Toya-ko Onsen

Breakfast was basic since it was not an extra: coffee or tea with toast. The toilet had a hi-tech heated seat, warm air etc. Since I couldn't read the labels, I was worried I might activate the emasculation option but I needn't have because it flushed itself when I got up. Water then ran out of a tap on washbasin on top of the cistern. I thought: how thorough that they even encourage you to wash your hands after. How to turn it off though? I realised after a moment that the water was running into the cistern, making it do double duty. How clever.

I reached the bus station early so I grabbed a couple of French pastries to supplement the breakfast, then looked at the hi-tech goods in the electronics department store above the station. I saw a 100¥ (their equivalent of a dollar variety store) sign in the basement. On investigation it was beneath a level full of food stalls. I wished I had discovered it yesterday when I was looking for lunch. There were beautiful pastries and Japanese sweets. The beautiful packaging is because they are usually bought as gifts by visitors or travellers returning home. 

There were also seafood and marbled meat for sale. And many bento box stalls. Bento is not just a tasty quick meal but the arrangements are also pretty. It seems they come in endless colourful configurations.


As the bus headed into the country, an automated female voice announced each stop. The driver could have gone faster but he stuck to the schedule because customers were expecting the published timetable. Three hours later I was at Tōya-ko (Lake Toya) Onsen, a small resort town by the lake. The bus to the hostel was due in just over ½ hour so I had a cold seafood udon in a nearby lunch place. It was a bit expensive but good value because of the seafood.

At 1500, and no earlier, the hostel warden checked me in. He didn't speak any English so at times he had to write out what he meant in Kanji. I was glad I had the Sapporo hostel make my reservation for me. A cyclist, Adam, an Englishman living in Tokyo, checked in after me and we got the same dorm. We were the only 2 in an 8 bunk dorm.


The hostel has an onsen, a tiny indoor pool filled with murky mineral water. The basic onsen rule is that you wash yourself clean before you go in. Also you bathe naked (onsens are segregated). I'm not hung up on modesty but it wasn't a problem since I was the only one there. (Adam had already had a go.) There was a mineral analysis displayed in the changing room. I'm sure different minerals suit different ailments. I couldn't soak too long as it was hot and steamy indoors, but it was relaxing.

On my evening stroll by the lake shore I noted that the roadside buildings were restaurants or artifact shops. It had been a warm and humid day, not what I expected in September, but had I paid attention to the climate chart in my guide I would have seen that Japan is a humid country. Dinner was sumptuous, the main course being a squid each, a couple of chicken nuggets, a small dish of bean sprouts, a bit of sweet potato, a bit of omlette, sweet and sour pickles, and a bowl of soup. A bonus was the raw prawns and scallops for dipping in wasabi soy sauce. Tea was freely available. Besides Adam, there were only 4 other people in the room. Adam said that come September 1, the crowds just evaporate.