Dates: one week in mid April 2009.

One fact: the northern island of Japan, it represents 20% of the total surface of the country but only 5% of the population live there.

We flew from Kansai Airport to Chitose Airport. In Chitose we rented a car:

Company: Japaren                                http://www.japaren.0123.ne.jp/ (in Japanese)

Car model:  Nissan CUBE (very popular in Japan, I have not seen it in Europe as yet, looks like a tetris piece!, check it here http://www.nissan.co.jp/EN/lineup.html )

For 6 days rental the total price was ¥21000. Car was in neat condition and had sat nav  and CD player.

Hint!: In the Japanese sat nav you can enter as a destination the landline number of the place you are going to. This is very useful as the sat nav was in japanese and entering japanese addresses was not that easy (unless you can read it, of course). So try to get from the internet the destination landline number and ask in the rental company where to enter the number.

Toll prices are very expensive. Example: from Otaru to Asahikawa using only the toll highway we spent ¥4500. The GPS tells you how much you have spent so far when driving in the highway and it updates itself every time you enter a new toll section.

NOBORIBETSU ONSEN

We stayed 2 nights at the famous hotel and onsen Dai-ichi Takimoto kan, mentioned in the Lonely Planet as the best hotel in Noboribetsu.

http://www.takimotokan.co.jp/english/index.html

Price per night was ¥23875 (total price for 2 persons for 2 nights, all taxes included was ¥47750).  The price included breakfast and dinner, both buffet. The room type was “west wing Japanese style”, so there were futons instead of beds. Parking was free. General quality and service were great, although I think the rooms were slightly out of date for such a famous place. The food was good but not amazing.

The onsen and the pools area were simply great, very big and spacious. One of the walls is a huge window facing the volcanic “hell” area and the views are stunning. There were many pools, from freezing cold to hard-to-endure hot water, jacuzzi indoors and outdoors, massage waterfalls…

Men and women are separated in the areas where you have to take your clothes off, but there is a common part were clothes are mandatory and you can be together. This part has a big pool and even a slide.

Noboribetsu village has nothing remarkable at all, but there are some nice walks in the surroundings: taking a look at the “hells”, the lakes and the river, the landscapes…you can find a brochure with these walks at the hotel or in the tourism office. There are different marked hiking trails like Jigoku Dani Loop, Oyunuma Loop or Funamiyama Loop. They are all fairly short, taking less than 50 minutes the longest one.

Weather in Hokkaido was much colder than in Tokyo/Kyoto, sakura had not arrived yet and there was snow in some parts.

MURORAN AND SHIKOTSU LAKE

Cape Earth, Muroran

From Noboribetsu we took a half day drive to Muroran, to visit Chikyu Misaki (Cape Earth). The day was sunny and the views were really beautiful. Both the drive along the coast and the views were worth it. Whale watching excursions from Muroran are very popular but they were not running at that time of the year.

After leaving Noboribetsu we drove up north, stopping at Shikotsu Lake. We loved it. The day was beautiful and we strolled around in the nature trails, where there was still lots of snow. We also stopped at Shikotsu Kohan, walked around the red bridge, the pier, enjoyed the views…

Shikotsu Lake

We had a simple but tasty lunch in the visitor centre (http://www15.ocn.ne.jp/~sikotuvc/ in Japanese) with nice views and lots of peacefulness. Price was around ¥600 for a healthy set menu.

OTARU

Otaru was by far the most beautiful town we visited in Hokkaido. The canal with the old warehouses now turned into restaurants, bars or shops is really nice. It looks fairly European (Russian) and not Japanese. Makes a perfect day or day and a half visit.

Accommodation

We stayed at Hotel Nord Otaru

http://www.hotelnord.co.jp/english/index.htm

Price per night: ¥10800 (for a double room). This included the possibility of choosing between breakfast buffet or brunch buffet (after 12). We chose brunch and it was good, many different choices and good quality. Off street parking was also included in the price. The hotel was really good, recommended, very new, clean and good rooms.

Eating

Uomasa Restaurant http://www.bfh.jp/en/theme/theme_searchdetail/80001126/

It was recommended to us by people from Hokkaido. We decided to try it and it was the best sushi and the best scallops we had in Japan in the 3 weeks!! Highly recommended!! Prices were not cheap but not too bad.

Otaru Canal

ASAHIKAWA

As most of the cities I visited in Hokkaido is not pretty, charismatic or interesting in itself. All streets are organised in grids, nothing remarkable when it comes to sightseeing.

Accommodation

Asahikawa Grand Hotel                           http://www.asahikawa-grand.com/eng/

Price for a double room was ¥8000 per night. Breakfast NOT included. We stayed 2 nights, it is probably the best hotel in town. Rooms were big, neatly clean and service was excellent.

The main reason to go to Hokkaido was to attend the Buddhist ceremony for the anniversary of my wife’s granny passing away. The ceremony was held at the grandparents’ flat. Family and friends got together in the living room where a picture of her granny surrounded by flowers and food was overlooking the event. The priest prayed and chanted during the ceremony and it lasted a bit more than half an hour.

After the ceremony, the lunch was held at Asahikawa Grand Hotel. It was simply awesome. Kaiseki at its best: gorgeous food beautifully presented. One of  the best meals we had in the 3 weeks in Japan.

Eating

We went to a revolving sushi restaurant called Toppi. Sushi was cheap (from ¥100 to ¥200 depending on the type of sushi in the plate). To calculate the bill they just count the number of plates and their colour.

We also tried a popular pizza and pasta Japanese style restaurant called

Chirorin Mura

Address: 1st floor round one 3-1 nagayama, asahikawa.

http://www.asatan.com/entame/entame090602.php (in japanese)

Food was excellent and the service was very friendly.

Chitose Airport:

Last night in Asahikawa we stayed in a Hotel Com´s Chitose, at Chitose airport.

http://www.agoda.co.uk/asia/japan/sapporo/com_s_hotel.html

Price was ¥10000 for a double room, breakfast buffet included. This is the only hotel inside the terminal, what makes it very convenient. Hotel was ok, clean, quiet, nothing remarkable but delivering what you could expect.

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