Snow is Cold

Heading further North the ground was covered in snow. I was thinking that maybe my heavy winter coat had reached the end of its usefulness as the sun was beaming down again in Asahikawa, but perhaps I was wrong. I passed through Nayoro. For some reason the name strikes a chord with me – perhaps it’s deja-vu of sorts. Or maybe it’s just a cute name for a town. A friend had previously mentioned that Nayoro has the *real* best snow in Japan. The mountain looks small, but I felt a pang of disappointment about not being able to see the season out, in Niseko or otherwise.

The train journey was beautifully scenic, passing alongside undeveloped mountainsides and wide alpine rivers. Further along I missed a fantastic photo opportunity as the red sun was poised over the volcano in the sea that is the island of Rishiri. It looked like the fires of mount doom. Afterwards, the train climbed over barren hills covered in what I guessed was bamboo grass. The landscape was like a Japanese equivalent of Bodmin moor. I wonder why they built a town up here, so far away from everything. Predictably the answer was fishing. In this case kelp.

In the evening I followed the old lady of my establishment’s advice and went to a restaurant near to my accommodation. The welcome I received wasn’t the friendliest, I have to say, but the proprietress warmed somewhat when I explained that I’d been given a recommendation to come here from another local. Despite the frosty reception, the saury I ate was the best I’ve ever tasted – so fresh! And the meal set was only 900 yen. So, all in all not too bad. Came home and tried to make a plan for tomorrow. It involves getting up at 6am. Eurgh.