Okhotsk II

I decided to take a last road trip while I'm administratively a Hokkaido resident, so I went to Kitami. This is a place I've gone by several times but never had the chance to take a look at in depth. (spoiler: I didn't look at Kitami in this time either)

Onneyu, Rubeshibe, Kitami

Onneyu looks like a hot spring resort from the 90s, or even 80s. I have been there 3 or 4 times, mostly approaching from the Sekihoku Pass - the west approach. The pass itself, to me, is the best pass to drive in Hokkaido, by the way.

Rubeshibe was its own munincipality until it merged with Kitami (alongside several others) in 2006. In that sense, it's not a complete wonder that Rubeshibe and Onneyu possess a slightly different character than Kitami the city.

Hokkaido seriously lacks a type of purely market towns. Rubeshibe, of course, was not a market town either. Rubeshibe was mostly agriculture and mining. The Itomuka mercury mine is a very different thing (which is also the original namesake of the town, or village, Muka Village) compared to not only coal mines all over the Do, but also other metal mines around the Okhotsk region.

That said, Rubeshibe's conversion from excavation / extraction to tourism started rather early. Because there were hot springs. And you know that they've been there for a very long time.

Onneyu is the biggest, and only complexed hot spring resort in Rubeshibe. The other springs are also developed into hotels or baths but lack a full set of supporting community.

The hotel that accomodated me was old to start with. Typical traditional Japanese hallways and room sizes that surely would prove difficult for anyone over 185 centemetres. No-smoking signs for a new era in civilisation with cigarette burn marks on the carpet from an older era. Room heater made by National when it was yet not Panasonic.

I reckon

The fox farm actually opened in 1983 and is still in operation today. I didn't go there on this trip but I remember well how it looked like.

Ikutahara

Ikutahara is one of the 'other' mines in Hokkaido. It's not a coal mine town. It's a fucking gold mine, literally. Well if we're talking literally it WAS a gold mine, just like almost any mine in Hokkaido.

I stopped simply because of the name sounds so similar to Ikuta Haruki. Sometimes in life you just need these added nonsense as catalyst to initiate an action, in this case, stopping by. Probably also due to that they have a spa complex with sauna.