from wakkanai with love

When we looked out the window this morning, it had finally, finally stopped raining. And we saw that there was actually a mountain on Rishiri. And of course, it was just as we were leaving. Typical.

But, we got some photographs of this beautiful mountain as we made our way back to Wakkanai on the ferry. There were so many tour buses, so the ferry was so packed we couldn't get a proper seat. But we were able to stand on the deck and enjoy the view. :)

There are only three daily trains from Wakkanai to Asahikawa/Sapporo, so we had to kill three hours for the next train. We had yakisoba, and looked around the 'bustling downtown core' of Wakkanai. On the road signs as well as shop signs, we saw Russian signage. They even sell Russian dolls in the souvenir shops. There is a 300-dollar ferry (one way) to Sakhalin Island from Wakkanai. It's interesting to see that on Japanaese maps (even recent ones), the bottom half of Sakhalin Island is seen as "neutral territory" and shown in white. There are also signs saying "GIVE US BACK OUR ISLANDS!", referring to the desputed Kuril island chain which have been so for most of the 20th century. Apparantly in Nemuro on the east coast there is also a sizeable Russian population.

We left Wakkanai, went to Asahikawa and then to Kamikawa. Which, of course, means Romance.