The story goes back to the day I left for my summer vacation. I worked at home on that day, and my mother stopped my home during the daytime. She said she wanted to go to Hokkaido in the fall. I then recalled that the last time I visited Shiretoko in Eastern Hokkaido in the fall, the weather was not good and it was a little early for the autumn leaves. That time was in late September, so it might be good to try a little later.
While heading to Tokyo Haneda Airport after work, I checked schedule and found that all fit in mid-October. Since I was going to visit Shiretoko, I decided to go from Friday to Sunday and added a visit to a sushi place in Oumu Town as well. Using Wi-Fi in the All Nippon Airways (ANA) lounge at Haneda, I sinfully booked Japan Airlines (JAL) award ticket, and set off for Croatia.
While I spend days lazily after returning from the summer vacation, time to go to Hokkaido was approaching. I thought that accommodation fee in Shiretoko would probably be expensive the night before Sunday, so I decided to stay in Shiretoko on Friday and stay in Oumu Town on Saturday. However, to my surprise, the Hotel Hinodemisaki in Oumu Town was fully booked on Saturday night. I secured the last remaining room at the hotel on Friday night and decided to stay in Shiretoko on Saturday night. This would allow to visit Shiretoko Lakes on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.
When I arrived at Memanbetsu Airport on Friday morning, the weather was clear. This itself was wonderful, but the problem was poor weather forecasted for Saturday and Sunday. The bad weather during the last visit to Shiretoko was one of reasons to choose the destination in Hokkaido. If the forecast was correct, I would encounter bad weather in Shiretoko again.
I had a vague recollection that it was not too far from Memanbetsu Airport to Shiretoko. I also recalled that it was not too far from Memanbetsu Airport to Oumu Town either. If so, it would be a good idea to go to Shiretoko on that day while clear skies expected.
I rented a car at the airport and arrived at Shiretoko before noon. It was not crowded probably because it was on a weekday, and I went to the pathway. The autumn leaves stood out in the blue sky, and the blue sky and the autumn leaves were reflected on the surface of Shiretoko Lakes. It was beautiful.
When I finished taking photos and looked at the watch, it was just before 3:00 p.m. It was about time to head for Oumu Town.
I then realized that I had underestimated Hokkaido geography. When I entered the Hotel Hinodemisaki into car navigation system, it estimated time of arrival at 7:30 p.m. When I repeated the phrase “not too far” twice in Hokkaido, it would be quite far, or rather too far away. I had made a 7:00 p.m. reservation at the sushi restaurant in Oumu Town. Anyhow, I got in the car and started driving.
Since there is no such boorish thing as highway along the Okhotsk coast, I followed cars with highway-like speeds of locals and caught in slow-moving traffic in the towns. I arrived at the hotel by 7:00 p.m. despite unsteady speeds. I left my luggage in the room and made it to the sushi restaurant before 7:20 p.m.
From this point on, I hardly remember anything. It seemed that relief of arriving and the delicious sushi made me drinking like fish.
When I came to realize, it was 4:00 a.m. and I had been asleep in bed. The hot spring in Oumu have a high salt content probably due to its proximity to the sea, and they are quite warming. I thought it would be a bad idea to leave without taking a bath after having come all the way there. Since it was too early in the morning, I thought there would be no one in the bath. It should be nicely quiet. I still felt a buzz from last night drinking.
I went into the bathhouse without thinking anything at all. A voice called out from the darkness, “good morning”. It seemed that there was a night shift employee taking the bath in his break time.
I calmly responded “good morning” but I could not help myself blushed.