Trippin' in Japan
We booked a tour with Hong Thai travel for our family trip to Japan (Hokkaido) and was offered additional trip to Tokyo in the itinerary due to the nuclear meltdown event at Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant.
The flight with JAL was pretty smooth. I guess I was quite zombied as it was a midnight flight followed by another domestic flight to Hokkaido.
Day 1 | Shiraoi Ainu Village
The weather in Japan was pretty cooling but comfortable. It’s like open air-condition hovering around 15-18 degrees. Personally I enjoy cold weather much more than warm. It has been some time that I travel with a group tour and luckily this tour group is very considerate and easy to get along.
This village preserved the heritage and culture of a once powerful native group known as the Áinu’. You will find several staff there dressed in Ainu outfits in the whole area. There is also a museum where the story of the clan is depicted in great details.
There were also a short skit being performed as well as photo-taking with the Ainus.
Shikotsu-toya National Park
We headed over to Shikotsu-Toya national park to take a walk around hotsprings and volcano mountains. The smell of sulphur is quite overwhelming. It took me quite some time to get accustomed to it. The walkways were quite stable.
We probably spend an hour or so here before we return for dinner.
We had to don our Yukata (traditional casual summer kimono) for tonight’s dinner. Quite a different experience and frankly quite comfortable. It’s difficult to stay awake added the fact that I had a midnight flight and didn’t had proper rest.
Noboribetsu Bear Park
The first stop of the day was to Noboribetsu Bear Park. According to the site, brown bears are the largest species of animals in Hokkaido and were worshiped by Ainu.
These bears are really gigantic in size with killer paws. There are quite a few bears with visible fresh wounds that seems to look like the aftermath of a bear fight.
You can also get there via Cable car from Ropeway mountain base and the journey up will take about 7 minutes.
For more information check out their site here
Lunch
One of the things I most look forward to during the trip was our meal times and this time, our lunch concluded with a melon ice cream trip.
Most of the meals were kinda fancy – it almost always have some sort of hotpot, claypot, grills and you have several small portion of different food.
This Japan trip was done a very long time ago and I can’t seem to find the itinerary of these places anymore. If they look familiar to you or if you know them, please let me know in the comments!
Goryōkaku Star Fort
Our next stop after lunch was to Goryōkaku Star Fort located in Hakodate city. The structure of the place was built in the form of star hence the name.
Cherry blossoms (usually blossomed around May) were planted and you can also expect to see a variety of flowers as you take a stroll inside the majestic fort.
The opening hours varies from season so always check their website for the latest information.
Hakodate Sea Port
The Hakodate seaport is one of the busiest port to handle daily trades due to Hakodate’s huge demand for seafood supply.
Almost all of the meals I’ve had in Hokkaido contains seafood dishes. No wonder the seafood always tastes so good and fresh.
Mount Hakodate
Our last stop was a cable car ride up to Mount Hakodate for a magnificent night view. It can get pretty cold up there so remember to bring along your jacket.
Awwwwwww
Unfortunately, my digital journey ends here as I’ve lost the remaining 60% of my photos due to technical error on my memory card. I’m not sure if it was due to the weather or condensation but the images were irrecoverable even with recovery software and services.
It was my first trip to Japan and I’m sure to visit it again. It was a really great trip especially being a fan of Japanese cuisine.
