Day 17 - still on Hokkaido!

The original plan was to leave the island today but we decided we needed more!

A Very Japanese Farewell to Our Campervan

Our last morning with the campervan began at the Mukawa Shiki-no-Yakata roadside station, onsen and community center, where we had spent the night. A man approached us and mentioned something happening at 10:00. Phil initially thought he was telling us to leave the parking lot, but he was actually inviting us to a community event!

Part of the program demonstrated Japanese equipment for caring for the elderly including a special reclining chair and assisted-bathing system. Cindy somehow became the enthusiastic foreign volunteer and star of the demonstration. She was quite happy to participate in the aging and dementia-awareness program—but had not realized that a bathing demonstration was also included! There were cheerful mascots everywhere, including a donkey associated with dementia awareness. Orange is the color for dementia awareness in Japan. At the end of our meeting, she was given a small origami that opened into a paper square box to put my used tissues in after use. Sweet!

A youthful dance program took place afterwards, a real community event in which her new friends insisted she join in the dance, which of course, she could not say “no”. She danced with the town mascot, the creation of a 5th grader that included a melon head ( locally grown) with a dinosaur chomping into it wearing the local dandelion smock. Everything had meaning….except Cindy being there but hey, they wanted it to be community with a few weirdos added just for fun.

We then returned the campervan, were taken to collect our rental car, and everything worked exactly as planned. I loved talking with the camper-van guy as he gave insider peaks into daily Japanese life, like telling us how married couples that haven’t spoken to each other in ten years (yes, 10 years) use ChatGPT to counsel them and help them talk once again.

Our afternoon destination was Mt. Tarumae, an active volcano beside Lake Shikotsu. The mountain is 1,041 meters high and has a distinctive lava dome inside its crater. Although we had originally considered a shorter out-and-back hike, we continued all the way around the crater—4.5 miles in about 2½ hours.

We hiked through misty rain across black volcanic gravel and a stark, almost otherworldly landscape. Near the summit we found the small Tarumae-san Shrine inner sanctuary, first established in 1927 and later rebuilt in concrete. Bottles and other offerings had been left outside its doors.

The clouds hid the distant views, but the mist made the crater and volcanic landscape wonderfully atmospheric. On our way down, we also encountered a fox resting calmly in the road. What was wrong with him? I opened the window and we stared into each other’s eyes.

Tonight we are staying at Peter’s House, which turned out to be a hostel rather than an ordinary hotel. So far, however, we appear to have the entire place to ourselves—a comfortable and rather amusing ending to a successful transition day.

That is not true now. A young woman is here having a special harp made from her out of wood thats only from this region. And another couple just arrived. It has turned into a cozy little hostel party.Read more