Boys' day out to the boonies

Taisetsu (Great Snow) Express

Nik needed a day shopping in the big city, so Tom and I took advantage of our rail passes and toddled off into the wilds of Hokkaido for a little adventure.

We all had an easy start to the day, after which we went to select bentos for lunch (an easy choice in the end) and caught the 11.00 Lilac Express to Asahikawa. Disaster nearly struck, as I had to run back on to the train to retrieve the bentos I'd left on the luggage rack. Phew.

We only had about 15 minutes there, and then boarded our next Limited Express, a "Taisetsu", which winds its way very slowly through attractive mountainous scenery all the way to Abashiri on the Sea of Okhotsk, but we got off at the first stop, Kamikawa, about 45 minutes up the line.

Giant brown bear

We both demolished our lunch in no time, in Tom's case because he was eager to get to the front of the train and look up the line as we headed east. It was a really pleasant journey, along a twisty single track line in an old diesel express from (I'm guessing) the 1970s - you could feel every gear change.

We arrived at Kamikawa, where I knew we needed a taxi to get to our destination. The station forecourt was deserted - I was waiting for the tumbleweed to blow across the square. Rural Japan has serious issues these days. Small towns are absolutely dying all over the country, and it's desperately sad to see. Just as I was about to ask at the ticket office how to summon a taxi, one arrived, driven by a very friendly old driver, who whisked us off the Hokkaido Ice Pavilion in a couple of minutes. This place exists because Japan's coldest ever temperature (-41ºC) was recorded here in the early 1900s, and this allows people to experience that. I have vague memories of visiting the place on a previous trip to Hokkaido, but it didn't ring any bells.

Lunch on the move

Before we went in, though, we wandered a couple of minutes away to see a bear park (bears are big business in Hokkaido), which was an odd sort of a place - the pens didn't look that great - mostly concrete - but the bears all looked in excellent condition, and the staff were giving them all a good hosing down with cold water to keep them cool in the hot weather. Maybe the bears had some greenery to run around in out of sight. I couldn't see. One of the bears was a tremendous specimen - absolutely enormous. Wouldn't like to meet him in a dark alley.

Freeeeeeezing!

After that, we wandered into the ice pavilion itself, which was quite fun I suppose. They give you thick coats and gloves to stop you freezing. Most of the place is kept at -20ºC which is cold enough, but you can recreate a -41ºC blizzard by pressing a button. We couldn't stand it for long. They also provide a "warm room" where you can get out of the cold for a bit. We immediately took our coats and gloves off as it felt so balmy, and then looked at the thermometer on the wall: +2ºC! It's all relative!

After a few minutes to thaw out in the gift shop, we went to say hello to the bears again, but on our way back to the main road, we noticed an old straw building in the grounds. Turns out it was a replica of an old Ainu (the indigenous people of Hokkaido) house, so we popped inside for a peep. Tom was instantly hooked and put on the only pair of visitors' slippers (yes, the Ainu have been fully colonised by the Japanese), and went for a look around. It was certainly a cosy little dwelling, and the thick walls and roof were presumably good protection against the extreme cold and ridiculous snowfall that winters bring in these parts.

Ainu Tom

Then another ride with our friendly driver back to the station, where we did this morning's journey in reverse. Tom and I had an epic game of UNO on the Lilac express, before meeting Nik at Sapporo station. We were all a bit tired, so it was another dinner at Esta, this time in a sort of traditional Japanese restaurant. Nik had her favourite (nabeyakiudon), I had kara-age with cold soba, and Tom had hot soba with an absolutely colossal ebi tempura. It was so heavy it actually split in half when he picked it up!

Ice bench

Then home for beer and bed. A nice day out. That's as far north as we'll go on this trip.