather.

I was curious about the Kumano area because I often went to a yakitori restaurant who offered chicken produced in Kumano area called Kumano Jidori. At the same time, I knew nothing more about Kumano other than the chicken. I hurriedly researched Kumano almost all night.

When I arrived at Tokyo Haneda Airport early in the morning, announcements were made that flights to Hokkaido could be interrupted due to bad weather. While thinking that I might make a right choice, TV news forecasted clear skies for Asahikawa area on the next day and the day after. It was too huge gaps between the airport announcement and TV forecast. Will the weather in Hokkaido improve dramatically from now on? The possibility of making wrong choice flashed through my mind.

When I arrived at Nanki-Shirahama Airport, it was a full-blown overcast day, even more clouds than Tokyo. Until yesterday, weather forecast had said clear skies expected. I might have made the wrong choice. The phrase, “too much scheming could lead to his downfall,” came to my mind.

From the airport, I took a bus to Kumano Hongu Shrine. This was a direct bus service, but the Kii Peninsula was much larger than I imagined and it took a long time to get there. I fell asleep on the way there, and when I woke up it was raining heavily. The weather in the Kii Peninsula seemed to be deteriorating dramatically. I must have made a wrong choice.

In the end, by the time I arrived at Kumano Hongu Shrine, the rain had stopped, but the atmospheric conditions were unstable, periodical sunny and rain going by. Nevertheless, I started walking along the Kumano Kodo Trails.

I then realized that I had recently visited the Kunisaki Peninsula and Hagurosan Shrine in Dewa, and two places had temples and shrines deep in the mountains. In fact, there were not much of differences in photographically besides they were cloudy in two places. Once again, the phrase “too much scheming could lead to his downfall” came to mind.

Nevertheless, I visited two Kumano Kodo Trails on two days. The weather was cloudy or light rain. They were all flat gray in photos. I must have made a wrong choice.

In the evening of the second day, the sun finally appeared. My heart also cleared somewhat.

Day 3 was originally forecast to be cloudy, so I decided to take an early train back to Tokyo. Still, I did not collect the tickets that I had reserved though website, hoping for a last-minute sunshine.

Early in the morning of the last day, I was awakened by a tremendous roar of thunder. It was raining utterly hard. I decided to leave Kumano as planned.

On the way back from Kumano, I took the JR limited express Namki to Nagoya, which took about 4 hours, and then transferred to the Shinkansen. After returning home in a daze feeling, I checked the weather in Asahikawa and found that it had rained heavily on the first day, then clear skies on the second and third days. I had completely made the wrong choice.

I learned that the schemer surely had fallen for his scheming.