Hokkaido - Onuma and Hakodate

A big day, and my favourite of the four. We checked-out early and jumped on a train South towards the base of Hokkaido. Our destination was about three hours away so luckily the flight ticket meant we could depart from a closer airport, instead of trekking back to Sapporo.

We stopped at Onuma, a quiet station two-thirds of the way there to stretch our legs. Onuma is hardly famous, but after some research, it was a local favourite nature spot. The frozen lakes surrounding the dotted islands were unbelievable - a winter wonderland - with the dormant volcano Mt Komagatake in the background.


I stepped onto the ice with caution. The layer was thick and held my weight but only took a few steps out as some rock-throwing tests concluded that the more central areas were thin.


The train didn't come for another hour or so, so we dropped our bags in the train station and took a short walk towards the onsen. I didn't have my camera at this point but take my word that the hotel the onsen was located in was the inspiration for not only the design but the atmosphere of the hotel in The Shining!

The baths were decent, with a nice view of the snowy mountain, and there were even heated black marble stone beds to lie on, which was another peculiar experience. There were three baths at different temperatures. The signs must've been wrong because the first one I tried was freezing and the next which I foolishly plopped into (which said one degree hotter) was boiling. Ouch. The third was muddy with brown bits floating around - apparently it was natural minerals, but dirt is dirt. I had the men's baths to myself which was a bonus.

Back on the train, for a short drop to Hakodate, the last stop of the holiday. Hakodate (pronounce each consonant-vowel pair separately; makes the place sound less Disney-esque and more Japanese) is the third largest town, trapped between old laid-back life and architecture, and modern impacts of Western civilisation. Much like the rest of Hokkaido, the streets are quiet yet there is a whiff of abundant tourists in the air. We walked towards the hotel parallel to the tram route along the 'high street' which, as we found out when looking for food that night, "doesn't even have a McDonald's". Finding food was a bit of a pain, we didn't even see a supermarket in the two days we walked around. The hotel was overlooking the coast, Hakodate built on a small strip of land so that its two sides are beach lined, with Mt Hakodate at the very base. The area's delicacy is squid, and the water is off-bounds because there are so many.


The town was easily walkable, about 30 minutes width wise and an hour across, so just before the sun started setting, we walked towards the Mt Hakodate Ropeway, for a view over the town; the main pulling point for tourists.


Hakodate has been 'officially' recognised as one of the three world night views, alongside Naples and Hong Kong, itself called the 'million dollar night view'. I read that on the tourist information website so I'm not sure the claim is entirely impartial. Still, as the sun set, the view was spectacular. (Could never do it justice in a photograph.)


A short walk back to the hotel, which had an onsen! Even though the name was the Hakodate Onsen Hotel, we were told by the travel agent it was just a name and didn't have an onsen; hence why we paid up and went to one earlier that day. I'm not complaining - twice in one day (and once the next morning before check-out) only made the trip better.