A Longer Trip to Hokkaido

[drron]

And the last picture in the previous post was another memorial to the huskies survival in Antarctica.




And this goose spent more than 30 minutes organising his shots from the road. He had to move when a bus came through. He showed no consideration of other people wanting photos so I responded in kind.


And a Japanese naval vessel. It headed towards Sakhalin and returned about an hour later.


And this is a teaching monument erected by former students of the Karafuto normal school on Sakhalin Island. It opened in 1936 and they were forced out in 1945.






Good views of our hotel.

 

[drron]

This is a memorial to the 9 maidens of Karafuto which is the Japanese name for southern Sakhalin. The 9 were telephonists at the main exchange. They stayed to relay messages for as long as they could.


And their final message. Everyone this is the end. goodbye goodbye. They then took cyanide pills.




This memorial constructed in 1963 is for all those who lost their homes and those who lost their lives.




Now a plaque celebrating the visit of the Emperor to this park in 1968.




And yet another memorial for Karafuto.

with great views.

 

[drron]

We then went further up the hill. Plenty of Electronic equipment.

And past the Wakkanai Centennial Tower.








Then back to the Centennial Tower and first walking around the grounds.

 

[drron]

 

[drron]

Again good views from ground level.












Inside a museum.


With pictures. The Rishiri orchid.

 

[drron]

Artefacts from the original inhabitants.








And a large photo display of old Wakkanai.

 

[drron]

And back to more ancient times.

 

[drron]

It was a reasonable museum and fortunately google translate was working as very little English.
















And you could take a little gift.

 

[drron]

We then went to the upper level. 400 yen each -$4. good views.










So time to go back to town.




On our way to the lighthouse at Cape Noshappu there was a little park where several male deer were grazing.

 

[drron]

More deer.




Now there was a woman creeping up behind this next picture. She was unaware that the male with the largest antlers was coming up behind her.


Boy did she jump. Now the lighthouse.




And what is obviously a fairly cramped aquarium.

 

[RooFlyer]

Free rocks. What's not to like?

 

[drron]

The marker for Cape Noshappu.


And the views.

 

[drron]

Near the little fishing port there were several shacks. Most were in pretty bad shape.






We then went back to the hotel for a nap before going out to dinner.
But there was someting strange going on at the Coast Quard berth.


The little vessel would ram the Coast Quard ship then go back out 2-300 metres, turn around and head at full speed into the ship again. The little boat had 3 uniformed men in it.






It did about 6 times before going back to the other side of the harbour.

 

[drron]

For dinner we first visited the Aeon Mall where there were a few restaurants none of which looked that good. Over the road was a sushi restaurant that was in the top 1o on trip Advisor. It's hours were listed as 1100 to 2030 every day. It was a bit after 5pm and it was closed. We started back towards the hotel on the harbour front road. I saw what might have been a restaurant but mrsdrron thought it was a shop. We were both right. The front was a seafood store and was just about to close but the back was a restaurant and open until 8pm. So we gave it a try.
Communal tables and basic decor. No divide between the seafood business in the front and the restaurant.


Basic kitchen.


A couple more came in after us but they then began turning people away. They were expecting a large group at 6pm.


The food was very good. Mrsdrron had a salmon sashimi rice bowl plus a serve of salmon roe. She loved it.


I had the tempura prawns. Excellent not a scrap was left of the prawns. It came with a miso soup.




We also had an inexpensive french white. when I looked it up on Google the 2018 vintage was nearly double the price in Europe that we paid for it.


The place was run by an elderly couple. she took the orders and her husband was in the kitchen by himself. A couple of young servers as well. We can thoroughly recommend the place. This is it.




On the side a couple of vending machines. one hidden around the corner was for frozen meals.

 

[drron]

Breakfast on our last morning in Wakkanai.


A few small fishing ports just south of Wakkanai on Hokkaido's west coast.




We came into Nishizawa just as they finished their summer parade. Floats lined up.

 

[drron]

The town is on a major river that runs parallel to the coast for some way before turning right into the Sea of Japan. Even though the Parade had just finished the town looked empty. looking both ways on the main road.




Then looking out over the river.














And next to the Parade floats was the fire station which sent us off with a loud blast on it's siren.

 

[drron]

There really isn't that much down the west coast but still a pleasant drive. You see a few deer,some eagles but we wanted to see a bear. none of those.
As Mrsdrron doesn't drive now the stops were at 150 -250 Km apart so we didn't have to rush. Mostly the roads are in very good repair. Quite a bit of roadwork which was expected as several months a year when it can't be done.
So tonight was a stop in Rumoi. Not a great selection of hotels and none with wonderful reviews. We stayed at the New White House business hotel. It has a website but when you click on the language as English it goes to the booking.com website. A double room was 12 sqm and the twin was 17 sqm. So we went with the twin room but I think their measurements were wrong.




And the private bathroom. Obviously because only 1 person at a time could be in there.


And the tap for the basin was also the tap for the bath.


I heard some drums. looking out the window their summer parade was happening.







And out the other side an Octopus.

 

[drron]

About 5 we walked to a sushi restaurant about 100metres from the hotel. same chain as in Wakkanai. it was also closed. There was one close to our hotel in Otaru as well so I checked it out. It was closed too. A pleasant little walk and as usual we both like their hydrangeas.




And Rumoi's man hole cover.


So we hopped in the car and went to the Aeon Mall. Again no restaurants stood out so we went to the Sapporo Co op supermarket who have good products. So sashimi salmon plus roe rice bowl for Mrsdrron and sushi for me.




Plus felt we needed to have some fruit.




Then watched the sun set slowly.

 

[RooFlyer]

And Rumoi's man hole cover.

In Latin script? Post WW2 steel supply?

 

[drron]

The last of the sunset.




While I tasted the local Sake. I liked it.


The much shorter drive from Rumoi to Otaru was much more interesting. This sign was just a sign for the town down the hill from the main road - Tsutomare.


It looked a nice place. busy too.








The next town had the main road lined by marigolds.