Off to Hokkaido

Thanks to a good deal at lastminute.co.jp, we just had a five day holiday in eastern Hokkaido. I didn’t post while we were travelling, so these next few entries are backfilled.
After staying up all night to work on a video project for a client with a very tight deadline, I met Tod at Haneda at 6:45 am. There was virtually no hassle getting our tickets; we weren’t even asked for ID after we flashed the reciept of our payment. Boarding passes were handed over without question. In fact, for the entire rest of the trip we were never asked to identify ourselves. Maybe that we were the only foreign guests at the hotel–or even in the town–had something to do with it.

The stream that runs through Kawayu is hot.
We arrived at Hotel Kitafukuro (North Owl) in Kawayu mid-morning, settled in, then ventured out for a walk at lunchtime. There was snow everywhere! The hotel staff said there wasn’t too much snow this year, but there was stilll more than a meter blanketing the town. It was so bright and shiny that my eyes hurt for hours.

This handsome stranger is warming his feet in an outdoor foot bath.

The town park is full of deer.
Most of the afternoon was devoted to napping–Tod had stayed up all night, too–then a relaxing soak in sulphur baths that tarnished our silver rings and even our gold ones. We topped off the day with a delicious dinner and a long, log-like sleep.