Journeys: Okhotsk - Revision history

Mikkeli at 00:54, 19 December 2024

2024-12-19T00:54:52Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 09:54, 19 December 2024
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	I can't help but imagine it's a story where someone had to start over again, for debt or worse, and they chose to run an ice cream shop in a disused petrol station in the wilderness. It's dramatically boring and boringly dramatic at the same time and I dig this.		I can't help but imagine it's a story where someone had to start over again, for debt or worse, and they chose to run an ice cream shop in a disused petrol station in the wilderness. It's dramatically boring and boringly dramatic at the same time and I dig this.


			[[Category:Journeys]]

Mikkeli at 10:36, 3 December 2024

2024-12-03T10:36:24Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:36, 3 December 2024
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	The Showa generation is far from extinct and modern Showa appreciation is still a thing. So that's their justification for staying as a shadow of the hot spring resorts some 30 or maybe 50 years ago. Not my cuppa tea for sure.		The Showa generation is far from extinct and modern Showa appreciation is still a thing. So that's their justification for staying as a shadow of the hot spring resorts some 30 or maybe 50 years ago. Not my cuppa tea for sure.

	I do have some doubts about whether Kussharo - or to say, the people around this lake who live off tourism - can hold out much longer. Driving past roughly 2/3 of the lake I've seen some 3 or 4 discarded hotels. Car parks are comically empty but that's understandable as holiday season is yet to come.		I do have some doubts about whether Kussharo - or to say, the people around this lake who live off tourism - can hold out much longer. Driving past roughly 2/3 of the lake I've seen some 3 or 4 discarded hotels. Car parks are comically empty but that's understandable as holiday season is yet to come. My totally groundless speculation is some of the business was sold to incompetent investors or outright frauds. Just like Hotel Mount Racey in Yuubari. Maybe I'm just duplicating that grudge which amplified the disappointment.

			The one interesting thing in life is at the intersection of Prefectural Route 52 and Route 243. A building that apparently was a petrol station repurposed to be an ice cream and sweets shop. The ice cream was not bad but always will be the most generic vanilla flavour one could ever get from the most generic suppliers. An extravagant chair inside the shop looked like something that belongs more in a nightclub - the splash the cash 'host' type - than an ice cream shop, and the owner too, per my biased judgements. Outside the petrol station canopy stood, but with the branding washed over or simply faded.

			I can't help but imagine it's a story where someone had to start over again, for debt or worse, and they chose to run an ice cream shop in a disused petrol station in the wilderness. It's dramatically boring and boringly dramatic at the same time and I dig this.

Mikkeli at 10:24, 3 December 2024

2024-12-03T10:24:28Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:24, 3 December 2024
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	I also took the R275 which is the west bank of River Ishikari a bit too much maybe. When I checked my refrigerator door I was amazed that I didn't have the magnet of Mikasa, which is proudly the 1st Roadside Station (registered) in Hokkaido. Yeah, I really shunned the R12 for too long. So I'm going that way.		I also took the R275 which is the west bank of River Ishikari a bit too much maybe. When I checked my refrigerator door I was amazed that I didn't have the magnet of Mikasa, which is proudly the 1st Roadside Station (registered) in Hokkaido. Yeah, I really shunned the R12 for too long. So I'm going that way.

	= ~~Asahikawa... and~~ Route 12 =		= Route 12 =

	= Horokanai =		= Horokanai =
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	Still, this town is not doing too bad. Maybe because it wasn't a coal mine town.		Still, this town is not doing too bad. Maybe because it wasn't a coal mine town.

	Roads from Asahikawa, via Takasu and the incorporated former Town of Etanbetsu, are either covered in snow, snow sorbet, or ice. Which discouraged some drivers to drive up to the speed limit. Luckily there are more than one ~~roads~~ that lead into Horokanai.		Roads from Asahikawa, via Takasu and the incorporated former Town of Etanbetsu, are either covered in snow, snow sorbet, or ice. Which discouraged some drivers to drive up to the speed limit. Luckily there are more than one road that lead into Horokanai.

	The Roadside Station of Horokanai is situated some 15 or 20 kilometres away from the central settlement, up in the mountains. Closer to its northern neighbours than south. The actual Station is part of the town hot spring, which is just 500 yen and has shampoo and body soap, and doesn't charge extra for the sauna.		The Roadside Station of Horokanai is situated some 15 or 20 kilometres away from the central settlement, up in the mountains. Closer to its northern neighbours than south. The actual Station is part of the town hot spring, which is just 500 yen and has shampoo and body soap, and doesn't charge extra for the sauna.
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	Starting from somewhere around Kamikawa, more famously known as the Souunkyou Hot Spring, the E39 is covered in snow and ice just like most other roads north of Asahikawa. Being an honoured expressway, speed limits of 50 km/h are all over the place because of frozen surfaces. And you know you're in Hokkaido when you gets overtaken by cars (plural) probably 20 km/h faster when you're already going 90.		Starting from somewhere around Kamikawa, more famously known as the Souunkyou Hot Spring, the E39 is covered in snow and ice just like most other roads north of Asahikawa. Being an honoured expressway, speed limits of 50 km/h are all over the place because of frozen surfaces. And you know you're in Hokkaido when you gets overtaken by cars (plural) probably 20 km/h faster when you're already going 90.

			It probably was more gradual than I now remember, but in my memory it felt like after a certain tunnel all the snow was gone. Well it made sense in its own right because tunnels go through mountain bodies and mountain bodies block snow.

			Rational as it sounds, it was still very shocking to see snow on the tarmac, on the trees around, on the centre division, well basically everywhere, gone when I cleared a mere tunnel. Or maybe it wasn't so shocking. I was (and will always be) much more occupied with my dire frustration about tunnels.

			= Bihoro =

			= Shari =

			= Kussharo Lake (and Mashu Lake to a lesser extent) =
			I am very certain that the Lake of Kussharo would be the biggest disappointment for this trip. Kussharo, Mashu and Akan are basically three volcanic lakes (I don't know if that's a valid class of lakes, but that's basically why they're hot spring resorts). And geographically akin to Toya, probably. I'm not really an expert on geography.

			Now the problem for me with all those premium, lakeside, Japanese hot spring resorts is how they are too posh and too generic. And too pejoratively nostalgic, which is extra personal.

			The Showa generation is far from extinct and modern Showa appreciation is still a thing. So that's their justification for staying as a shadow of the hot spring resorts some 30 or maybe 50 years ago. Not my cuppa tea for sure.

			I do have some doubts about whether Kussharo - or to say, the people around this lake who live off tourism - can hold out much longer. Driving past roughly 2/3 of the lake I've seen some 3 or 4 discarded hotels. Car parks are comically empty but that's understandable as holiday season is yet to come.

Mikkeli at 13:43, 2 December 2024

2024-12-02T13:43:38Z

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 = Route planning =
-Starting from Sapporo, the most direct way to
+The Okhotsk region is simultaneously larger and smaller than the name suggests.
 = Asahikawa... and Route 12 =

Mikkeli: Created page with "I've decided to write something about my journeys. Surely this is easier than writing a song, or multiple songs... I would say I have a strange perspective about travelling, and I write in that perspective. = Preface = Before I decided to embark on this very journey around the Okhotsk region of Hokkaido I thought I was already well travelled there. Surely I've been to Koshimizu twice, Kitami and Abashiri thrice, plus visits to the less well-known municipalities I can't..."

2024-12-02T13:08:07Z

Created page with "I've decided to write something about my journeys. Surely this is easier than writing a song, or multiple songs... I would say I have a strange perspective about travelling, and I write in that perspective. = Preface = Before I decided to embark on this very journey around the Okhotsk region of Hokkaido I thought I was already well travelled there. Surely I've been to Koshimizu twice, Kitami and Abashiri thrice, plus visits to the less well-known municipalities I can't..."

New page

I've decided to write something about my journeys. Surely this is easier than writing a song, or multiple songs...

I would say I have a strange perspective about travelling, and I write in that perspective.

= Preface =
Before I decided to embark on this very journey around the Okhotsk region of Hokkaido I thought I was already well travelled there. Surely I've been to Koshimizu twice, Kitami and Abashiri thrice, plus visits to the less well-known municipalities I can't remember clearly. And then I thought again, if I can't remember them clearly then I'm surely not well travelled there.

Also when I made those visits I didn't start collecting the municipality sign magnets. It's always extra frustrating when I don't have the magnet of somewhere I actually been to, so I set out to fix this problem.

= Route planning =
Starting from Sapporo, the most direct way to

= Asahikawa... and Route 12 =