Day 12: (60 km) Shiraoi - Noboribetsu Onsen - Muroran
(08/10/06)

(outside Noboribetsu Onsen)

(Highway 36 Seafood Heaven)

Onsen towns are strange places, somewhere between a very chill theme park and a village. At their peak, they are clean, pretty areas filled with Japanese families strolling around in hotel-supplied yukata. The streets are lined with souvenir shops offering local sweets and trinkets, restaurants that look just a bit too quaint, and onsen hotels with clouds of steam rising behind them. It's all a little kitschy, but pleasant all the same.

(Enthralled by the God of Hell)

Noboribetsu Onsen, however, is well past its prime. The tourist shops are still well kept, the onsen hotels steamy and imposing, but there's a seediness that has crept into the town. Nearly a quarter of the storefronts are vacant and in disrepair. In spite of it being summer vacation, the crowds are sparse. Occasionally people gather to watch the carnivalesque God of Hell get angry. But after the past few days, the onsen was relaxing.

After the Noribetsu Onsen detour, I headed to Muroran and learned how easy it is to kill five hours at a ferry port given a gift shop with a good supply of beer, coffee, and snacks.


(Trying too Hard: A Japanese theme park)