Kushiro

We took the Super Kamui limited express to Kushiro

We tried the oyster set - fresh oysters, fired oysters, oysters in rice and oyster in noodles and soup


The first thing we did arriving was to find out where the market was


The bus service will bring you to the village to watch the cranes

The Kushhiro marshland

Only 600 of these beauties left

Otaru

The first stop we made was the market next to Otaru station

The roe of this crab tates better than that of the Mud crabs from Sri lanka that I am accustomed to


Sahimi scallops for Yen 150 each. What a bargain!!


Otaru is pretty at night

We stopped for Ramen at this shop which was not far from the Otaru Minami train station before heading back to Sapporo

Hakkodate

We stopped at Onuma national park along the way.The lake is almost frozen.So different from my last trip in Autumn

View of the coast from the train

Our first meal at the Hakkodate market after arriving.

Our Japanese style room at the Yunogawa Prince Onsen

The view of Mount Hakkodate from our hot spring bath


Jo enjoying a dip in the hot spring

Even the monkeys like to soak in the hot spring




The sushi store at the Hakkodate market that sells fresh squid sashimi for Yen 1890

Asahikawa and Otaru

Hokkaido lamb taste incredibly good

It was already dark when we arrived in Otaru

For more on the zoo go to http://zoosoftheworld.blogspot.com/

We set off early next morning to see the zoo in Asahikawa

Noboribetsu Onsen or Hell valley

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Thanks to the nearby volcano there is a hot spring industry here


Also known as Hell valley because the Japanese thought that the nearby volcano resembles Hell


The devil is a local mascot


Devil snowman

Off to Sapporo!

Our lunch at the Chitose airport in Sapporo was superb, only Yen 1600

View of Sapporo as we land

Nara temples

Foodstalls line the path to the temples and shrines

For more on this Unesco heritagfe site go to http://heritagesitesoftheworld.blogspot.com/

Off to Saminoya and Nara

Taste like beef but feels like marshmallows

Ox tail soup

Kobe beef sashimi.We found it a bit cold

Kobe beef have to be certified by the local authorities






We had a room booked at the Sheraton Miyako but check in time was in the afternoon. So we left our luggage at the bell desk and headed to Saminoya where Jo's favourite Kobe beef reataurant is located

Arrival at Kansai

Take off from Singapore !!

This is a day by day account of our latest trip to Japan