When it comes to driving, the speed limits are fairly low. Generally it is 50 kilometers per hour, which is 31 miles an hour. Therefore, most people drive faster. Since many of the roads I have taken have been single lane roads, I have tried to keep speeds high enough that most people do not feel the need to pass me. There have been times though that I have felt unwilling to go much faster over the speed limit, that people have indeed passed me.
One aspect of driving on Hokkaido that has been different than what I remember of the rest of Japan is the constant stream of downward pointing arrows on both sides of the road. It is a bit odd.
Yesterday I drove four hours to get from Furano to Tsurui, which is near the Kushiro National Park wetlands. While driving on a mountain road, I passed a very tiny fox, which I recognized as an Ezo fox. Since I was the only one driving on the road, I stopped and took a quick snapshot with my phone through the rear view mirror.
About thirty minutes away from my final destination, I stopped at a ramen restaurant, since there are no restaurants in the actual small town that I would be staying in. They shockingly had an English menu. I ordered the vegetable miso ramen soup, which I had not seen anywhere else. It was stacked high with vegetables on top of the ramen. It was gargantuan.
I arrived at the hotel a little past 2:30pm and they checked me in early. It seems like if no one has previously occupied the room, these towns will begrudgingly check you in early, while being sure to mention what the proper check in time should be.
The weather was super gloomy, but there wasn't much chance of rain, so I decided to go to the nearby trail into the wetlands. Right as I was about to enter, I saw a deer off to my left. Then, I turned around and spotted a small animal behind me. It quickly scurried away. It looked a little like a baby raccoon..
While I did see a bunch of small birds, it was too gloomy to take many pictures. The highlight of the walk was of two ferrets that scurried right past me, one holding a dead frog. They pretty much ignored my presence.
Just past the ferrets, I ran into a couple. I showed them a picture of the ferrets and indicated that they were in the direction that they were walking. They started talking to me about their trip and my trip on Hokkaido. They asked me about a cruise to see bears in Shiretoko National Park. I took down their email and promised to send them information about the cruise that I had booked. As soon as I got back within wifi range, I received an email from that very company, notifying me of a recent accident with their boat, where it became dented from a collision with a reef, and that they had to suspend operations for the time being. They said that they had tried to book me with another company but that they were all full. This is the third piece of bad luck that I have had while planning my summer trip.
The first bit of bad luck came when the Fair Isle Bird Observatory, on the Shetland Islands of Scotland burned to the ground. Then, while on the cruise, I received an email that the hotel that I had booked for the Shiretoko National Park area had overbooked, and was transferring me to a lesser rated sister hotel nearby, while refunding part of the cost. And now the bear cruise has been canceled.
At least I got lucky and got to see the ferrets because there were many other times when families with loud children stomped their way past me, making sure that no animal would come anywhere near the path.
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