Day 3 AM : Mt Usu

Second stop of the day – Mount Usu
Mount Usu (Usuzan) is a 737-meters-high active volcano and is one of most active volcanoes in Japan; it has erupted four times within the past last 100 years (in 1910, 1944, 1977 and 2000).

You can go up to the volcano's summit via Usuzan Ropeway.

Purchase your ticket at the counter on Level 2.
A round trip ropeway fare is 1,450 Yen for adults and it takes 6 minutes to reach the top.

Area map.

View of Showa Shinzan from ropeway car.

Steams can be seen puffing out from its bald spot.

View of Lake Toya from ropeway car. Lake Toya features three islets (Kannon-jima, Benten-jima and Manju-jima) and a main island (Ojima) in the middle of the lake.

The first observation deck 'Lake Toya Observatory' is near the ropeway terminal.
Here, you can enjoy panoramic views of Lake Toya, Showa Shinzan and its surroundings.

We got to do a short hike to the second observation deck 'Usu Crater Observatory' for a closer look at Mt Usu's largest crater – Ginnuma Crater, which was formed in an eruption in 1977. You may not really see clearly in the photo but there are steams rising out from the crater and seem likes it’s ready to erupt at any minute!

Ginnuma Crater.

There is another trail which brings you even closer to the crater! But alas, due to time constraint, we cannot proceed further and have to make do with a photo here instead.

Hiking trail from ropeway terminal to Usu Crater Observatory.
Pretty tiring really, cos there are a few flights of steep steps involved.

More souvenirs. I love the items on 熊出没, so cute!

And it's time for early lunch! Scallop rice, soup with mushroom and bean curd, tempura prawns, boiled egg and udon. Delicious!!

Day 3 AM : Fruit Picking

Traditional Japanese breakfast provided by the hotel

First stop of Day 3 of our trip – Fruit Picking
We were brought to a charming orchard which grows a variety of fruits such as apples, pears, grapes, cherries, etc. Pretty fun experience here as you can just pluck as many cherries as you want and eat them as you go. These cherries are really sweet!

Cherries. Really yummy. BTW, organic farming is practised here, so it's pretty safe to eat the cherries direct.

Pears

Grapes

That's our tour guide and he's making payment to the owner.
850 Yen for this fruit picking experience; not cheap.

Day 2 PM : Jigokudani (Hell Valley)

Fifth and final stop of the day - Jigokudani aka 'Hell Valley'
This valley is a 450-meter-diameter mouth of a volcano and has numerous holes that are constantly releasing volcanic gas and hot water that is pumped to the hotels and onsens that fill the town of Noboribetsu.

The geology here is very spectacular as we can see sulphurous fumes seeping from the surface of the volcanic rocks and sulphurous streams spewing out from the earth. Whole place smells strongly of sulphur too and smell can be a little unbearable.

Us in Jigokudani

Top: General view of Jigokudani ; Bottom Left: Stone tablet on top of a ridge. Not sure if there's any purpose or meaning to this though... ; Bottom Right: Sulphurous fumes seeping out from the earth.

There's a walkway leading to the centre of the valley where we witnessed hot water erupting from a geyser. Our timing was good!

Hot water started to bubble out from the geyser.

Hot water erupted from the geyser. I was actually a bit concern that the hot water may suddenly erupt to a height higher than the barrier and we may be scalded by the hot water. Luckily my concern is unfounded.

Panoramic view of the walkway and the valley.

And finally, it's dinner time! Our onsen hotel was just round the corner and we checked in really quickly.

Our nice and spacious room

AG meditating

We got to wear our yukata down for dinner and photo taking session.

Look at our sumptuous dinner! Tasted really good and fresh.

Free and easy after dinner and we decided to explore the town.

Interesting thing that we saw at the shrine - the judge statue changing his calm face into an angry one.

Souvenir shops packed with fun sculptures of animals and demons.
I wonder which sells better, cats vs dogs vs demons?

Day 2 PM : Shiraoi Ainu Museum and Village

Fourth stop of the day - Shiraoi Ainu Village
It is an outdoor reproduction of an indigenous Ainu village (a koton) on the shore of Lake Poroto. Here, you can find Ainu chise (thatch-roofed Ainu houses), pu (for storing food), hepere set (cages for young bears) and chip (dugout canoes).

Kotankorkur statue (the statue of the chief) – Symbol of the musuem

Ainu chise

Ainu dog

Caged young bears

You can buy a bag of bear food (looks like bread to me) for 100 Yen and feed the hungry bears. The bears are really smart!.. or rather, well-trained. When they spot us walking to their cages, they move and position themselves under the red tube, stare at us with their huge pitifully eyes and wait hopefully for us to buy bread to feed it. Drop the bread from one end of the red tube and the bread will roll into the bear’s mouth on the other end.

We arrived just in time for the performances - folk music performance played with traditional instruments and ancient Ainu ceremonial dance for sending bears' spirits back to heaven. The rhythm for the dance is provided by singing and handclapping (without any musical instruments) and the women take the lead in dancing, which is a major characteristic.

Oops, no photo for the performances, cos I thought photography wasn’t allowed as NO one was taking photo or video. Subsequently when I checked with our tour guide, he said I can take photos! Ah, next time I must be the ‘brave’ one to start the photo-taking ball rolling, hahaha…

Explanation of the various aspects of the Ainu life was given as well.

Salmon are hanged on the roof top to dry and be smoked.

Tattooed lips, hands and arms mark the coming of age for the Ainu women

We were given 30mins (where got enough!!) to explore the whole compound and we headed straight for the museum. Inside the museum, many exhibits are available for you to gain a better understanding of the Ainu way of life, culture and history.

Gotta give other chises a miss as we were late (as I had to take dozens of photos of the museum so that I can re-create the whole experience in the future) and the tour guide was already looking for us… We were wondering to ourselves as to the possible reason for this rush when the tour guide announced that we were ahead of schedule and he can bring us for shopping at a nearby 100 Yen Shop. Yah right, extra time resulted because he reduced the amount of time in the museum. *roll my eyes*

PS: Another reason to dislike guided tours.

No further introduction to 100 Yen Shop right? Everything from cosmetics to stationary, household items to food is sold at 100 Yen. To be precise, it’s actually 105 Yen per item after sales tax.

There was a lady in our tour who is a super fan of hello kitty. At the 100 Yen Shop, she literally swept ALL hello kitty items off the shelves. I’m not kidding! I spot a cute hello kitty item in one of her shopping baskets that I would like and after searching through the whole shop for that hello kitty item (and any other hello kitty item), I couldn’t find any! All the hello kitty items were in her shopping bags…

Day 2 PM : Lake Shikotsu-ko

Third stop of the day - Lake Shikotsu-ko
It is a crater lake that was formed between 30,000 to 40,000 years ago by the activity of surrounding volcanoes such as Mt. Eniwa, Mt. Fuppushi and Mt. Tarumai. The lake has a mean water depth of 266m (making it the 2nd deepest lake in Japan) and the water volume is so large for its surface area (making it the 8th largest lake in Japan) that it rarely freezes in winter.

Time to enjoy the surrounding sceneries from the pleasure cruiser!

Boarded this pleasure cruiser. Ship looks cute right?

You can rent a paddler boat too!

Lake Shikotsu-ko and its surrounding volcanoes.

We went downstairs to the cruiser bottom, squeezed onto one of the benches and stared intensely out of the glass window in an attempt to spot fish that resembles any of those on the chart. No luck!

Bottom of pleasure cruiser

Chart showing fishes that can be found in the lake.

The water is really blue! And you can really see the change in colour intensity when the cruiser is moving further and further away from the shore.

Here, we were also intrigued by the beauty and wonders of columnar joints that were formed when hot lava cools... so tranquil and silent... and mysterious too...

End of our 30mins cruise!.. and back to shore.

Boarding point

Cute, colourful small boat called NASA Galaxy.

There are shops nearby and we wondered by to take a look...

Souvenir shop selling hello kitty related merchandise and lavender related merchandise – must buy items from Hokkaido.


I love log houses. So pretty! BTW, these are actually guest houses.