Sapporo Heading South - Can't keep the Idiot Out

[Noel Mugavin]

Found the bus stop, adjacent to the general store

 

[Noel Mugavin]

Time to make my way back to the ryokan for a soak










Fella in the red jacket is the guy that welcomes the guests.


To my room and into a yakata then down to the bath for a soak.
Expecting it to be busy, very pleased that I was the only one there.
Obviously didn;t take a camera in, but a picture from the ryokan website showing the bath

Very relaxing and enjoyable, then back to the room before heading to the dining area for dinner
Met at the entrance of the dining area, then escorted to a private area.
Server introduced herself and I then made the mistake in replying in my very basic Japanese. From there-on-in my communication from her was in Japanese, with 98% way above my comprehension level.
Anyway, food was great
First up - Assorted colourful appetizers


Yonezawa Beef Sukiyaki


Yonezawa Beef Sashimi with sensible vegetables

 

[Noel Mugavin]

Taisho shrimp and crab.
Little pieces in front were potato based and were magnificent


Steamed turnip - delicious


The menu


The bowl thing - matsutake mushroom in an earthenware pot. My lease favourite of all the dishes.
Once the mushroom and fish from the bowl was eaten, you were left with a soup, too much of a fishy taste for me




Maitake mushroom and wild vegetable rice; Pickles from Yamagata
Both very nice, but I was struggling to get through everything by now


Light dessert


Another soak after dinner, once again I was the only one in the bath.
Probably my favourite and most relaxing half hour or so on this trip. Soaking in the warm bath, freezing cold air temperature and snow falling in a beautiful setting
. Magnificent
Made my way back to the room, made use of the in-room massage chair then nodded off to sleep

 

[Noel Mugavin]

Had been a bit of snow overnight, however despite the preemptive apology, noise of snow falling on the roof wasn't an issue


Early morning and off to the bath




Soon enough, time for breakfast, same procedure as for dinner
Couldn't tell you what everything was, nothing too funky though

Beef bowl and steamed tofu


To check out, guest's shoes lined up ready to go



Reception desk, dining room off to the right


Blue sky, beautiful contrast with the white snow


Road away from the ryokan

 

[Justinf]

Personally I would pay extra to hear the sound of snow falling on my hotel roof. Certainly no apology needed.
Great TR.

 

[DC3]

Had been a bit of snow overnight, however despite the preemptive apology, noise of snow falling on the roof wasn't an issue

 

[DC3]

Personally I would pay extra to hear the sound of snow falling on my hotel roof. Certainly no apology needed.
Great TR.

 

[Noel Mugavin]

Snow banked up outside the ryokan















Not much space for me to go if a car comes along





At the bus stop

 

[Noel Mugavin]

Settled in at the bus stop, had a bout a 10 minute wait for the bus to come.
Plan for today was to head to Ginzan Onsen, which was a bit of a logistical jigsaw, due to infrequent buses, high demand and being able to time train departures and arrivals correctly.
First domino was the bus to Yonezawa Station, which had a 25 minute or so buffer for me to arrive before the shinkansen arrived.






General store, or more specifically, the shopkeeper would soon become a significant player in the story


Bit of a rumble, and heap of snow fell from the roof behind me. No damage done,
Bit of movement from the locals


Blue sky had disappeared


Fortunately I scoped out the bus stop the day prior, could have been quite easy to miss


Tractors were out clearing snow


Bus arrival time had just passed, no sighting of said bus, and the snow started to fall

 

[Noel Mugavin]

My umbrella had worked a treat, and I had avoided a couple of roof snow dumps. Unfortunately there was still no sign of the bus.
Old lady from the general store walked over to me and mentioned something about the bus stop and the bus
I was able to communicate that I was in fact waiting for the bus
She was happy with that, and back to the shop she went

15 minutes past the arrival time and still no bus, starting to get a little concerned now.
Old lady from the shop made another visit, and gave me the 'chotto made kudasai' - wait a little while, and pointed in the direction of where the bus would come from.
And then back she went
Few minutes later she was back, this time with a cup of coffee for me. Much needed and much appreciated
Footsteps in the snow from the old ladies path aback and forth from her shop



Few minutes later the bus finally arrived. I hopped on the bus, wiped the windows down, and as we passed the store, there she was outside the front of the shop making sure I got on the bus safely and waving to me as I went
On the bus





At the station

 

[Noel Mugavin]

When I went into the station looked at the board for when the shinkansen was arriving. I had about 10 minutes to spare, so my schedule was still on track. Unfortunately the shinkansen wasn't.
A search on the JR website gave me the bad news that all services between Fukushima and Yonezawa were suspended indefinitely due to heavy amounts of snow on the track.
Had to have a bit of a think, so out to the station tracks to clear my head and work out my next move.



There was a local train that would get me to Yamagata, so my best option. I would then hope to get a local to Oishida Station, where the buses to Ginzan Onsen depart from.



Local was a lot slower than the Yamagata Shinkansen, and absolutely no view out of the window due to a complete white out.
It did get me to Yamagata Station though


Now the search for when the local train would leave to Oishida. More bad news, all services heading north suspended due to snow on the tracks.
Time to call stumps on my attempt to get to Ginzan Onsen and try to find something to do in Yamagata for an afternoon
Some views from inside the station

It was absolutely freezing inside

Didn't look much better outside



Wandered around the shops inside the station, where the highlight was being able to find a zunda shake. Made from edamame, lovely.
Time to bite the bullet and head outside. I had booked a hotel in Yamagate, plan was to visit Ginzan Onsen then back to stay the night here.
May as well scope out where the hotel was as a starter to filling in time




It was about a 6 block walk, so the use of ekimae was a bit liberal

 

[Noel Mugavin]

Hotel found, now what? Decided to walk a couple of more blocks away from the hotel, and glad I did.
Street Food vans and this and that, stretched for a good couple of kilometres

 

[Seat0B]

Then to the Sakura Lounge, which was a complete waste of time. No food anywhere to be found

Yep. We did get a very very limited range of foods, not more than snacks really - rice balls, mini croissant and rice crackers - in the Diamond Premier Lounge (supposed to be the First Class Lounge - at first I thought they had misdirected me as OWE not travelling First Class, but no, it really was the F Lounge.at both Haneda and Sapporo. The Qantas Lounges start to look good by comparison, even the Dom QP.

 

[DC3]

… Diamond Premier Lounge (supposed to be the First Class Lounge - at first I thought they had misdirected me as OWE not travelling First Class, but no, it really was the F Lounge.at both Haneda and Sapporo …

Yes, the JAL domestic lounges are rather ordinary, including First Class.

 

[Seat0B]

Tough going dragging a bag through this

We totally get it! We surrendered gracefully and took a taxi from Sapporo JR station to our hotel. It was only JPY 990 so much better than lugging bags through snow and contending with the slippery paths.