I cannot understand the current American fascination with tattoos, but I would like to warn any future illustrated men and women that you would be shooting yourselves on the foot if you were to come to Japan. The onsen, which is one of Japan's most endearing institutions, does not allow people with tattoos in its premises. Of course you can still enjoy the fabulous cuisine, but you would not be able to unwind at the end of your hiking day immersed in a beautiful hot water pool.
Speaking of unwinding, I recovered remarkably well from my 12-hour death-march of a couple of days ago, perhaps because of the therapeutic effects of the onsen.
OK, so I am just wasting time because I really don't have anything else to tell you. I spent the whole day jumping from one slow train to another, to finally make it to the town of Chitose, where I will spend the night before heading for the Sapporo airport early tomorrow morning.
By the time I was settled in my hotel it was close to 7 pm and I was hungry. A place across the street looked promising, but instead of a greasy cloth across the table had a big red paper lantern. I have now learnt that this is the sign for an Izakaya restaurant, a relatively simple (but immensely popular) bar with a grill, where you can go to have a few drinks with your buddies, while at the same time enjoying all sorts of grilled skewers, either as appetizers or as dinner. They actually have quite the varied menu, but you buy your food by the item, rather than as a packaged deal. Fortunately Chitose is a fairly international community, being so close to the airport, so they have provisions for gaijins in the form of QR code menus where you can browse through the menu and order directly from your cell phone. There is a cover charge of 200 yen (but you get unlimited cups of broth), drinks before 8 pm are 245 yen (I had a lemon sour), and the skewers are between 125 and 200 yen each. I have been eating a lot of fish lately (I am not complaining because I love fish), so it was good to have pork, beef, and chicken skewers. I also had a bowl of pig intestines cooked in miso, which was pretty tasty (miso is a type of mold that is harvested from big tubs of decomposing rice; miso soup, at the end of a heavy meal, helps the digestive process).
I think I am ready to move on to Osaka tomorrow, although I plan to come back to Hokkaido in February of 2025, to see this beautiful island surrounded by drift icebergs.
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