Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Shiretoko Misaki Cape and Kunashiri Island

　　At last, we reached Shiretoko Misaki Cape, the tip of the Shiretoko Peninsula. This area has been untouched to preserve the environment. We were also not allowed to step on the soil and viewed the cape from the deck. Do you notice an island behind the cape? It is Kunashiri island, which is illegally occupied territory by Russia. There's no evidence that it belongs to Russia. Antipathy toward Russia is embedded deeply in the mind of Japanese people. The next two pictures show the island. I knew how big the island was viewing the map, but it was much  bigger than I expected to see with my naked eye. It is profoundly regrettable to be deprived of the island. Some people say, "Northern territories were ripped away through the war, so we have to take it back through war,,," Japanese people don't want to wage wars voluntarily against any country, but the antipathy against Russia will never disappear and is increasing more and more.
　　The last picture is the certification of the arrival at the point of the northern latitude of 44 degrees and 22 minutes and the eastern longitude of 145 degrees and 20 minutes. The uppermost line reads "World Natural Heritage Site, Shiretoko National Park".
　　Our ship slowly turned and pointed its bow in the direction of Utoro Port and it began to rain. Where do we go next?

(Vocabulary)
antipathy 嫌悪, 反感 [＋antipathy to/toward] = hostility

　知床岬に到達しました。残念ながら上陸はできないのですが。向こうに国後島が見えます。地図で見たよりも実際に見たらかなり大きな島であることが実感され、ロシアに奪われてしまったことが残念でなりません。択捉はもっと大きな島です。千島列島全てが本来は日本の領土です。取り戻さなければならないと思います。英文には恨み節を書き込みました。ロシア人が論争を挑んでくることを期待するのですが、来ないでしょうね。奴らに勝ち目はないから。
　北海道は最北端とか、再北限とか、到達するといろいろと証明書を発行してくれます。半分ギャグではありますが、いろいろ保管しているのでそのうちＵｐします。

Kamuiwakka and Shiretoko Ohashi Bridge

　　I found Kamuiwakka creek at last and took some shots of its outlet. Looking up and searching carefully, I detected Shiretoko Ohashi Bridge in the deep forest. You'll find the bridge in the first two pictures. Its right side is the Hokkaido side and the left is the tip side. You are allowed to cross over the bridge, but the road is closed at the end of the bridge.
　　I'll present you a picture which was shot 13 years ago near the bridge. The off-road rider with the red jacket on is me. Just after taking this snap, we found a bear wandering ahead of us. We were so surprised and revved the engine up to make a lot of noise to scare the bear away. The bear is in the center of the next picture, but it might be hard to find.
　　While remembering something concerning Kamuiwakka, two sea kayaks came into my sight. They were moving just under the big rocks which had been formed by volcanic activity before recorded history. The closer we approached the shore, the more spectacular scenery we could see, but the ship was too big to get in any closer. The sea kayak looked the best way to enjoy those rocks.
　　The port side of the ship was the Sea of Okhotsk and nothing could be seen on the way to the tip. These waters looked calm, but it's the sea of dispute with Russia. A submarine could hide under the water. Seeing the calm sea, such an idea entered my head.

(Vocabulary)
give it the gun / gun / rev up a motorcycle 　エンジンをふかす
enter　〈考え・感情などが〉〈心〉に芽生える,〈声など〉に表れる
A note of panic entered her voice. 動揺の色が彼女の声に表れた．
sth did not enter sb's mind/head(話) ＜人＞が＜…＞など考えたこともない
The idea of getting married hadn't entered my head! 結婚するなんて考えたこともなかった！
note　《常に単数形で》(声の) 響き, 調子, (人・場などの) 様子, 雰囲気
She brought a note of realism to the debate. 彼女によって討論は現実味のあるものとなった．
strike/sound/hit a ... note  …な調子を帯びる, …な様子を見せる

　２００１年にオフロードバイクでツーリングしたときに知床半島北側を海岸沿いに限界点まで到達しました。それが知床大橋。渡りきったところで閉鎖されていました。道路は整備されていたので定期的に管理者が使っているのだと思います。その知床大橋からこの遊覧船を見下ろしたことがあるので逆に橋を見つけることができるはずと考え、目を凝らして見つけました。橋の存在を知らなければ、濃い緑に囲まれているので見つけることは難しいでしょう。バイクの写真を載せましたが、この撮影をしているとき、撮影者の後方５０メートルくらいに熊が現れました。慌ててバイクをふかして、後方に見えるご夫婦とともにじわりとその場を離れました。最後から２枚目の中央にその熊がいるのですがわかりますか？それと、次回はシーカヤックに挑戦します。あの距離まで近づけたら奇岩を十分に堪能できると思います。

Mt. Iwoyama

　　There's a river called "Kamuiwakka" on the Shiretoko Peninsula. The specificity of the river is the temperature of the water. It's warm! The farther up you go, the warmer the water is. There are several waterfall basins on the route of the river, each has its own water temperature. Visitors are able to enjoy a spa of their choice. I have been there twice and I wanted to see the site spewing from the ground, but I didn't have climbing gear at that time and I was also scared of the brown bears. When I looked down on the see, the water around the outlet of the river became tinted yellow. It would be due to the sulphur.
　　Looking at the map, I found Mt. Iwoyama upstream. I was waiting on the deck for the ship passing by the mountain. The first three pictures are of Mt. Iwoyama. No trees and grass were found on its top. It would be due to the sulphur. "Iwo" means sulphur and "yama" means mountain. I remembered the "Sulphur Mountain" in Banff. It's interesting that the method of naming is similar between Canadian and Japanese.
　　I'd visited the river in 1997 and 2001. The internet wasn't so popular at that time, but I wanted lots of people to see my pictures and put together a website of each trip. I'll show you the link to the websites and check the wonderful pictures.

(Vocabulary)
basin / plunge basin / water pocket / waterfall basin 滝つぼ
upstream (川の) 上流に
The village is about 5 miles upstream. 村は川上に約５マイル行った所にある．

Album 1997
Album 2001

　カムイワッカと呼ばれる川がある。お湯の流れる川だ。過去２回行ったことがあり、湯のわき出る場所を見たくなった。だが、登山道具を持っておらず、熊の危険もあり、登れていない。また、川下を覗き込むと海の色が一部変わっている。この川の硫黄のせいだ。以来、上流も下流も見てみたくて仕方が無い。
　地図を見ると上流には硫黄山と呼ばれる山がある。字の通り硫黄を噴きだしているのだろう。それを船から捉えた。最初の３枚がその写真。硫黄のために周囲には草木がない。
　１９９７年と２００１年に訪れたときのアルバムへのリンクを貼っておきます。

Shiretokomisaki Cape

　　The topic, Shiretokomisaki Cape, is located on the tip of the peninsula with the same name, which pokes out of Hokkaido to the east. The end of the peninsula, about 1/3rd of it, is off-limits. Ordinary people are stringently prohibited from stepping in the area for the conservation of nature. The area is also the highest concentration field of brown bears.
　　I have been eager to visit the cape since long ago. However, if you walk to the cape, you have to get permission from the authorities and need a veteran guide. It takes time and cumbersome procedures. I decided to utilize a sightseeing ship, though I wouldn't be able to land on the cape.
　　We had reserved the tickets of the ship in advance and it was supposed to cast off at 10 o'clock. We left our hotel at 8 o'clock and headed for Utoro, the port from which the ship would start.
　　The first picture shows the route from Shari to Utoro. The sky wasn't clear, but it didn't rain at that time. The next one shows our sightseeing ship, Aurora 2. Our expected voyage time was 3 hours and 15 minutes, and so the first thing we did on-board was a toast with the special beer which we could only purchase on-board. Three hours were thought to be enough to become sober.

(Vocabulary)
cumbersome 〈手続き・やり方などが〉 面倒な, 煩わしい;〈物が〉（重くて）扱いにくい, 運びにくい; 〈発言・表現などが〉長ったらしい, わかりにくい, 込み入った
cast off  綱を解いて出航する; ＜人＞を見捨てる, 追い出す, ＜…＞を放棄する, 捨てる

　知床岬観光船を予約していました。１０時発でしたので川湯温泉を８時過ぎに出て車の殆ど走っていない道を快走。道路の写真は別にアルバムにまとめて整理するつもり。船はモーターボートのチャーターから小型観光船、このオーロラまでいろいろな種類がありました。この船はトイレ、売店など整っており、最も安価で、揺れが少ないことで選びました。ただ岸に近寄ることができないのが欠点でした。３時間あまりの航海なので船に乗ってすぐに船内限定ビールで乾杯！

Folk Dance of Ainu Descendant

　　After a nice dinner, we went out for a walk in the used-to-be-busy street of the Kawayu Onsen Spa. I had been there 17 years ago and the center of the town was swarming with tourists at that time, but today the number of people on the street even in such a high season was a half or a quarter of former times. I was sad to see how the town was. Several Ainu descendants were performing their traditional dance and musical instruments on the makeshift stage. We enjoyed them for a while.
　　Ainu people had once lived in Hokkaido and the northern part of Honshu, the largest island of Japan, and now have been completely absorbed in Japanese people. When two peoples lived closely, one of which had their own letters and the other didn't, the latter would become a part of the former. It's the inevitable rule of history. Several Japanese researchers of linguistics left a series of achievements written in Japanese about the language of Ainu. However, their accurate pronunciation had already evaporated in years. Today, their words are retained only in the names of lots of places, lakes, mountains, rivers and so on in Hokkaido.
　　I had visited an Ainu cuisine restaurant in Tokyo once. They surely used ingredients which I could imagine that Ainu people would have used, but all the cuisine was seasoned by soy sauce, oily dressing materials or flavouring, even mayonnaise, which didn't exist in the world of Ainu. Their culture is rapidly disappearing.

(Vocabulary from comments)
resurrect〈昔のことなど〉 を復活させる;《通例受け身形で》 〈死者〉 をよみがえらせる
He has been trying to resurrect his political career. 彼は政治家としてもう一度花を咲かせようとしている．

　ホテルで夕食後、川湯温泉の中心温泉街を散策。寂れように驚く。１７年前はかなり賑やかだったのに。広場ではアイヌ民族の血を引く人たちが伝統芸能を披露していた。北海道、東北のアイヌは日本人と同化し、樺太や沿海州のアイヌたちはロシアなどに同化した。文字を持たない民族と持つ民族が国境を接した場合、文字を持たない民族が消えるのは歴史の必然。とはいえ、この文化がなくなるのは惜しい。最後の写真は前の日に余市のニッカ蒸留所で買い求めたウィスキーとつまみ。愛媛からはるばるやってきた弟子屈町で旅情に浸る。

Akanko Lake, Mashuko Lake and Iwoyama

　　I parked my scooter on the lakeshore of Akanko Lake, which is well known as the lake of "Marimo", the spherical moss. Marimo is designated as a natural monument and is now found only in a small area of the lake. I wanted to see it and headed for the small islet in the lake, on which you can see it in its natural status. The weather wasn't clear, but I was able to view two representative mountains of the area, Mt. Oakandake and Mt. Meakandake from the surface of the lake.
　　Though the sky didn't become clear, I enjoyed riding along the road which was fairly clear in the sparsely populated area. I thought that the police wouldn't set up a speed trap on such a cloudy day. I love such idyllic scenery.
　　I stopped at Mashuko Lake next. As you see in the picture, I was wearing my raincoat all day except a short time on the sightseeing boat on Akanko Lake. It's an extraordinary climate to continue raining for a few days in this season of the year.
　　About 4 o'clock, we reached today's destination, Kawayu Onsen Spa and dropped in at Mt. Iwoyama, which was actively belching sulphur and vapor. You wouldn't put up with standing even for only ten seconds on the leeward side of the opening of the ground. I felt the activeness of the earth.

(Vocabulary)
be designated as a natural monument 天然記念物に指定される
set up a speed trap（警察などが）ネズミ捕りを行う
idyllic 牧歌的な, のどかで幸福な
belch sth out 〈煙・炎など〉を吹き出す
on the leeward side of ～の風下側に
in/under the lee of sth  ＜…＞の陰に, 風下に

Naitai Highland Pasture

　　We chose a business hotel in Obihiro City due to its reasonable price and convenience. Naturally, this kind of hotel is designed for business persons, but it had a parking space for motorcycles and bicycles. I thought it was because of the specificity to accommodations in Hokkaido, which attracts motorcyclists and cyclists. In the first picture, my friend was preparing for departure.
　　The weather of Aug. 7th was also bad. It was raining, but I was glad that the rain wasn't so hard as that of the previous day. We dropped in at a gas station on the way to Naitai Highland Pasture and got the green flag in the second picture there. I got to collect two flags, about which I'll write at the end of this series of trip memos.
　　We were running by the guidance of the Navi, but lost our way. I happened to see an off-road at that time, and I wanted to ride on it. However, it was too tough for my scooter. I wondered if I would buy an off-road motorcycle as the replacement of my present scooter in the not so distant future.
　　The purpose of visiting the pasture was to take snapshots of us riding motorcycles in the vast field of grass. The pasture is famous as the ideal location for shooting. The weather, however, didn't allow us to take beautiful and vivid pictures there. It was a real shame. You can see clouds gathering over the grass in the following pictures.

(Vocabulary)
Naitai Highland Pasture ナイタイ高原牧場(帯広の北、上士幌町にある）
specific to sb/sth (フォーマル) ＜…＞に固有［独特］の

　昨夜は帯広で全員集合。町に繰り出しました。気炎を揚げたまでは良かったのですが、今日も雨。ナイタイ高原牧場で走っているところの写真を撮ろうと思いましたがこんな天気ではどうしようもないです。ただ、走るのは気持ちよかった。途中ホクレンの旗、２本目を集めました。道に迷ってしまったのですが、フラットなダートを見つけ、オフロードバイクが欲しくなってしまいました。次は、、、(^o^)

Obihiro City

　　We were supposed to get together with another motorcycle freak in Obihiro, which is 250km east of Yoichi today. The new member was to fly into Hokkaido in the same way as us. I found a variety of interesting goods in the gift shop of the distillery, but I didn't have time to examine and pick them up. I wished I could have stayed a night in Yoichi, and I would have visited another museum concerning space and astronomy. Anyway, we left for Obihiro in the rain. We passed through Otaru City, one of the historic cities in Hokkaido without our feet setting on soil.
　　We got on the expressway at Otaru City and headed for Obihiro City. To tell the truth, I don't like riding on the expressway, because motorcycle riding on it requires more attention than driving cars due to its high speed. However, there was no other way to save time. The weather became worse, and thick fog started to cloud the shield of my helmet. We had to take a rest at least once an hour.
　　No sooner had we arrived at the hotel than another friend came to us. He must have ridden faster than us. After taking our possessions to each room, we set out for dinner in the downtown of Obihiro City. The downtown was so boisterous and it made us cheerful even in the rain.

(Vocabulary from comments)
obnoxious
1 〈人・発言などが〉 ひどく不愉快な, 鼻持ちならない
2 〈においが〉 とても臭い

Nikka Whisky Yoichi Distillery

　　Yoichi town is a small town in the west of Otaru City, but it's famous for being the hometown of Mr. Mamoru Mouri, the first Japan-native astronaut, and also for the home of Nikka Whisky Co., Ltd. The company opens part of its distillery up to the public. I really wanted to see inside of the distillery.
　　The founder, Mr. Taketsuru, spent years in Scotland to learn how to make whisky. After mastering the art of producing distilled alcoholic beverages, he came back to Japan and started his career at the predecessor of Suntory Co., Ltd. Several years later, he established his own company in Yoichi at 40 years old, whose climate was just like that of Scotland and it was the reason why he had chosen Yoichi as the home of his factory.
　　I learned the procedure of making whisky walking along the tour route in the exhibition hall. I was able to try all kinds of their products, but I had to ride my motorcycle later. It was very regrettable not to be able to taste the fresh whiskies and/or brandies straight from the distillery.
　　By the way, another motorcycle freak would join us today in Obihiro City. We had to leave for the designated hotel right now. There was historic Otaru City near there, but we had just passed through the city.

(Vocabulary)
art 《常に単数形で》技術, 熟練
the art of (doing) sth ＜…＞（すること）の技術
Television is ruining the art of conversation. テレビのせいで会話が乱れている．
be quite an art  高度な技術を必要とする
Writing advertisements is quite an art. 広告を書くのは高度な技術を要する．
predecessor prédəsèsə(r) || prí-/  前任者; 前身, 前作, 旧型 [反意]  successor
sth's predecessor ＜…＞の旧型
The new model has a more powerful engine than its predecessor. 新型モデルには旧型より強力なエンジンが搭載されている．

http://www.nikka.com/eng/distilleries/

　余市にあるニッカウヰスキー余市蒸留酒製造所へ寄った。以前から一度は来て見たかった場所だ。創業者の竹鶴氏はスコットランドに学び、ここで蒸留酒造りを始めた。余市の気候がスコットランドに似ていたため、ここで創業したという。製造工程の説明、蒸留所の歴史、創始者にまつわる歴史、、、多くの知識を得た。試飲コーナーが充実していたが、運転があるため飲めず残念だった。

Toyohama Tunnel

　　We parked our motorcycles in the parking lot of the tip of the Shakotan Peninsula, which is called Shakotan Misaki. Though we would have had to walk for an hour to view the whole area of the beautiful and rugged coastline, we didn't. We saw only accessible places. When we went through the tunnel in the picture, we were amazed at the magnificent view of the coastline and the horizon. I was really sorry that we didn't have enough time to see around and had to leave there soon. We left for Yoichi town without having lunch.
　　We passed through the present, newly built Toyohama tunnel just before our arrival in Yoichi town. I thought I had to write about the collapse of the former Toyohama tunnel at that time, which had occurred in February in 1996. The tunnel had been drilled through the enormous secure rock and no one thought that the tunnel could collapse.
　　However, everything which has some form will be sure to collapse even though it might be once in ten thousand years or once in several million years. That designated time was on Feb. 10th in 1996. Twenty people were crushed to immediate death in the collapse. Now, the new securer tunnel was dug parallel with the old one. When I was riding in the tunnel, I prayed for victims in my mind. The picture of the monument to the dead was collected on the net.

　積丹岬でも同様に急いで観光して余市へ向かった。時間が無かったのである。そして余市へ着く直前にあの豊浜トンネルを通った。９６年に２０名の死者を出した崩落の起こったトンネルである。トンネルに入る直前、左側に慰霊碑が、出た直後に左後方を見ると、旧のトンネルへ続く道が見えた。時間が押し迫っており、ここも通り過ぎた。

Kamui Misaki Cape (神威岬)

　　We dropped in at Kamui Misaki Cape, one of the tourist attractions of Shakotan Peninsula. The lighthouse on its tip was lit in 1888 and has been working until now. It is the fifth oldest lighthouse in existence in Hokkaido. The whole of Kamui Misaki Cape is known by its spectacular terrain. It has long been said in a legend that women must not go to its tip, or something horrible would happen. However, the legend is the legend. Anyone can walk to the very tip of the land now. You might think that the gate in the picture looks like a torii, shrine gate and you are right. The entrance of the path to the lighthouse seemed to be designed with the legend in mind.
　　By the way, whatever you say, the specialty of Shakotan Peninsula is sea urchins. I was going to eat it there, but the popular and single restaurant at the cape was so crowded and I had to give up eating it there because today's schedule was extremely tight. There were other sightseeing spots and we had to ride more than 400km today. It was not difficult to appreciate how bad the situation had become due to the detour in the morning.
　　After coming back to the parking lot from the lighthouse, I immediately headed for Shakotan Misaki Cape.

(Vocabulary)
appreciate …を認識する, 理解する, (困難を)察知する
appreciate how/why  どれだけ［なぜ］…かを認識する
It is difficult to appreciate how bad the situation has become. 状況がどれだけ悪化したのかを認識するのは難しい．

　神威岬と呼ばれる岬はオホーツク側にもあるが、ここは積丹半島の神威岬、日本海側に突き出ている岬だ。道の駅オスコイかもえないを出て切り立った壁に沿う道路を走り到着した。最後の縦長の写真は岬の先端から陸地側を眺めたもので、良く見ると結構危険な場所に遊歩道が付けられている。岬の入り口には鳥居のような門がある。昔、この地は女人禁制だったという。楽しみにしていたウニはパスせざるを得なかった。朝の通行止めによる迂回で１時間以上時間のロスがあっただめだ。今日はなんとしても帯広までは行かなければならないため涙を呑んで食堂前を通り過ぎた。

Rest Area "Michinoeki Oskoi Kamoenai"

　　Look at the first picture. The Japanese words in red mean "You are here". We were round-riding in a clockwise direction along the coastline of the Shakotan Peninsula, which is located in the west of Sapporo. There are lots of (about 1000 or more) rest areas along the road in Japan, which are called "michinoeki", which are literally roadside stations. Each michinoeki has its own characteristics but one thing in common, the rest rooms which are open to the public 24/7. The red sign on the board points at a michinoeki, Oskoi Kamoenai.
　　You can see it in the second picture, and it looked rather exclusive compared with other michinoekis. According to its staff, it was destroyed by high waves of a typhoon in 2004 and had long been closed, but was rebuilt in 2010. Hearing that, I understood its exclusive design. The hill behind it also looked steep, though the wall was shored up.
　　Yesterday it was raining heavily almost all day. There were "no" riders other than us. I thought that the total number of riders in Hokkaido might have decreased recently, but it was not right. They were just staying inside and we were just abnormal. We met several riders since then today and met a couple riding a Honda Gold Wing here. Chatting with strangers in this way is also part of the fun of motorcycle riding. We continued on the journey.

(Vocabulary)
shore sth up
＜経済・価格など＞を支える = prop up
＜屋根・壁など＞を支える = prop up

Michinoeki:
http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2006/08/lay-by-michino-.html
http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2014/08/muroran-city-and-toyako-lake.html

　地図で赤い文字で書いてあるところに着いた。この道の駅の造りに興味を持った。この周囲をシャットアウトする構造は異様である。聞けば２００４年に台風により破壊され、２０１０年に場所を変えて再開したらしい。後ろの擁壁をみると、この場所は海の上に作った場所に違いなく、厳しい自然環境が想像された。

From Niseko To Kamoenai

　　I was going down to the west coast of Hokkaido from the inn, but it meant that we gave up seeing Mt. Yotei. I wanted to see it and rode to the east for 10 minutes, and was finally able to see a part of Mt. Yotei appearing over a vast sunflower field. It's also called Ezo-Fuji, from its Mt. Fuji-like shape. "Ezo" is the old name of Hokkaido.
　　Then we went westward and dropped in at Nisekoyumoto Onsen Spa. The third picture is the source of the spa. At the parking lot, I knew that the road to the coast had been closed for fear of a landslide from the driver of a tour bus which was there. We had to take a detour, but the ZUMO550, Garmin's motorcycle navigation system, was great and it lead us properly. We comfortably went on riding on the signal-sparse and traffic-sparse road to Kamoenai village.
　　When I was working in a small town's municipal clinic, I built my office's website. It was 18 or 19 years ago and it was unusual for a small clinic to have its own website at that time. A primary school teacher, who was also struggling to build their website, sent me an e-mail, which encouraged me to complete the site. The primary school in which he or she was working was Kamoenai primary school. The sign, showing the route to the school, put along the road reminded me of those days.

　ニセコから西へ向かうと羊蹄山はもう見られない。１０分ほど東へ走って羊蹄山を見てから峠越えで岩内へ向かうも通行止め。岩内をパスして神恵内へ向かう。雨の中、地図を拡げにくい中で、ガーミンＺＵＭＯ５５０は確実に道を示してくれ本当に助かった。
　２０年ほど前に初めてウェブサイトを作った。当時勤務していた山村の診療所のサイト。そのとき、北海道からアクセスしてくれた教員が二人。どちらも小学校のサイトを作っていた。お名前を覚えておらず連絡のとりようがないのだが、ひとりはこの神恵内小学校の先生だった。

Morning Spa

　　The brightness of outside woke me on Aug. 6th. We were so battered from the rain on the previous day that even the pale light of early morning was a blessing without rain. The first two pictures were shot from our room. Our inn was located in the deep forest and its scenery was absolutely fantastic. It was the time when nocturnal fairies of the forest went back home.
　　The next picture was shot at the outdoor bath. You might feel it curious that I have a smartphone in my left hand in the picture, but it's for the remote control of the camera. I was able to use the functioin of self-timer, but I had to be back to the original position rapidly in 15 seconds, and if I did so the surface of the tub wouldn't become calm in such a short time. As you can see in the picture, it was a really relaxing time. As I'm a city kind of person, I'd taken to the time in such an inn in a big way.
　　Following the morning spa, the breakfast was served, which was prepared using local organic products and wild vegetables. Do you notice an egg on the plate? It's called Onsen-tamago, boiled in the source of the hot spring. It is often seen in Japanese hot spa resorts.
　　The weather wasn't perfect today, but it was good enough for the tourists who had been plagued all day yesterday by heavy rain.

(Vocabulary)
pale　〈光が〉薄暗い, ほのかな
the pale light of early morning 早朝の薄明
take to … ～が好きになる、～になじむ
wild vegetable 山菜

　柄にもなく、ちょっと詩的に書いた文章です。朝の光で目が覚めました。前日、大雨警報の中を走った身には飛び上がるほど嬉しい朝靄（もや）です。雨は降っていません。宿は森の中にあるので静かで、最初の２枚は窓からの風景です。起き抜けにすぐ温泉でのんびり。スマホを持っているのはリモート撮影のためです。スマホとデジカメが繋がるので便利です。セルフタイマーも使えますが、浴槽の縁にカメラを置いているので構図を決めがたく、スマホの画面にカメラの画面が表示されるのはとても便利です。１０秒ほどで浴槽の中を走って元の位置に戻ると水面が荒れてしまいますし、スマホの遠隔操作は便利でした。決してとなりの女風呂を撮影しようなどと考えているわけではありませんからね。朝食は地元の食材、山菜、温泉卵。朝食も運ばれてきました。宿泊料は８０００円くらいだったかな。布団を敷いてもらい、片付けてもらい、そして食事をわざわざ運んでもらい、申し訳ない感じです。さて、今日はツーリング行程中もっとも長く走る日です。４００ｋｍ以上走るので早々に出発です。

Koikawa Onsen Ryokan Inn （鯉川温泉旅館）

　　When we arrived at our inn, the rain ironically became gentle. Tonight's inn was established 115 years ago and is one of the oldest in the Niseko area . Niseko is endowed with nature and is now getting more and more tourists from all over the world, especially in winter.
　　The first thing we did in our inn was to bathe in the old and historic hot spring. We went straight to the spa after carrying our possessions to our room. Luckily, there was no one with us. I took two pictures of inside and outside of the spa and I'll show you below. The hot spring was really comfortable even in the rain.
　　Generally speaking, guests eat in their own rooms in the traditional style of a Japanese inn. At cheaper inns, however, instead of the traditional style of having meals brought to your room, guests eat in restaurants, such as a sushi bar and teppanyaki restaurant. We presumed that all the guests would be gathered in the eating room, because the lodging expense wasn't so high, but our dinner was served in our room. I was so surprised.
　　Wandering in the inn, I found that the inn was designed in the old fashioned style and it had no bigger room for meeting for dinner. It might be the reason of the unusual service in the guests rooms. Not to mention it, the dinner was great and we went to the spa again in the dark.

(Vocabulary)
endowed with sth ＜才能・美貌(びぼう)など＞に恵まれて
no one with us  我々以外には誰もいない

ついたら雨が小降りになった。なんと皮肉な。(^_^;) ここは鯉川温泉旅館という築後１１５年の古い温泉宿。旅装を解いてすぐに温泉へ直行。１１５年の歴史を物語るような温泉成分がこびりついた風呂。湯量はたっぷりで湧き出るがままの掛け流し。雨の中の露天風呂での写真をＵｐ！食事は部屋に運ばれてきた。高級な旅館ではないのだが、皆が集まって食事を摂るようなスペースがないからだろう。名前に惹かれて秘湯ビールを買ったが、秋田県産だった。秋田県は秘湯と呼ぶにふさわしい温泉がたくさんあるからまあ許そう。愛媛で作ったりしたらお笑いだが。

Makkarimura Village

　　I didn't want to ride in the rain, but I had a place I wanted to drop in at in case of rain at the foot of Mt. Yotei. It's called Spewing Water Park and a significant amount of subsoil water has always been spewed since ancient times. I've visited there before and wrote some entries (link). When I visited there for the first time, I heard a professional tour guide of a group tour say "Since it flows from an underground source, the water is surprisingly clear and doesn't get muddy even after it has rained." I was through the unusual heavy rain and it reminded me of her comment. However, my friend looked tired and the rain got heavier. I decided to cut corners to the inn.
　　We took a rest at the statue of a famous singer, Takashi Hosokawa, who is from this small village, Makkarimura. We were wearing helmets even on the walk due to heavy rain. There were no other people and we parked our motorcycles in front of a closed souvenir shop. I was grateful for the site. If you look closely at the picture, you'll notice the line and splashes of raindrops.
　　Before our arrival at the inn, we filled up at a gas station and I got a yellow flag there. The flag is a kind of symbol of riding in Hokkaido. I'll be sure to write about several flags comprehensively later.

(Vocabulary)
subsoil water/flow 伏流水

雨の中のツーリングは好きではないが、この近くにある京極噴き出し公園に噴きだしている羊蹄山の伏流水は大雨でも濁らないと聞いたことがある。本当にそうなのか見てみたいと思ったが、疲労もあるので、近道をしてニセコへ向かった。途中、細川たかし像で休憩。写真を良く見ると雨粒の線や地面の跳ね返りがわかる。ここでも休業中の店の軒先を無断で借りて休憩した。ニセコで黄色い旗を入手。旗については後ほど。

Muroran City and Toyako Lake

　　We rode motorcycles south to Chikyu-misaki Cape in Muroran City. The rain became gentle there and we took a short walk around the cape. It was that time of the day finally, only 30 minutes or so, that the rain stopped. After the cape, we crossed over the Shiratori Ohashi bridge in Muroran City. If the weather had been bright, we could have enjoyed the scenery of the port. We passed Mt. Showa-Shinzan which was formed 70 years ago by volcanic activity and Toyako Lake, one of the famous caldera lakes in Japan without setting our foot on soil. We just took a short rest at the Usu Volcano Geopark, one of the Global Network Of National Geoparks.
　　I've enjoyed riding motorcycles in Hokkaido several times and one of the most favorite roads was National Road 230. The ride from south to north viewing Mt. Yotei is really wonderful. I was going to run the road with my life-long friend, and wanted him to see the scenery, but couldn't. I hoped in vain that the rain would ease off a little bit.
　　As you can see in the last picture, we took a short rest at Michinoeki Toyako, a parking lot near Toyako Lake. The restaurant and the shops in the lot had almost no customers in this peak period. My friend is wearing his helmet even under the roof in the picture. It shows how hard the rain was.

(Vocabulary)
gentle 〈風・雨などが〉穏やかな, 軽い
a gentle breeze 穏やかなそよ風
geopark   geology（地質学）＋park（公園）からの造語
科学的・文化的に貴重な地質遺産を含む自然公園。地域の地史や地質現象を示す地質遺産を保全し、地球科学や環境問題の教育・普及活動を行うとともに、観光資源として地域の活性化に役立つものであり、地質災害に対する理解や防災への取組みにも貢献するものとして期待されている。2004年、ユネスコの支援により世界ジオパークネットワークが発足。日本でも平成20年（2008）に日本ジオパークネットワークが設立され、国内のジオパーク認定、および世界ジオパークへの加盟申請などを行っている。
日本ジオパークは国内のジオパークとして、アポイ岳・洞爺湖有珠山・糸魚川・南アルプス（中央構造線）・恐竜渓谷ふくい勝山・隠岐・山陰海岸・室戸・島原半島・天草御所浦・阿蘇などの地域を認定。平成24年（2012）12月現在、洞爺湖有珠山・糸魚川・島原半島・山陰海岸・室戸の5地域が世界ジオパークに認定されている。
I hope the rain eases off a little bit. 雨がもう少し小降りになればいいのに。

　登別から、山を越えるのをやめて海岸線を走り、室蘭市の南端、地球岬に寄りました。地球岬では少し小降りになり散歩できました。室蘭の白鳥大橋を渡り、昭和新山、洞爺湖は通過して、火山ジオパークは少し歩いきましたが、写真を撮れるような状況ではなかったです。そして国道２３０号線を羊蹄山方向へ向かいました。この国道は気に入っているルートですが、景色が全く見えず残念でした。羊蹄山も見えずじまい。最後の写真は道の駅洞爺湖で休憩中の写真。雨のため、ヘルメットを脱ぐこともできません。

Noboribetsu Hot Spring

　　We rode our motorcycles southwest from Tomakomai City, which meant approaching the center of the storm. I'd like to have avoided the southwest direction, but the arrangement of accommodation at an old inn was already done. No matter what route we chose, we had to reach the inn. The rain got harder, and we took a rest in front of a warehouse company, which you can see in the first picture.
　　I wondered if we could take a footbath in Noboribetsu Hot Spring, which is now well-known even out of Japan, but the rain was too heavy to do so. We could only ride around the town and headed for the south. We had planned to go over a hill from Noboribetsu and view Mt. Youtei and Lake Toyako from the top of the hill, but a landslide alarm was issued on the route. So, we changed the route and went south to Muroran City. I like caldera lakes. I wanted to have a rest at the lakeside of Kuttara Lake, but didn't do it due to the terrible rain.
　　The blue flag in the last picture was presented from ANA in commemoration of the tour. The color of blue is the color of the company. I assumed that ANA wanted to raise it on my motorcycle through the trip, but the horrible rain hampered it. There are generally so many riders in Hokkaido who put flags up on their motorcycles. I'll write about the custom of doing that later in another entry.

(Vocabulary)
footbath 足湯

Kuttara Lake 倶多楽湖
http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2007/08/lake-kuttara.html


大雨の中を出発。登別温泉をまずは目指しました。雨はだんだん酷くなり、白老町あたりの潰れた？倉庫会社の軒下で雨装備を厳重にしています。登別温泉では足湯くらいは浸かりたかったのですが、そんな余裕なし。倶多楽湖畔で珈琲タイムとしゃれるつもりでしたがレストランも閉まっていました。どういうわけかカルデラ湖に興味があり、十和田湖とか、摩周湖とか、小ぶりではありますがこの倶多楽湖も好きな湖です。いつか長白山(支那側の呼称)、白頭山(朝鮮名：この麓で金正日が生まれたことになっている）のてっぺんの池(天池）にも立ち寄ってみたいと思っています。登別からは山を越えて、その峠から羊蹄山を眺める予定が、、崖崩れ危険情報があり、室蘭を回ることにコース変更しました。最後の写真の青い旗ですが、帰宅後に撮りました。ＡＮＡのカウンターでいただきました。本来はこれをバイクに付けて走って欲しいと言うことでしたが、この雨では傷んでしまうので出せませんでした。北海道ツーリングと旗の関係についてはまた後ほど。

Kitakamisou（北上荘）

　　This trip had been planned since May among three people on Facebook, in which the choice of the first hotel was my role. I wanted to stay at an unusual inn, not an all-too-common one. After deep deliberation, I chose "Kitakamisou". A wide variety of people were staying at the inn. According to its landlord, Tomakomai City, in which Kitakamisou is located, is an industrial city and lots of business persons were transferred there from out of Hokkaido. The inn's customers were mostly such engineers. The atmosphere of the inn was just like that of a college dormitory. The inn bill was considerably low, but the spa was great. The hot water from underground was directly brought into the big communal bathing area. Though it had a gorgeous spa, the inn's energy bill wouldn't be so high because of its natural resources. The meals were everyday home-style dishes and really reasonable. I liked this inn and I could stay there next time.
　　The bright morning sunshine woke me at 5 o'clock. I was so delighted, but the weather chart on my tablet told me that the weather would get terrible soon. The clouds on the map covered all over Hokkaido except the narrow area over Tomakomai City. We were just under an exceptional area. When we were in the mess hall, it started raining. As soon as we finished breakfast, we went out, but another motorcyclist group was still at a standstill.

(Vocabulary)
all-too-common 平々凡々
deliberation 熟考, 熟慮, 思案（careful thought）
industrial city 工業都市

　苫小牧の宿は北上荘という旅館？下宿屋？寮？　なんとも珍しいタイプの宿でした。風呂は間違いなく温泉で快適でした。同宿の人たちですが、若い人から年配までいろいろな年代の人がいて、立派な入れ墨の入った人も。洗い場で隣に座ったりしたものだから湯が散らないように気を遣いましたが、あまり面倒な感じの人ではなかったです。学生風の人、技術者風の人、我々のような旅をしているのではなく、下宿しているようでした。さて、朝、明るい光が差して目が覚めたのですが、天気予報では大雨、、、さてどうなりますか。ツーリングをしている別のグループは今日は動かないことにしたようです。　　

New Chitose Airport

　　I arrived at Shin-Chitose Airport, which is the main airport of Sapporo City, located about 50 km south-east of the city center. When you mention a Japanese airport in English, its Japanese name is replaced in Roman letters according to its pronunciation. Following that rule, this airport should be called Shin-Chitose Airport, but New Chitose Airport is apparently used internationally. So, I adopted the latter as the topic of this entry.
　　The cargo terminal of the airport was 1km away from the passenger terminal. I was going to walk to it, but it was raining hard. We took a cab to the terminal after getting tonight's nibbles. There were so much food for nibbles in the airport, and it took time to choose them. When we reached the cargo terminal, our motorcycles were already unpacked. In the first picture, my friend is connecting the battery terminal to the battery.
　　Do you remember that his motorcycle was short of gasoline and he couldn't start up its engine. He was going to push his motorcycle to the ANA-designated gas station, but it was raining. He asked the ANA staff to deliver the gasoline, and the last picture is just the moment the gasoline arrived. ANA supplied 5 liters of gasoline to each motorcycle for free at the nearest gas station and additionally we filled up the tank and headed for our inn in the heavy rain.

(Vocabulary)
nibble 〈人・動物が〉〔物を〕少しずつかじる, かじって食べる;［通例 a ～］〔物の〕ひとかじり, ひとかみ〔at, of, on〕；ひとかみの量, 少量（の食物）；［英略式］［通例 ～s］；間食としてまたは食前の軽食, 少量の食物《◆しばしば酒類とともに供する》

新千歳空港は英語でも　Shin-Chitose Airport と書くべきだろうと思うが、ブログを書くに当たって調べてみたら　New Chitose Airport　らしい。何か変！　ところでガソリン切れのＣＢ４００だが、近くのガソリンスタンドまで５００メートルはある。大雨の中、押して歩くのか？ＡＮＡ貨物のスタッフに相談するとガソリンスタンドから配達してくれた。これで指定スタンドまで走って、満タンとなった。苫小牧の宿まであとは一直線！