Surprise weekend away
Written by Bruce Rollerson
Welcome to this week’s mainly pictorial post.
This week we had our first snow of the season and the temperature dropped by 10 degrees. Luckily, the snow was mostly melted by the end of the week and the weekend’s forecast was for sunshine.
However, late on Friday I got a phone call from Kazuko. It was our niece Sakurako’s birthday on Sunday and they were going away for the weekend with my brother-in-law Kii-chan’s family. Unfortunately, Kii-chan’s father became ill and couldn’t go. The room couldn’t be cancelled either, so Kazuko and I were called upon to step into the void.
Kazuko still had to work on Saturday morning and after she finished, we were met in town by Kii-chan, Masako and Sakurako and Kii-chan’s sister and her husband Mr Kawagoshi. We all piled into Mr Kawagoshi’s car and drove north to Asahidake, Hokkaido’s highest mountain, where we stayed the night at an onsen ski lodge.
As ever, the food was great:
While this was cooking on the table, we tucked in to a lemon palate-cleansing drink and seafood starter.
Inside the pot was a mushroomy soup.
These are balls of collagen. They dissolved them in the tofu stew. I've no idea why.
There were several other things, of course: some tasty steak; potatoes wrapped in a leaf and cooked in what appeared to be a salty meringue; raw squid in a salty grey sauce; fresh salmon roe; and some sort of milky soba tea jelly.
We had a nice, hot bath in the onsen and dressed in the hotel’s yukata.
Here is our room. Kazuko is relaxing in her yukata.
Breakfast was also impressive. It included a lacquer box which opened to reveal part of the breakfast.
Looks clever, doesn't it?
Here's the birthday girl.
After another bath, Kaz and I went for a walk around the lodge. We were near the end of the road up the mountain. The road takes you to a ropeway and I assume you can ski back down from the top of the ropeway. It took us ages to drive up the road the night before and it was uphill all the way. I really regretted being in a car and not on my bicycle but I intend to remedy that by returning on my touring bike in May.
Kazuko took a photo of me.
And I took a photo of her.
There was a river and forest in one direction.
And the top of the mountain in the other.
This is where we stayed.
Then we all got back into the car and drove back down the mountain. I don’t know how many kilometres the climb is but it’s not short. I can’t wait to have a go on it with a bicycle and with less ice and snow on the road. We went for a bit of a drive around the area, stopping here and there.
Here's Kaz with the birthday girl.
A splendid building.
A Ferris wheel with views of the Daisetsuzan National Park mountain range.
The mountains.
And once more for luck.
So in summary, no cycling but a jolly good weekend nonetheless.
Kaz and I plan to do a cycle tour of Hokkaido in May next year and I have definitely earmarked this area to be visited by us. I’m looking forward to it already.
Blog o' Rollo 
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The pictures tell a nice story Bruce. If those balls of collagen were medical-grade they might have been valuable in plumping up lips, so it was better that they were melted to stop would-be thieves and backyard cosmetic surgeons from plying their trade.
Sakurako looks quite happy with herself, but don’t let her get complacent – make sure she knows that she needs to improve on her seventh place in that race last month to get another trip like this next year.
That snow sure is pretty.
Can batches of collagen be traced? Perhaps we helping dispose of evidence of a botched backyard plastic surgery case in which someone didn’t get the Jesus Body he or she was hoping for.
Good point about Sakurako. I shall emphasise to her that she needs to finish closer to the front if she hopes to get a carbon frame and Lightweight tubular wheels for her seventh birthday.
And the snow has now been replaced with rain. Lots of it. I hope it might clear for the weekend, though.
I find it comforting to see that even though we are living quite literally the other side of the world from one another, you are currently leading the annual snow accumulation race. We had a little sprinkling this past week as well, but nothing quite compared to what I see here – thank god!!
The world is a huge place and yet so small at the same time. Snow is just as beautiful where-ever it falls. Except when it’s in my driveway and I realize that once again I have been too cheap to pay for snow removal services, so I have to spend an hour breaking my back before I even get to sit in traffic to drive to work!!
P.S. I had not idea the London Eye was on the Asian leg of its World Tour! 🙂
Yes – snow does a terrific job of covering up a lot of man-made ugliness. There’s no snow left in Sapporo now but I can assure you it will be back soon enough. At least I think we don’t get as cold as you do although the humidity does seem to make it feel colder. I’m heading back to Australia in January and I’ll do my best not to put you out by complaining about the heat.
And one of those Ferris wheel capsules held an excited six-year-old and a father who apparently wasn’t prepared to look out of the window.
Jolly nice to see your photos of the season’s first snow. Is that first one taken from your home? If so, what a view you have! The area around the onsen is very pretty country, and I quite understand your desire to visit it on two wheels in spring. Here in the US northwest, we won’t be seeing any snow for a while yet. In fact, today we’re having our first “pineapple express” weather for the year. This is a warm, wet front that comes up from Hawai’i and dumps several inches of rain on our coast and keeps temps up in the mid-50s (that’s mid-teens for you folks who live in the civilized world). So my bike and I are both staying indoors where it’s dry. But back to your photos.. That “splendid building” is rather eye-catching! Do you know what it is? And does it have real doors and windows–in addition to the cleverly painted ones? I think I see a 入 口 signboard near the people, but I’m blowed if I can make out an actual entry anywhere nearby.
Yes, we’re on the 14th floor so we get a decent view of the mountains, including the top of my favourite climb, Mt Teine. I’ve got my fingers crossed that we can get to the end of November before snow stops me from riding but I may be being a bit hopeful there. Instead of the pineapple express, we’re copping the tail end of a typhoon today which has brought plenty of rain and wind. If it’s like that where you are, I can’t blame you for staying indoors.
Kaz tells me the building is some sort of a museum of optical illusions so there is more of the same on the inside. And yes, you are correct in spotting the 入り口. I think there was an entrance there but I didn’t bother walking over for a proper look.
Love the crazy building. I sincerely hope that the locals have posted a sign stating that it is the “World famous suchandsuch of someplace”.
For a building that dominated the immediate countryside, it had a very modest sign proclaiming it to be a Trick Art Museum. I’m starting to feel I should have gone in.
I thought you were both coming back before then – are you staying longer?
Looks good though
Well spotted, Mum. The plan is that I’ll head back to Perth once my term finishes in mid-January because that’s better than being snowed in here for several months. Kazuko will stay here and I’ll come back in May for us to do a tour of Hokkaido on our bicycles. Then we’ll come back to Perth together.
Yo Bruce. Excellent post. I love the lacquer box for breakfast delivery. I wonder if the kids will bring one to me with rice bubbles in it for Father’s Day? I dig that ferris wheel. Does Japan have carny kids?
It was a pretty nifty box. I think they’d have noticed if I had tried to pilfer it, though. I think you could have a small bowl of rice bubbles in the top shelf, mini bacon and eggs in the middle and an espresso in the bottom one. I didn’t see any carny kids but there was one young man having a field day jumping up and down on icy snow on the main veranda. He caused my camera to shake at least twice.
I should clarify… I can see the kids filling the whole lacquer box with rice bubbles and milk and then closing the doors on it and bringing it to me in bed. When I open the doors…
Those little tricksters.
Ah – good point. Some sort of sealant for the doors might be in order. You don’t want it leaking on the way to the bedroom.