A bus, a very big lake and a very bad smell.

Another day in another place.

 Konichawa

Today we are leaving Japan and I am a little sad.  I do not think I will ever be here again.  Mme tells me to cheer up and she said leaving Japan is not the end of the world.  I know about the end of the world now and I am not worried.

Today, my very last day in Japan, was filled with new adventures.

Mme bought a bus ticket at the bus ticket office on Our Ship and early this morning we sat on the bus along with many other people from Our Ship and it took us far away from the port of Kushiro  to the mountains and the famous thermal lake.

I sat in the seat beside Mme, in the outside of the backpack and I looked out the bus window when Mme lifted me out of the backpack net. Homer-san stood at the front of the bus and told us many interesting facts about the world passing by the bus windows. It was very difficult to remember all his facts but I will tell you my facts.

My facts are stop facts.  A stop is a place where all the people leave the bus and do special things. Our first stop was a place where people could buy some food, visit the rest rooms and walk about and look at bridges and trees and buildings.  Mme looked at bridges and trees and buildings and I looked at them too.  I want to see everything. At this stop Mme asked Homer-san a question about the roofs on the houses.  I did not understand anything about this conversation.  Homer-san understood and he answered the question.

The bridge at our first stop.  We did not walk on this bridge.

The very best part of the day for this loyal, hard-working little Japanese dog, was the stop at Lake Mashu.  Everything was beautiful.  The sky was a beautiful blue. The far away mountain ranges with snow on the tops were beautiful. And Lake Mashu was very calm and very beautiful.  There were no very high buildings and today I think Lake Mashu is the most beautiful place in all of Japan.

Lake Mashu

Mt Iwo was the place of very bad smells. It is a real volcano.  There are many real volcanoes in Japan. Mt Iwo is not beautiful like the mountains around Lake Mashu.  There is a very bad smell which is the sulphur and lots of smelly steam which looks like smoke.  On the ground  there are very bright yellow patches of sulphur and there is a fence to keep people out and many signs telling people not to pass beyond the fence.  Mme sat me on the ground.  I was very frightened and I was very happy when she picked me up and put me back in my place in the backpack.

Sitting on the safe side of the fence at Mt Iwo.

Nearby was the meal stop at Kawayu.  There is a foot onsen at Kawayu and after the bus people ate their meal everyone sat in the bus and the driver took the bus on a short drive to the foot onsen.  All the bus people removed their shoes and socks, sat on the edge of the pool and put their feet in the water.  The water is very hot and people's legs were very pink when they lifted their feet out of the pool.

The water for the foot onsen comes from beneath the rocks. The water is very hot in this part of the onsen.  Look closely at the lady in the top of the photo,  the water is so hot she wants to lift her feet out immediately. 

I was a very tired, little dog after all the exciting stops and I fell asleep on the way back to Our Ship and I did not wake up until we were in our room.

Our Ship is leaving Kushiro and I will not see Japan again.

I sat on my window ledge and watched as Our Ship left Kushiro port.  I was very brave and did not cry, even though I was a very sad little Japanese dog because I was leaving my country.

Otaru and Sapporo

Another day in another place.

 Konichawa

We were up very early this morning and standing out on the Promenade Deck watching as Otaru came into view.

Mme is excited and nostalgic about visiting Otaru. She first came here in 1972 (such a long time ago - she is very, very old) to see the Winter Olympics which were held in Sapporo, Japan.  Mme and five other Australian people stayed in a ryokan  in Otaru and took the train each day to Sapporo and then to an Olympic event.  It was a very important time for Japan, it was our very first Winter Olympics.

Today I travelled around  in the Capacious Black Bag, it is very dark and cramped but I could hear every word people say.  It is a long walk to the JR Station, along the way we walked past the steam clock, I could hear it whistle.

The Otaru Steam Clock - you cannot hear the sound in a photo but you can see the steam.

I could also hear the words Mme used when she found there was no one at the ticket office and she had to buy a train ticket at one of those (Sailor Words) vending machines.  We were on the train for less than one hour and I had one quick look out the window. There was snow on the mountains and many trees and many, many buildings.  Mme showed me the overpass she walked on one day in 1972 when a landslide blocked the train line and she had to take the bus to Otaru.  It was quite an adventure and I will ask her to tell me the big story one day when we are home in Australia.

The sun was shining in Sapporo and the very high building was just near the train station.  Mme spoke to some people from Our Ship and we walked about to find the door to the very high building. First we found the back door and then we found the elevator.

And then we found the restaurant and the man in charge of the restaurant showed  us to our very own table where we could look out the window towards the mountains and then down a long, long way to the streets below.

This is the view from our table.  Mme says there is a ski jump in the distance.  Can you see it?

And now we have a view of one of the very big streets in Sapporo.  And we are still sitting at the very same table!

Another new experience today for this little Japanese dog.  It was very exciting. The restaurant in the very high building is a revolving restaurant.  It turns very slowly in a circle.  I could not see it move at all at first but I kept watching another very high building outside and in the time Mme eats her meal it moves to a different place in the window.

How does this happen?

This is the hotel with the revolving restaurant - look up. It is the round section at the very top.

We could not spend any time looking about Sapporo as we had to be back on Our Ship by 5.30 pm or we would be left behind.  Mme had a plan if we were too late for the ship, but today she did not want to put it into practice.

Before we left Otaru railway station Mme took a photo.  She says it looks the same as it did in 1972. Is this possible?

On the way to Our Ship from the JR Station in Otaru, we walked down to the canal, greeted a pair of school-girls, Mme took a photo of an old man sketching alongside the canal and we walked over the very long, orange bridge and back to the dockside.  It was a long, long way.

The old man sketching along side the canal.  The seagull on the wall is watching him very, very closely.

The very long, orange bridge

Tomono Kawamura, Japanese concert pianist, is playing in the Frans Hals Lounge tonight.  I hinted to Mme that I would like to listen to her music but Mme told me we must have an early night as there is another full day of sight seeing in Hakodate tomorrow.

 I was very disappointed to miss the concert. My disappointment has made me not-so-very excited about visiting the port of Hakodate tomorrow.

Mme tells me to cheer up.  Missing the concert, she says, is not the end of the world.

The end of the world.  How terrible.  I won't sleep at all tonight, I need to be very ready to face such a terrible catastrophe.

I am very, very worried.