The Island of the Gods

Today was another grand and wonderous adventure!! I woke up this morning, feeling eager to go somewhere exciting, and I found just the place! About an hour out of Sapporo, there is a little town called Toya-ko. Those of you who don't know this place should, as this was the location of the G8 Summit, where world leaders met to discuss global crises. Toya-ko is also built within a giant caldera, where in 2000, the massive volcanic grounds erupted into molten lava, destroying part of the town with fire and ash. Despite this though, the townspeople returned a few months later and cleaned the area up. And what a job they did! Toya is quite possibly the most magical place I've been to in japan. You know in Princess Mononoke, when Ashitaka is brought to the little island in the middle of that lake to be healed? Toya-ko is exactly like that place, but on a larger scale. So I took the train from Sapporo to Toya station, and then transfered to a bus that took me over the mountain to the town. As I was riding the bus, I stared out the window, looking at the mountainside. once we got over the peak, you could see the steam rising from holes in the ground. Once I got off the bus, I was bombarded with the smell of sulfur. It wasn't super strong, but it was there, and it came from everywhere. I got used to the smell though and didn't even notice it after a couple of minutes. From the bus station, I walked to the information center/volcano museum to find out what the best onsen to go to was. Sadly, the one the guy recommended wasn't open, so I had to go to a different one. I went to one that was about a block down, and entered the building. I paid the man at the counter, took my shoes off, and proceeded downstairs. Now, the great thing about the onsen here, other than them being onsen, is that they are extremely cheap to use. It cost me only 500 yen to use the facilities, and that is for as long as I want. I went into the dressing room, got out my towel, and spent the next 2 hours relaxing. It was a most peaceful experience. This onsen had three parts to it as well. There were two indoor tubs, and one outdoor one. I pretty much used all of them, with the two inside varying in temerature. The best part was relaxing outside, where a shamisen could be heard playing off in the park. It was a true Japanese experience. After relaxing, I got dressed and headed off to the lakeside, where a boat waits to take people to the island in the middle of the lake. I proceeded to buy a ticket, but the next boat wasn't coming for another half hour, and I was really hungry. So I walked back to the main street and found a nice cabin style restaurant that specialized in making a white bean and rice ball ice cream. They say it is meant to symbolized the purity of the snow that covers Hokkaido during the winter. I decided to order teriyaki herring over rice, with sea scallop miso. It was very tastey and filling, and gave me the energy I needed for the rest of the day. After eating, I headed back to the dock and bought a ticket for the boat. It arrived shortly after, and I boarded the strange castle shaped vessel. I went to the top sectio of the boat, and all I could do was stare at the scenery. I don't think I've seen anything as beautiful as what was before me. A giant round lake surrounded three dark green mountains covered in mist. The surrounding mountains I the outlying areas were just as beautiful, and in the distance you could see the volcano and soft gray smoke billowing from it's top. The lake was a soft blue green and spread all throughout the center of this massive caldera. As we approached the islands, I watched as deer treaded through the trees, and owls perched upon the branches. After 30 minutes the boat docked and I exited onto the island. It was quiet and serene, with only the sounds of owls, deer, and little bears. The island felt like the resting place of forest gods and Kami, with the mist swirling I circles through the cold branches of the trees. I walked up to the gate that blocked off the rest of the mountain, and found a small herd of deer wait there to be fed crackers by humans. I got some great footage of one of the deer eating, with one of them hilariously trying to eat my camera. After watching the deer for a bit, I headed to the door of the gate that allowed you to go further into the mountain. I walked up for a good 10 minutes before being stopped and told that that the last boat would be leaving soon. That was dissappointing, especially since I wanted to go deeper into the mountain, but I guess that will have to wait for a different time. Just being there was enough for me. I boarded the last boat back to shore, and watched as the island got smaller and smaller behind us. Once the boat landed on the dock, I got off and wandered about the town for a bit, just taking it all in. I then thought it was about time to head back to the bus station. I almost had another adventure moment as I did in Aomori, but luckily I caught the second to last bus back to the train station. I said my goodbyes to Toya-ko and headed back over the mountain. As we were going back, there was a cute little Marimo fox in one of the fields next to the road looking at us. Seeing that fox was a good way to end the day. Tomorrow is going to be a day spent in Hell Valley in Noboribetsu! Let's hope that it is as exciting as today was.