Date

2022-10-25, Tuesday

Distance

20.11 km biked (828.79 km in total)

Today is supposed to be our first rest day since we started biking in Japan two weeks ago. However, we not only biked still, we even climbed up some of the toughest hills we have encountered on this journey.

Abashiri is a harbour city surrounded by countless coastal hills — some of them amongst the steepest I have ever seen in my life. Even without our regular heavy load, we still have much difficulty to conquer them. This makes us rethinking about our plan to bike to Hakone near Mont Fuji where a steep uphill goes on for 8 or 9 km.

The hotel for which my friend is a member was full so we stayed at another one nearby, called Dormy Inn. We prefer the latter for its offering onsen and breakfast in the Japanese style. The breakfast included is so sumptuous that goes way above my expectation.

We were taking one rest day to upgrade our equipment in preparation for the colder weather, but first, we had to visit the Abashiri Prison Museum on which the manga / anime Golden Kamuy (2014 – 2022) was based. This outdoor museum preserves / relocates old buildings that had been used in Abashiri Prison from the 19th century to the 20th century. Barren reconstructions, some of these buildings are classified as nationally important cultural properties by the Japanese government.

Sometimes in the Japanese style, sometimes in the Western style, these buildings are linked by trails that too are decorated with sometimes Japanese, sometimes Western garden design. This interesting mixture provides a distinct aesthetic and learning experience for everyone interested in architecture and gardening.

Political prisoners were sent to Abashiri which was a small fishing village during that period of political upheavals to develop Hokkaido. Beside farming, one of the most memorable achievements they had accomplished is the development of a road that runs through central Hokkaido. Due to extreme harsh living condition, malnutrition and heavy workload, many of them died before the construction ended.

I personally enjoy my visit not only because I am interested in architecture, but also I was able to learn a great deal about Hokkaido’s history thanks to the translation that was provided for some exhibited items. 10 rubber stamps are hidden in the museum for visitors to collect, which add additional fun to the visit. In the History building, an extremely well staged projection of a short film narrating the development of the road can be viewed in 4 languages (Japanese, English, Mandarin and Korean). Overall, I think this place is worth a visit even for foreigners (although first, you have to climb the steep hill ).

After our museum visit, we went to Uniqlo that is located on the other side of the hill to buy warm cloths. I must say that the sidewalk / bike path condition in Abashiri is the worst of all Japanese cities / towns / communities I have biked through. Its surface has many cracks, bumps, and potholes; it feels like biking in Montreal (this is by no mean a praise ). The street condition looks fine, though I would say it’s not as impressive as in the other Japanese cities.

I took the opportunity to buy a new pair of prescribed eyeglasses mounted in a frame that is designed for sports with anti-slip feature, because my old one keeps jumping up and down on my face. A pair of Hoya ultra-thin clear lens (0.7 mm) with a high prescription (over -7.00) plus a frame for 19,800 yen — so inexpensive (by Canadian standard)! The eye exam alone took a solid 15 minutes, including both machine and manual checks. The optician double-checked everything with great care. Beside, if the lens is available on the spot, the wait time for the product to be ready is just 20 minutes. If the lenses aren’t in stock, it takes about five business days to prepare a new pair, or seven days for prescription sunglasses. If you can read hiragana, I recommend getting a pair of high-quality eyeglasses in Japan.

For dinner, we headed to Sushi Dining Tsuki (鮨ダイニング 月迴轉壽司), a revolving sushi place nearby. Sadly, the belt wasn’t operating due to COVID restrictions — but the sushi was still excellent. The restaurant features locally sourced seafood that was fresh, delicious, and reasonably priced. Total win, even without the spinning plates!

Today, I also visited a shrine that had barely any visitor and added a second 朱印 to the collection I started in Biei.

The full take — 210 more photographs from this day