Ainu culture & volcanic hotspots

The day did not start well at 12:30am, when rain dripping on my head woke me up. No, I hadn't decided to bivowac on the beach; for some reason the tent was letting the rain through, and so it continued, though I did sleep on and off. At 5am I decided to do what Hamish would have done much earlier - I moved to the car, and thankfully fell asleep in the drivers seat for an hour. 

I do remember praying a little prayer about the rain stopping just before I fell asleep, and when I woke up the sun was shining! Thank you Father!

We slowly ate breakfast and packed up, giving time for the tents to dry. 

Two discoveries as we were leaving:

1. The campsite has a shop, which had everything we needed when we arrived, including a gas cylinder. So we could have arrived before check in and before dark. Oh well! 

2. The campsite has a map for recent brown bear sittings in the neighbourhood. Several in the last few weeks near the campsite!

After our day yesterday we decided not to do another huge hike (Mt Eniwa). Instead, a short bird habitat walk - though unfortunately the only bird we saw was a Japanese crow which swooped us several times.

But this walk brought us back to the main (small) centre on Lake Shitoksu. We skimmed rocks on the lake, admired the oldest railway bridge in Hokkaido (1899)

 and had yet another delicious meal - grilled squid, potato mochi and something made with Wagyu beef.

We weren't sure but google clarified that we should not  eat the beaks in the squid. Unfortunately the limited edition Hokkaido Coke was sold out 

Then the excellent visitor centre, where we learnt that a caldera lake is formed by a volcanic eruption which causes the ground to collapse, forming the lake bed, in this case up to 360m deep! 

We particularly enjoyed the displays about the 2 mountains and the moss gorge we conquered yesterday (especially the part that said that the walk through the moss gorge has been closed since 2001), as well as this diorama of a tree's development of a second level of roots when a layer of ash was deposited after the 1739 eruption. 

We've been wanting to try an unusual element of Japanese culture - the onsen - a hotel with thermal spring baths. None of the the places we are staying are onsen but some onsens welcome day visitors. The difficulty for us? The Japanese expect everyone to bath together naked - though it is segregated into make and female. Hamish and I didn't feel all that keen about communal naked bathing, so we asked if we could wear swimmers at Lake Shitoksu and at Noboribetsu, but the answer through google translate was 'you must be naked' (you'll be glad to know that's the only time that phrase has come up on Google translate on our trip so far). An onsen website did give an exception for those with surgery scars, and I did think of utilising my scars from stomach surgery when I was a baby and from an argument between a school seat and my shin, by I didnt think I could really use these to argue I needed to wear swimmers over my private parts. 

Next stop, the National Ainu Museum near Noboribetsu. The Ainu are the indigenous people of Hokkaido and surrounding islands and were the main group on the island until Japanese annexation and  colonisation from the 1860s, which was prompted by the feared encroachment of the Russians. Long ignored and forced to assimilate, some Ainu fiercely maintained their culture and there has been a growing acceptance and celebration in recent years, as evidence by the magnificent museum building, displays and presentations.

Hamish and I were struck by the similarities with early Japanese culture and shinto religion. Both speak of divine spirits with similar words, but the ainu seem to have been more focused on releasing the spirits in animals back to the spirit world. For example, if they managed to catch a young brown bear, they would carefully raise it in this enclosure for 1-2 years before killing it and releasing its spirit through an elaborate ritual. 

Rather than Tori gates and shrines, each home included a window to allow the flow of the spirits and the 'altar' with ceremonial poles was outside. 

For some reason the Ainu did not experience the same dominant influence from China or develop a central government. We could not help but admire their ingenuity and craftsmanship in surviving harsh winters and successfully trading with many different peoples. We loved the presentation of singing, dancing and mouth harping playing in the beautiful outdoor setting, and I adapted our new found ninja star throwing skills to Ainu archery. 

Despite how far we've come with saying hello, thankyou and goodbye, and with using google translate, we skipped the introduction to the Ainu language in Japanese. 

On to Noboribetsu, famous for its volcanic activity and the resulting thermal springs. In fact the name comes from the Ainu word  for 'milky water.' A gentle introduction - Oruyunga footbath - very relaxing.

 Then we followed the river to its source - Oruyunga pond. 

Wow! Unlike anything we have seen before. 

The water here is 130 degrees (and sometimes hotter) so we decided not to have another foot bath!

We decided to leave the even bigger hot spot, Joyunga ('hell valley'), to tomorrow.

Having already been so successful in his selections, The Minister for Culinary Exploration outdid himself for dinner. 

We decided to decline the offer to be barbequed, but we loved the Japanese grill of beef, chicken and vegetables, plus pork kimchi. 

Great fun cooking over coals at our table, and we both liked the famous local beer (Sapporo classic). 

For a day that didn't start well, we were certainly blessed. Loved doing it all with Hamish.