Tourist Photos

Noboribetsu Onsen.

Kirsten at the Noboribetsu Onsen. Onsen means hot spring in Japanese. The tourists love to come up to Hokkaido because of the onsens. In fact, last time we were in Japan we had Onsen eggs at a fancy dinner which are eggs that are poached in a hot spring.

My dad, Peter, on a short hike near Noboribetsu.

My mom, Susan, in Shiraoi. I'm sure there was something interesting behind me.

mmm, salmon. These were at the Ainu cultural museum in Shiraoi, but along the coast normal people still hang up fish like this to dry.

The Ainu liked bears. Bears and owls. Although, the bears appeared to be Japanese sized and not as scary as North American bears. There was one oblique reference to where the bear and owl cages were located next to the house in one of the Ainu displays, which leads me to believe that they caged bears and owls.

Hanging out in front of Mt. Hiyori, an active volcano. I'm not sure it deserves the title Mt. yet since it's summit is only about 400m. We went down to the lake at its base which was cool because it was BOILING.

I'm sad that my parents (flying home today) didn't leave my little sister here to stay with me.

Token Tori gate, one of the emblems of Japan. The Tori gate purifies the soul when you walk through it and marks the boundary between the temple space and the earthly world. (or something along those lines.) This is for a Shinto temple. Shinto is the original religion of Japan and is an unorganized, organic religion that arose around 500 BCE. Most Japanese are Shinto and Buddhist.

posted by LAV at 15:25