Wakkanai: Part II

The first bus to Cape Soya, the northern most point in Japan, leaves the bus terminal at 08:10. It takes just under an hour to get there, with about half an hour to look around, take a picture at the monument before getting on the return bus back to Wakkanai. I arrived the same time as a Japanese tour bus, stood in line and got the tour guide to take my photo at the northern most point in Japan. I also had time to get my stamp and a Soya Misaki Hello Kitty in the omiyagi shop. There are four buses spread over a day to the cape, each one gives you about half an hour at the cape.

Bus times to and from Cape Soya and Wakkanai.

Once back in Wakkanai, climbed up the hill to reach Wakkanai Koen, Wakkanai Garden, where I thought there would be a ropeway. I didn’t see the ropeway, speaking to a lady at a gift shop, it was taken down last year and no longer operates. There was a wind turbine and an indoor foot spa. It was so windy outside, I took a little break.

Followed the path round to a little garden and statues for Taro and Jiro, two dogs who survived a year in the harsh Antarctica conditions when a Japanese research team had to abandon the expedition. Found more stamps and someone was doing a market research survey, which I managed to complete in Japanese.

I felt I was more challenged with my Japanese than usual while being in Wakkanai. There is very little written in English, I only saw either Japanese or Russian due to there being an international ferry port that connects to Russia.

I continued to walk five kilometers along the coast to Noshappu Misaski, where there is a sad looking aquarium, a lighthouse, a look out point and various restaurants. The omiyagi shop was pretty well stocked, where you could buy fresh seafood including some of the biggest crabs I’ve seen. Took a Wakkanai made ice-cream break out of the wind.

From this cape to Wakkanai onsen the wind was so strong and it had started to rain. Getting cold and desperate, I hitch hiked the last three kilometers to the onsen. A middle-aged couple picked me up and took me to the onsen. The woman was originally from Fukushima, near Koriyama but had since moved to Hokkaido.

The onsen was large with a few different pools to try including a small outside area. The bus back into town was late, and I wasn’t the only one waiting for it. The other old people who were waiting as well were getting agitated. Things aren’t late in Japan and it was interesting to watch them get obviously annoyed the bus was not on time to the minute. Buses run few and far between in the area, which is why I chose to walk one way.

A last omiyagi shop and dinner at a seafood place before heading home the next morning on the first train out of Wakkanai. The JR train company is offering a special return ticket from Sapporo that costs 12,200yen if you return within six days. Which is a bargain, as normally a ticket is at least ten thousand yen, one way.

Most helpful website was the Wikitravel site on Wakkanai.

Wakkanai: Part II