In one afternoon of last year, I looked at 2023 calendar and discovered that if I took a Friday off in late February, I would have a long four-day weekend. At that time, foreign tourist demand to Japan was still low, and I wanted to go see the drift ice once again. I put aside my work for the day and started thinking about my schedule.
Since I have four days, I wished to participate in trekking around the Shiretoko Lakes during the severe winter season. After deciding on the schedule, I returned home early and completed my airline and hotel reservations. Because I made the arrangements a little too early, the Shiretoko trekking was not accepting reservations, I had to make its arrangement on a later day.
After that day, I was busy traveling. I went to the Maldives and got a bad sunburn, and then went to Kushiro on a whim. I forgot everything for the Shiretoko Lakes.
When I came to realize I had not made trekking reservation, it was already in January. Similar 4-day schedule seemed to come to everyone’s mind, and it was already impossible to make any trekking reservations at all. I checked several times to see if there were any cancellations, but it seemed to be impossible. It was a big mistake.
While I was in deep desperations, I found that the Kushiro Marshland Onnenai Visitor Center was offering rental snowshoes. I thought about it and recalled that the weather at Kushiro Marsh was not so good during my last visit in 2023. It would be good to revisit there.
I checked the flight schedule from Tokyo to Kushiro, and found that there were a few seats left, and the last room at a hotel in Kawayu Onsen, where I had to give up last time owing the JR Senmo Line was suspended due to an accident, was still available. In addition, initial onward air ticket from Tokyo to Memanbetsu, the gateway to Shiretoko, had been purchased at a fare that could be cancelled with a small fee. With all these conditions in place, I decided to give up Shiretoko visit and go to Kushiro instead. All has been fixed just about 10 days before departure.
I took a flight leaving Tokyo Haneda at around noon for Kushiro. The forecast for the first day was cloudy, so I did not have high expectations, but it was sunny when I arrived. Kushiro calls itself as one of the three best sunset cities in the world. I took a walk to Kushiro Port to watch the sunset.
The next morning, the weather was clear as predicted, and I took a bus from Kushiro Station to Kushiro Marsh. It was cloudy when we arrived at Onnenai, but it cleared up after a while. Finally, we were able to enjoy the winter scenery of Kushiro Marsh in the best weather.
It seemed that snowshoes were not necessary to walk along the wooden paths in the Marsh at that time of the year. Still, there was more snow than last December, so I could enjoy a different scenery. I encountered many deer. Contrary there were almost no human visitors, and I was able to enjoy the magnificent scenery in peace.
I returned to Kushiro Station by bus and took the JR Senmo Line to Kawayu Onsen. Local trains in Hokkaido are operated with only one or two diesel train cars. Nevertheless, it took a long time to get on and off the train due to the overflow of people into the narrow aisles. The train was delayed for about 30 minutes due to the congestion. Since the train ride is long in Hokkaido, the train should have one more car on occasional crowded days.
The weather did not stay fine for long, and it was cloudy when we got off at Kawayu Onsen station. I took a local bus to the onsen town center. It was a nice hotel with excellent hot spring water.
The next morning was forecast to be cloudy, but it was fine when I woke up. The bus to Abashiri would leave Kawayu Onsen around 10:30. I called a local cab company to visit Mt. Io-zan and back. The weather had been bad when I visited there a few years before, so I decided to give another try. The sulfur-yellow surface of the mountain was covered with a cloud of steam. It was a wild sight.
I had missed going to Kawayu Onsen twice in the past due to the weather, but this time, I managed going there because of my own mishandling of the arrangements. After so many trips I have made, I should have more control on making proper arrangements. However, as is often said, “all’s well that ends well.” As a result, I had a wonderful stay in Kushiro area.