{"id":2754,"date":"2012-02-22T14:43:57","date_gmt":"2012-02-22T14:43:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/insidejapanblog.com\/?p=2754"},"modified":"2016-02-08T20:27:23","modified_gmt":"2016-02-08T20:27:23","slug":"tsurui-to-rausu-from-cranes-in-the-river-to-bears-in-the-bath","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/2012\/02\/22\/tsurui-to-rausu-from-cranes-in-the-river-to-bears-in-the-bath\/","title":{"rendered":"Tsurui to Rausu: From cranes in the river to bears in the bath."},"content":{"rendered":"<h4>Like this post? Help us by sharing it!<\/h4><ul class=\"wpfai-list\"><li class=\"wpfai-list-item facebook\">\r\n      <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.insidejapantours.com%2Fblog%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F2754&amp;t=\" title=\"Facebook\" class=\"wpfai-facebook wpfai-link wpfainw\">\r\n        <span class=\"fa-stack fa-lg\">\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-square fa-stack-2x\"><\/i>\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-facebook fa-stack-1x fa-inverse\"><\/i>\r\n        <\/span>\r\n      <\/a>\r\n    <\/li><li class=\"wpfai-list-item twitter\">\r\n      <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share?text=&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.insidejapantours.com%2Fblog%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F2754\" title=\"Twitter\" class=\"wpfai-twitter wpfai-link wpfainw\">\r\n        <span class=\"fa-stack fa-lg\">\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-square fa-stack-2x\"><\/i>\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-twitter fa-stack-1x fa-inverse\"><\/i>\r\n        <\/span>\r\n      <\/a>\r\n    <\/li><li 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class=\"wpfai-list-item envelope\">\r\n      <a href=\"mailto:?subject=&amp;body=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.insidejapantours.com%2Fblog%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F2754%20-%20\" title=\"E-Mail\" class=\"wpfai-envelope wpfai-link wpfainw\">\r\n        <span class=\"fa-stack fa-lg\">\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-square fa-stack-2x\"><\/i>\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-envelope fa-stack-1x fa-inverse\"><\/i>\r\n        <\/span>\r\n      <\/a>\r\n    <\/li><li class=\"wpfai-list-item stumbleupon\">\r\n      <a href=\"http:\/\/www.stumbleupon.com\/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.insidejapantours.com%2Fblog%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F2754\" title=\"Stumble Upon\" class=\"wpfai-stumbleupon wpfai-link wpfainw\">\r\n        <span class=\"fa-stack fa-lg\">\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-square fa-stack-2x\"><\/i>\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-stumbleupon fa-stack-1x fa-inverse\"><\/i>\r\n        <\/span>\r\n      <\/a>\r\n    <\/li><li class=\"wpfai-list-item reddit\">\r\n      <a href=\"http:\/\/www.reddit.com\/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.insidejapantours.com%2Fblog%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F2754\" title=\"Reddit\" class=\"wpfai-reddit wpfai-link wpfainw\">\r\n        <span class=\"fa-stack fa-lg\">\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-square fa-stack-2x\"><\/i>\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-reddit fa-stack-1x fa-inverse\"><\/i>\r\n        <\/span>\r\n      <\/a>\r\n    <\/li><\/ul><p>I recently finished leading the Winter Highlights tour of Hokkaido.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0This spectacular tour features snow monkeys in Nagano,\u00a0ice sculptures in Sapporo\u00a0and maiko-spotting in Kyoto.\u00a0 Those highlights get coverage elsewhere.\u00a0 So I have chosen\u00a0to\u00a0write about a tour day in eastern Hokkaido, one of the lesser known parts of Japan, yet one full of incredible encounters.<\/p>\n<p>Our lodgings were in the small inland village of Tsurui,\u00a0 on the edge of the Kushiro\u00a0marshland national park.\u00a0 We woke\u00a0at 6am with\u00a0the outside temperature at\u00a0minus 20.\u00a0 Unaware\u00a0of the cold outside,\u00a0we were\u00a0cocooned\u00a0inside\u00a0heated, wood-panelled bedrooms\u00a0at\u00a0the welcoming\u00a0Woody Lodge.\u00a0 Our\u00a0early rise was for\u00a0a 6:30am appointment with <a href=\"http:\/\/hickorywind.jp\/blog\/about-hickorywind\/welcome\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ando-san, an expert on local wildlife and photography<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Ando-san,\u00a0a proud owner of\u00a0all the latest\u00a0Swarovski and Nikon equipment, took us to some great spots to see <em>tancho.\u00a0 Tancho <\/em>are rare red-crowned cranes that somehow survive\u00a0-20 standing naked\u00a0in the warmest parts of the\u00a0river.\u00a0 On his secret viewing spot above the river, Ando-san lent us his scope\u00a0for close-ups of the <em>tancho<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>-20 was not as much of a\u00a0problem as I expected.\u00a0 None of our group\u00a0suffered badly: there was no biting wind to chill our bones\u00a0and everybody\u00a0was well-prepared for arctic conditions.\u00a0\u00a0Yet the thought of parting with\u00a0even\u00a0one\u00a0of my 8 layers of\u00a0clothing terrified me.\u00a0 How the native Ainu survived winters up here without central heating, <em>kairo<\/em>\u00a0heatpads\u00a0and tight-knit\u00a0long johns I`ll never know.<\/p>\n<p>After seeing the <em>tancho<\/em> we returned to\u00a0Woody lodge where\u00a0the chef, a local girl and\u00a0former\u00a0New York resident, had prepared our breakfast.\u00a0 Her time living overseas was not wasted, as well as\u00a0speaking excellent English, she is an excellent cook, making\u00a0us a superb\u00a0breakfast.\u00a0\u00a0Her Mum`s homemade champagne-flavoured apple jam is worth getting up at anytime for.<\/p>\n<p>After breakfast\u00a0our kind,\u00a0jovial bus driver\u00a0took us back to\u00a0Ando-san at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wbsj.org\/en\/tsurui\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">bird sanctuary<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0Tancho`s flew over our heads,\u00a0landed twenty metres in front of us, then graciously\u00a0danced for us.\u00a0 Actually, Ando-san informed\u00a0us, they were dancing for\u00a0each other, an annual &#8211;\u00a0<em>kotoshi\u00a0mo yoroshiku &#8211;<\/em>\u00a0please be nice to me this year dance.<\/p>\n<p>We had plenty of time in the sanctuary for close-up photography before heading for\u00a0a drive in\u00a0the marshlands.\u00a0\u00a0On the way,\u00a0a<em>\u00a0kita\u00a0kitsune<\/em>, northern fox\u00a0posed for photographs by the side of the road.\u00a0 We then said goodbye to Ando-san, and headed further east, deeper into the\u00a0snow-coated wilderness.<\/p>\n<p>[slideshow size=&#8221;half-width&#8221;]<\/p>\n<p>After\u00a0tempura and soba noodle lunch, we rode\u00a0along the narrow\u00a0Notsuke\u00a0peninsula, a diversion recommended by Ando-san.\u00a0\u00a0Looking out the bus window, eagles and northern foxes appeared in\u00a0front of the dark, forbidding waves of the Okhotsk Sea with the snow-capped peaks of Kunashiri, the disputed Russian-held islands looming beyond.<\/p>\n<p>Our final destination was Rausu, a small fishing port on the Shiretoko\u00a0peninsula\u00a0world heritage site.\u00a0 Only the coast road in Rausu\u00a0stays open in winter, the inland road gets\u00a0cut off by\u00a0heavy snowfall.\u00a0 This remote peninsula\u00a0really felt like\u00a0the exposed edge of Japan.<\/p>\n<p>Actually not <em>all<\/em>\u00a0of the valley road is closed,\u00a0 the snow is ploughed for 1km,\u00a0up as far as Kumanoyu, the Bear Bath.\u00a0 The Bear Bath,\u00a0a 10 minute trudge up from our hotel, has\u00a0two <em>rotenburo<\/em>, outdoor hot spring baths, one for men and one for women.\u00a0 Free to enter, the bath, changing rooms and\u00a0walkways are\u00a0all maintained by\u00a0locals, members of the Rausu\u00a0Onsen Appreciation Society.<\/p>\n<p>I will\u00a0never have a bath like it.\u00a0 Wearing hiking boots to trek\u00a0through snow in the darkness, then shedding all\u00a08 layers in\u00a0a rickety wooden shed before\u00a0stepping cautiously over icy concrete to get in\u00a0a bath so hot I regretted not\u00a0bringing\u00a0a cup and teabag.<\/p>\n<p>The intense heat quickly\u00a0warmed me up, then slowly started to cook me.\u00a0 For a while I took a\u00a0masochistic pleasure\u00a0in seeing how long I could last, then I feared the smell of burning flesh.<\/p>\n<p>Kumanoyu is notoriously hot, the man working at the hotel reception had warned me about it when he lent me a torch.\u00a0 Perhaps it is called the Bear Bath because bears\u00a0are the only animals hardy enough to tolerate it.\u00a0Eventually I had to plunge\u00a0the cold water hose in to\u00a0lower the temperature.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<em>Nurui<\/em>! <em>Nurui<\/em>! (It`s cold! It`s cold!),&#8221; a couple of locals who\u00a0got\u00a0in\u00a0after me squealed\u00a0out.\u00a0\u00a0Cold?\u00a0 Putting the cold water hose in for a few seconds may have\u00a0taken the temperature down &#8211; but surely no more than\u00a0half a degree.\u00a0 I regretted not observing\u00a0them closer, surely\u00a0no human could ever complain of cold sitting in that bath, perhaps they were\u00a0bears tired of the annual tedium of hibernation.<\/p>\n<h4>Like this post? 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Help us by sharing it! I recently finished leading the Winter Highlights tour of Hokkaido.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0This spectacular tour features snow monkeys in Nagano,\u00a0ice sculptures in Sapporo\u00a0and maiko-spotting in Kyoto.\u00a0 Those highlights get coverage elsewhere.\u00a0 So I have chosen\u00a0to\u00a0write about a tour day in eastern Hokkaido, one of the lesser known parts of Japan, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2361],"tags":[1477,1814,2013,2091,2163,2260,2320,2324,2534],"class_list":["post-2754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-when-to-go-to-japan","tag-eastern-hokkaido","tag-kumanoyu-onsen","tag-rausu","tag-shiretoko-peninsula","tag-tancho","tag-tsurui","tag-winter-highlights-tour","tag-woody-lodge","tag-tom-orsman"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2754"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8599,"href":"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2754\/revisions\/8599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}