Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Lost Village Kounomai 2 鴻之舞探訪２

　　As I wrote in the previous entry, I found the close connection between Kounomai and Ehime Prefecture, which led me to feel an urge to visit Kounomai. Additionally it would be fun to meet the Facebook friend who had advised me of Kounomai.
　　I wondered what was the best choice of my present for him, and I hit on a lucky charm which I will show you below. It's a very small charm, and do you know why? It's designed to stick inside your helmet to keep unhappy things away like traffic accidents. This charm is issued at Ooyamazumi Shrine on Oomishima island in Ehime Prefecture. This shrine is the original one of the shrine which used to stand in Kounomai.
　　By the way, why did the shrine begin selling this type of charm? That's because this island has been becoming an iconic place for cyclists worldwide. Shikoku and Honshu are connected with several islands and bridges, the so-called Shimanami Kaido Route. Oomishima island is located in the middle of the route. Lots of cyclists come to Japan to join the international event for cyclists, which is held yearly in October. The number of Taiwanese is specifically increasing year by year. I reasoned that it's not only because Taiwan is close to Japan, but because their culture is similar to that of Japan. Cycling as one of the sports is embedded in their culture.
　The lucky charm for helmets was born due to this boom.

(Vocabulary)
advise [他](フォーマル)〈人〉に伝える
advise sb of sth ＜人＞に＜…＞について伝える
We'll advise you of any changes in the schedule. スケジュールに変更がありましたらお知らせします．
advise sb that ＜人＞に…ということを伝える
They advised him that the tour would proceed. 彼はツアー続行の知らせを受けた．
keep sb advised of sth ＜人＞に＜…＞を絶えず知らせる
lucky charm 幸運のお守り




前の記事に書いたように、鴻之舞と愛媛県の深い繋がりに気がついた。これは行ってみなければなるまい。そうだ、この場所を教えてくれたＦＢＦへのお土産は何が良いだろう？と、思いついたのが写真に示す「お守り」。非常に小さいもので裏側に両面テープが貼られている。ヘルメットに貼り付けておくお守りだ。神社の名前を見て欲しい。大山祇神社のお守り。そう、鴻之舞にかつて建っていたあの神社のお守りだ。

なぜ、大山祇神社とヘルメットが関係するのか。それは、、、大山祇神社の建つこの島は今、サイクリストの聖地として世界中に売り出し中の島。愛媛県と広島県を島伝いに繋ぐしまなみ海道は、サイクリングの好適地として知られつつあり、国際的なサイクリングイベントも行われている。大三島はそのルートの中央に位置するのだ。日本と文化的、地理的に近く、サイクリング文化の根ざしている台湾から大勢のサイクリストが訪れる。ヘルメット用のお守りはこのブームによる。

ただ、彼に会うことはできず、これを渡せず残念だった。

Lost Village Kounomai 1 鴻之舞探訪１

　　One day in June the word "Ekitei" caught my eye when I was surfing on Facebook. I saw it several years ago at the Historical Village of Hokkaido, but it was transferred from its original site and rebuilt in the open museum. However, the one which I found on the net was original and I became eager to visit it then. I made a suggestion of visiting it to my friends and they were open to my suggestion.
　　It appeared that there used to have been a fairly prosperous town, called Kounomai, half a century ago in the mountainous region near Monbetsu City. The Ekitei, which I wrote about in the previous entry, was essential for people who had lived there and I knew that several people were struggling to preserve this historic facility.
　　In the early 20th century, several gold deposits were found on the east coast of Hokkaido and a so-called gold rush occurred. The town of Kounomai was formed in that way. The mine had been owned by Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd. and a total of 13,000 had lived at its peak in the town.
　　Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd. also had a copper mine near my hometown. Additionally, the guardian deity of the town was derived from Ooyamazumi Shrine in my prefecture. It was my surprise. Kounomai and Ehime Prefecture had two connections with each other.

(Vocabulary)
make a suggestion 提案する
open to suggestions  提案を喜んで受け入れる
deposit 鉱床
Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd. 住友金属鉱山株式会社




　６月のある日、フェイスブックを眺めていたら駅逓という言葉が目にとまった。以前、札幌のテーマパークで初めて聞いて覚えていた言葉である。テーマパークでは再建された建物やその構造を見ることができたが実物を見たことは無かった。それで写真で見た上藻別駅逓をネットで調べてみたのである。それは紋別市から山の中に入ったところにあった。そして、その駅逓跡の建物を保存しようとする団体が存在することを知り、友人たちと相談してここに立ち寄ってみることにした。保存会の資料を見ると、ここには半世紀前、かなり繁栄した町「鴻之舞」があったという。
　２０世紀初頭に金の鉱床が発見された北海道オホーツク沿岸ではいわゆるゴールドラッシュが起こり、鴻之舞という集落が形成され住友金属鉱山の所有する鉱山町として栄えた。かつては１３０００人が住んでいたが今は廃村となっている。
　住友金属鉱山は愛媛県にも別子銅山を持ち、鴻之舞にある神社は大山祇神社、つまり愛媛県大三島にある有名な神社から分祀されたものだった。驚いた。これら二つの共通点があれば訪れないわけにはいかない。
　写真は上藻別駅逓保存会の皆さん。左のスタッフに駅逓を、中央の方に鴻之舞を案内していただいた。(続く)

Kamimobetsu Ekitei 上藻別駅逓

　　I had heard of "Kamimobetsu Ekitei" from my friend who lives in Monbetsu City a few weeks before this trip. "Kamimobetsu" is the name of a place and I had wrote about "Ekitei" before (link). Ekitei had contributed to the development of the fabric of society in the 19th and early 20th century of Hokkaido by conducting the transportation of burdens and mail, offering accommodations, and serving meals not only for humans but for horses. During my investigation of the Ekitei, I knew of Kounomai Village, in which Kamimobetsu Ekitei was located and which had all but evaporated at present. I wanted to see how the village looked.

駅逓とは、明治から昭和初期まで北海道辺地の交通補助機関として、宿泊、人馬継立、郵便などの業務を行った制度。その運営者は、駅逓取扱人（半官半民）。上藻別駅逓はこの地域に住む人々の生活を守ってきた。制度は昭和２１年に廃止された。紋別に住むフェイスブック繋がりの知人の情報でこの場所を知り訪れた。このあと、ものすごい発見が続く。

 

Notoro Cape

　　I rode along the seashore from Abashiri City to Monbetsu City. My road map told me that the road around Notoro Cape, which is located between both cities, was not jammed and comfortable for riders, so we went round to the cape. As you see in the following pictures, it was really refreshing scenery around the cape. The sky wasn't perfect, but it wasn't raining.
　　After lunch on the lakeshore of Saroma, I entered the city of Monbetsu. The first thing I did in the city was to get the blue flag of Hokuren, about which I'll write later. Anyway, I got 3 flags of 4.
　　I steered toward the mountainous region at Monbetsu and I had one of the destinations of this trip here.

Shari, Abashiri

　　It wasn't raining in the morning on Aug. 9th! I was so happy to see the blue sky even though partially, but I started with a rain jacket on in case of sudden rain. I got on my motorcycle at Shiretoko Hotel and rode off to Koshimizu Natural Park through Shari town viewing the Sea of Okhotsk on the right and the mountains on the left on the way. The season of full bloom in the park was June and July, so I couldn't see the best scene of the park.
　　I stopped at a crab shop next, which was run by the fisherman's family. Since I had dropped in at the shop 17 years ago, I've sometimes ordered crabs online from my hometown. My name is fairly rare in Japan, and the owner remembered my name. I sent crabs to my acquaintances from there. There's a custom of giving a present in summer, called Chugen, and I sent them from the shop.
　　The last picture was shot in front of a motorcycle shop in Abashiri City. It was my third time to visit the shop. One of my members had a tiny problem with his motorcycle and visited it for some maintenance work. The owner didn't remember me, but I recalled what had happened on the previous two tourings. They are nice memories.

　８月９日の朝、雨が降っていない！が、念のためカッパで出発。ウトロの宿からすいている道を快走し、小清水原生花園に着く。花の時期には少し遅れた。しばらく散策。次に立ち寄ったのがカニの店。９７年に着たときに立ち寄って以来、カニを度々注文しているので名前は覚えていてくれた。ここから花咲ガニを中元としてお世話になっている方々に送る。そして、なぜか網走方面に来るたびに寄ることになってしまうバイク屋。メンテを依頼して再出発。

Seseki Hot Spring

　　We enjoyed sightseeing on the northern coast of Shiretoko Peninsula all morning. After the cruising, we crossed over the Shiretoko Touge Pass to the southern coast of the peninsula. No sooner had we gone ashore than it began to rain, but we were so accustomed to rain!
　　We rode in the direction of the tip of the peninsula along the coast and finally reached the end point of the road. The first picture was shot there. If you want to go farther, you have to prepare lots of special gear and enough food for the trip. We dropped in at the Shiretoko Information Center, which was called "Shiretoko World Heritage Rusa Field House". I'll show you a picture which was taken at the entrance. I felt something funny about the word "field house", but this is just "Japanglish", which was a word produced in Japan. It was a kind of education facility for visitors about nature. The authorities urge climbers and trekkers to visit the facility and get information from rangers.
　　Another picture shows Seseki Hot Spring, which was spewing in the sea and you can bathe in it only during the ebb tide. I wanted to soak in it, but it took more than an hour to go back to the hotel and the riding after bathing would make it easy to catch cold. I gave up bathing there.

　せせき温泉については上の説明を読んでもらうこととして、「フィールドハウス」には？　ルサは地名です。ちなみに field house で検索すると結果は

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=field+house&FORM=HDRSC2

手元にあるロングマン英和辞書では
field house
1 (スポーツチームの) 器具倉庫, 更衣用建物
2 体育館

となっています。世界遺産となった今、気をつけて欲しいものです。観光案内所でよいのではないでしょうか？英語にするなら Information Center でしょうか。

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。