Author: COLO

Last year, I visited to Monbetsu and Abashiri to see drift ice because I thought there were fewer travelers due to COVID-19 outbreak. In fact, hotels and airline tickets could be changed at last minute. After a quick change of plans just few days before departure, I got into the clear skies and I was able to enjoy the drift ice.

It is a human nature to wonder if there are any birds of this year in last year’s nests. I wanted to go back to see the drift ice again. Due to my own arrangement mistake, I had to reschedule first half of the trip from Kushiro to Kawayu Onsen. However, as expected, I was not able to change my schedule for Abashiri and Monbetsu during the peak season of this year. I had a pretty much fixed schedule, and all I could do was to hope that the weather would be cooperative.

Unfortunately, the weather forecast was cloudy during my stay. If heavy snow was expected, I would have considered returning to Tokyo early, but the forecast was not that bad. I had to leave the weather to the gods of Hokkaido.

From Kawayu Onsen, I took a tourist bus to Abashiri. It was sunny early in the morning, but as I headed toward Abashiri, it gradually became cloudy. I wondered if there is no birds of this year in last year’s nests after all.

With a reservation made in advance, I boarded an icebreaker boat in Abashiri despite the poor weather. Although the scenery was magnificent, it was a bit of lacking from a photographic point of view.

From Abashiri, I continued the bus to Monbetsu. The windows of the bus on winter roads were dirty and the scenery outside was dark and somber. I fell into a sleep on its long way.

When I woke up just before Monbetsu, the light outside the window was slightly brighter. It was hard to believe at first glance, I wondered if the weather was clearing up. Was the weather forecast wrong?

When I got off the bus at Monbetsu Port, it was perfectly clear. I took an evening icebreaker boat for the sunset cruise. Last year, it was partly cloudy on the sunset cruise, so I might say that this alone was worth the trip to Monbetsu again. It was wonderful.

In the evening, I enjoyed at a local sushi restaurant.

The forecast for the next morning was cloudy again. Since weather forecast is just a forecast, it can be wrong. However, it is unlikely to be wrong for two days in a row.

By the way, the room on that day was exactly the same room in the same hotel as last year. If such a miracle could happen, I wonder if there could be some birds of this year in last year’s nests.

I decided not to have excessive expectations and went to bed. Still, it is human nature to be anxious, I had a nightmare that it was cloudy when I woke up.

When my alarm went off a little after 4:00 a.m., the sky was clear in reality. It was unusually cold, but my heart was warm. I headed for the sunrise cruise.

Thanks to the gods of Hokkaido, there were indeed many birds of this year in last year’s nests.

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.