Not a very newsy day, mostly spent saying goodbye to new friends and heading for Asahikawa, where I will start my solo travels.
We left Hamanaka at a very decent 8:30 am, and by 10:30 am had arrived at Kushiro, where we said goodbye to Annie, Chung, and their son Rei. They are staying in Kushiro for a couple more days before heading back to Singapore.
Richard, Kazu, Hellen, and I then went to retrieve their company car, and went looking for a Workmen store, where I wanted to buy a rain jacket (size 5 XL Japanese, which barely fits me; I wonder where sumo wrestlers get their rain gear?), and a pocket knife. Purchases completed, we started on the 5-hour car trip to Asahikawa, the city where both Richard and Kazu live.
On the way there we crossed through the Daisetsuzan National Park, which straddles the island divide. It was raining, at times pretty heavily, but since Richard was driving I got to enjoy the ride through the conifer fog forest very much. We stopped at the highest pass to have lunch in a delightful mountain restaurant, where I had a bowl of noodles, soup, and a breaded pork chop that warmed my soul.
On the way down we stopped at the waterfalls of Ginga and Ryusei, with throws of 120 and 90 meters, respectively. They were very big and spectacular.
As we entered the greater Asahikawa area we went through hectares and hectares of rice fields, recently planted. Rice is grown in greenhouses, and once the small plants are about 10 cm tall they get transplanted into the paddy fields, plant by little plant. The old farmers throw each plant into the mud as a dart in a dart board, with incredible geometrical precision. The new farmers use planting machines, which simplifies the task enormously but lacks the beauty of the old ways. This is an extremely productive region, where yields are on the order of 7 tons of rice per hectare.
Finally we arrived to the train station of Asahikawa, where we said goodbye to our good friends and guides Richard and Kazu. I turned to the right to go to my hotel, and Hellen turned to the left to hers. She is going up to the mountains for a few days before returning to England, and tomorrow I will head to the northernmost city of Japan, Wakkanai, to start my solo hiking adventure.
Asahikawa is a big city, perhaps the size of Modesto, but as I look at it through the window of my 11th floor hotel room I realize I have very little interest left for the urban scene. I will go down to the supermarket to buy something for dinner, but outside of that I will just enjoy going to bed.
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