Friday, June 14, 2013

The Hokkaido Train Tour (June 1 - 7): 4. Nemuro

Before I get going, it has come to my attention that not everybody knows that you can do a single click on these photos and get a bigger version of them. If you didn't know that, now you do. You no longer have to run for glasses or a magnifying glass.

It is June 14, I am in Sapporo and will be leaving for Kyoto in a very few days. As is always my goal, I am going to try to bring this thing up to date before I make a big move. We're almost there. We have only Nemuro, Otaru and this last week in Sapporo to go. Then I'm taking a real train ride, the overnight train from Sapporo to Kyoto via the Seikan Tunnel, the longest rail tunnel in the world and the longest undersea tunnel. Alright, alright.

On June 4, I went from Obihiro to Nemuro. The trip took five and a half hours, two trains with the connection back in Kushiro.

Nemuro is where you have to go if you want to get to the farthest point east that the public can go in Japan. Naturally, that is what I wanted to do. It is just a thing I've developed. I am considering going back to Okinawa because I wasn't able to go to the most southerly island you can go to. It would be a little crazy, I admit, but I am obsessed and I view it as part my remit to learn about the country and its people. I'll decide in the next several days. And no, I am not going to go to the farthest western point. I don't have time. I don't even know what it is. Nemuro is the only one of these train tour cities that I allowed myself a full day in. I needed that day to get to Cape Nosappu. You can't do these things in too much of a rush.

View from hotel window in Obihiro before the train ride.

It says "Obihiro."




Looks like a prison to me, but I couldn't find out.

There are cows in this photos.



Kushiro again.


I told you they have strange train stations here.

Looking towards the rear.

Strange train stations.


There are horses in this one.


Blossoms.

Next and last stop - Nemuro

Train spotter.

I got to Nemuro a good while before check-in time. Also, the hotel was not across the street from the station. No hotel was. I threw the heavy suitcase into a coin locker and took my walk-around. Coin lockers are one of the best things about Japanese train stations. They are life savers.

Inside Nemuro Station.


The facilities.


Wanted posters. Makes sense that they'd come to the end of the world to hide out.



Street away from the station.


They let you know right away where you are and why you are here. This shop is a few steps from the station door.

This is a huge crab.


Quintessential Japan - blossoms, bicycles, baseball...

and bowling.





I didn't have a lot of choices for hotels in Nemuro, not that they don't have plenty. Hotels across from the station don't exist in Nemuro, so I got as close as I could, which also proved to be appreciably more expensive than I had previously dealt with. From what I could glean of Nemuro from the web, I got the idea I had better take the dinner option with room in addition to the breakfast. That was one of the reasons for the higher price. 


Rarely observed tidbits of cow.




I've had this before; I don't know what it is. It seems to be animal, but has a citrus fruit taste and feel. 


Uni...then they started bringing more food...



Soba.


View from the dining room window.


Cape Nosappu is the most eastern point in Japan that the public can go to. I had to take a municipal bus to get there. It was a fairly long ride. Enjoyable. 

Bus stop.

Bus.

Power. It gets very windy here. Didn't get as bad as Wakkanai or Rebun, but windy.

Observation tower to see the four islands that Japan wants returned. You'll have to read about those on your own - here.

The facilities; shaped like a crab.

Japanese Defense Forces.



Cape Nosappu.


There are these footprints with arrows pointing you to each of the islands (Northern Territories).

Like this one.


The main monument.


People who ride buses (tour buses).

I rang the bell; it has a very good sound.



A life-like display of local fauna.


This has something to do with frogs.


The bottom of this lighthouse is really the farthest point east according to my GPS. I wasn't supposed to go down there, but...



This is where I wasn't supposed to go.


Fisherman's clothes.

Frogs.

Frogs.

Wildlife.



Working on the nets.

More wildlife, a canine of some sort. It is probably the same kind that I saw in Shiraoi.

Wildlife.





Working the nets.




The bus shelter for the way back.

The bus stop.

Colorful manhole covers in Nemuro.

In case you get lost.

In case the other one is too complicated.

Blossoms. It is cold here and Spring as late as it is in Wakkanai.


More nets.
Dinner...
















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