Hokkaido

Konichiwa Minna-san,

I just came back from a five day trip to Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of Japan. I wanted to see myself, the island that was avoided for the most part of Japanese history. The indigenous people, the Ainu, have been inhabiting the place for centuries. The island was eventually conquered and the Ainu treated as slaves and people of lower class. During the Meiji Restoration , when the emperor took back control over the government from the shogunate in the second half of the 19th century, the island was essentially turned into a colony, with many Japanese moving there. Today it is a firm part of Japan but you can clearly see the late start of development. Another trait that separates it from the rest of Japan is its maritime temperate climate. This means pleasant temperatures in summer and shit tons of snow in winter (I definitely have to come back in winter). The land is absolutely gorgeous with its many many mountains (mostly volcanoes, duh) and natural beauty.

I took a plane from Tokyo Haneda International Airport to Chitose (Sapporo) International Airport which takes about 1.5 hrs. I then rented a car, borrowed a tent and started driving towards Toyako. Toya is a caldera that was created 110,000 years ago and now forms a picturesque lake (the "ko" in "Toyako" means lake). Here I camped at the lakeside, and when I mean lakeside I mean DIRECTLY AT THE BLOODY SHORE:

My little green tent.

I couldn't resist... This is the view outside the tent in the morning:

It was very cold early in the morning.

That island there in the middle of the lake is called "Nakajima", which literally means center island (I know, very lazy). It's also the new volcano that has been growing since the caldera formed. Right on the opposite side of my camping ground was one of Japan's best known volcanoes: Mt. Usu. It erupted in 2000. Right next to it is Showashinzan.

Mt. Usu in the middle and Showashinzan on the left side. Don't worry
the white stuff is just a cloud.

This one has a rather peculiar history. Showashinzan and the plateau it sits on did not exist prior to 1943. That place was just as flat as its surroundings. In just 2 years the whole area was uplifted and lava made it to the surface creating the barren cone you can see in the picture. It stands at almost 400 meters above sea level. The water level of lake Toya lies at 84 meters a.s.l.

Showashinzan literally means "Showa new mountain", where "Showa" refers to the time period of the reign of emperor Hirohito.

Interestingly enough, even though the lake is made up of fresh water, there were a bunch of seagulls:

Weirdly out of place.

The Japanese word for seagull is "umineko", which literally means "Sea/Ocean cat". Don't ask...

The sea actually isn't that far away, just about 5 to 10 km.

Back to Mt. Usu and its eruption in 2000. That eruption created numerous new craters as well as a lahar (mud flow) that destroyed parts of the town of Toyako (yes, same name). They left some of the remains standing for people to explore. Guess what I did. This is, what I think, the entrance area of a hot spring and spa building:

I wonder why it went out of business.

The main road connecting to the capital of Hokkaido, Sapporo, used to run through the area that was devastated by the lahar. The bridge crossing the small river was moved about 90 meters away from its original position.

Lonely bridge looking for a road in your area.

On the way to its resting place it scraped an apartment building.

The apartment building sued the bridge for domestic violence.

From there it is only a small walk up to the biggest crater of the 2000 eruption:

Quite big. Another crater is right behind it.

The local government installed massive barriers to prevent damage from another such incident in the future:

It has to look nice though.

Let's stop talking about Usu and move to the next volcano: Yotei, also called "Ezo-Fuji". "Ezo" is the old word for Hokkaido and I hope you all know what Fuji is. This mountain might not be as high as Mt. Fuji ("just" 1,898 m), but it definitely looks stunning:

Everybody should have one, a "Fuji" I mean.

While driving around I noticed something. There were some huuuuge cliffs of exposed material which looked rather intriguing. At first glance it looks like sand but the fact that there are so many volcanoes in the area I though it might be ash. Good thing I brought my binoculars. Upon closer inspection I could see pumices and sometimes denser rocks. These must have been deposits of pyroclastic flows. There was nothing unusual about it except the size, just look at it:

Just massive. At least 20 meters.

This one is even larger.

I drove from the pacific coast to the coast of the Japan sea, which are actually not too far apart around here.

Japan Sea side.

Pacific Ocean side.

If you stuck around until this point I commend you and present you with something special. The sunsets seen from the camping ground were absolutely mind blowing. I tried to take pictures every day and here are the fruits of my labor:

First day.

Second day.

Third day.

It is amazing how different they are from each other while still being beautiful. This will be it for my trip to Hokkaido. Thanks for sticking around and reading the whole thing. Next will be climbing Mt. Fuji together with Shinji to see the sunrise. I can't wait.

Cheerio

Nils