Shiretoko National Park

When I looked out my hotel room window in the morning, I realised how lucky I had been with the weather the last couple of weeks. Now it was gloomy and raining, so it was just as well I was travelling by rented car now.


Breakfast was buffet style in the hotel dining room. It was a mixture of Japanese and Western food. I went for the Western option. I'm used to oats or at least bread for breakfast, not rice. Also I made the most of the fruit salad since fresh fruit is expensive in Japan.

My steed is huffy pink and the smallest model I could get; it's got doughnuts instead of tyres. It's basically a small car with a big motorcycle engine. I had forgotten to ask for an English GPS, which may not have been available in any case, but the lady from rentals showed me how to enter the code of a desired destination. It's pretty obvious from the graphics which direction I have to go, even if I don't understand the Japanese voice.

Abashiri town is compact because many shops are found along the highway, like shopping strips in the US. Only the strong winds and white breakers from the Sea of Okhotsk on the beaches to the north remind you that this is the north coast of Hokkaido. Intrepid surf fishermen were braving the winds. To the south of the highway is farming land with fertile brown volcanic soil.

The road picked up bends and altitude, a sign that I was entering Shiretoko National Park, the wild northeast tip of Hokkaido. Most of Shiretoko is legally out of bounds, and the brown bears also help keep it this way.  If you look at a topographic map of this part of Hokkaido, you see that a range of mountains forms the spine of Shiretoko and intrudes into the bulk of Hokkaido.  Unfortunately I didn't have time to do a round the cape cruise to see the sheer cliffs.

Deer can be seen all over in Shiretoko, e.g. grazing at road verges.  Curious motorists stop and take photos of the first few, and after a while they realise that they are everywhere. There were even a few outside the hostel that evening. Mind you, I saw some Japanese at the roadside taking photos with cows in the background. A novelty for city dwellers I suppose.

I went to the Five Lakes. There were tour buses galore. I attached myself to a tour group, so that any bear would eat a tastier Japanese person. In any case no self-respecting bear will be seen around here, the trail is well maintained and much treaded. The lakes were so-so.  They would be more spectacular on a crisp cold day, say in winter.

I drove up Shiretoko Pass, which is the divide between the western and eastern halves. This pass is often closed in winter. It was still raining hard and tourists dashed out of their cars to take whatever misty shots they could get and then get away. 

The hostel's facilities have seen better days. However the evening's highlight was a special charcoal grill dinner with fish, scallops, king crab, chicken, lamb and noodles, for which a special price was levied.  Half a dozen of us were seated around a charcoal pit. The big fat scallops and king crab were particularly good. But I think a Chinese chef would be able to do more with it than grilling. I am now satisified that I've had enough Hokkaido crab.