TagJapan

Kanazawa Station

Sake tasting at the station

Kanazawa Castle

Bar Mikaduki

Omicho Market

For some reason the luggage belt at Toyama airport has a very large plate of fake sushi

Daibutsu of Takaoka

Castle Park

I decided to spend my last day before my flight to Toyama by visiting the port city of Otaru, which is about an hour outside Sapporo. First stop: breakfast at the Sankaku fish market. My breakfast resto Breakfast View of Otaru from Mt. Tengu Dried squid is amazingly tasty Japanese soft-serve ice cream is far better than in the U.S. I decided to try another Michelin-rated ramen place in Otaru. The...

I had planned several days of hiking the alpine peaks of Daisetsuzan National Park, but that was out of the picture due to my knee. I decided to spend the time in Sapporo while waiting for my flight to Toyama. I’ve taken a lot of trains in Japan, but nothing like the six-hour local from Wakkanai to Sapporo: a single car, powered by diesel from the smell, that slowed several times while the...

I decided on Rishiri-Fuji because it’s one of the remotest mountains in Japan and is on the 100 most famous mountains list (hyaku-meizan). It’s an extinct volcano almost 6,000 feet high. Still snow on the mountain in June Taking a break in the emergency hut At the hut I ran into a Japanese guy that I had chatted with at the trailhead. He asked to hike with me, which was a little...

Since I arrived late morning, I put off Rishiri-Fuji for the next day and instead drove a circuit around the island.

Rishiri harbor

I stopped for lunch at Miraku for some Michelin-rated ramen.

There was a street fair around the corner …

… with a performing monkey

Magnetic sign on my Tokyo hotel door

I was supposed to fly to Rishiri Island, but the second leg was cancelled due to high winds. So I took the six-hour bus from Sapporo to Wakkanai and grabbed the ferry the next day.

Wakkanai is so far north that the street signs are in Japanese and Russian

Rishiri-Rebun ferry

Wakkanai harbor

Japanese-style berth