Cape Sōya and Bad Taxidermy (Patreon)

Shirogane Blue Pond was teeming with people and felt like quite the tourist trap. That said, the photos people are taking are quite stunning.  

Today I'm here to say if you ever get a chance to rent a car and drive up to Cape Sōya (Misaki Sōya/岬宗谷), I recommend it. It was a long and pleasant trip with roadside appearances from deer, kitsune, and a black cat that decided to plant itself right in the middle of a pitch black road on a rainy night. Tragedy was averted thanks to Julyan's quick reactions🙌. Inaka roads in Hokkaido don't have street lights, just shiny reflecting signs to let you know where the road is if it snows and where it curves. 

So J and I took turns driving from Nayoro up to the Nakatonbetsu Limestone Caves, along the coast to Sarufutsu, all the way up to the tippy top of Japan (Cape Sōya), then across to Wakkanai, where we all watched the sunset over the white shell road.

There are several Nakatonbetsu Limestone Caves, but it's only the first cave you can actually enter. It's free, though, and we were the only ones there. A little old lady greeted us (Richard swears she was playing a game in the back room when we arrived) and lent us umbrellas as it was sprinkling when we set out. During the hike through the forest to reach the cave, Richard, Julyan, K-chan, and I were discussing why she was blaring jazz from an outdoor speaker pointed toward the serene forest. Having spent my wee childhood in Alaska, I thought I knew. We soon came across the bear siren. 

Mystery solved! 

The little old lady was less a jazz lover and more a bear keeper away-er. We turned the crank which made an awful noise and then mused that maybe the bears had set this up to let them know when people were in the area. 

Nervously, we continued on. 

The cave itself isn't very deep and ends up being a dead end, but it's lovely and drippy and echoey and slippery and at times (see below) extremely narrow. I think that's K-chan standing there.

Me, remembering: Oh, that's right. I do have a touch of claustrophobia!

We came across no bears or bats, on the cave trip only adorable squirrels. Those ears kill me! Saw them down at Hokkaido Jingu a few days later, too. 

Then we walked along Sarufutsu's beach and up to Cape Sōya. The weather was supposed to be really bad with lightning advisories everywhere, but the skies cleared up and we were able to avoid it all.

Tadah! 着いた！

There were a handful of people visiting and taking photos, but no tour buses or nothing too over the top. It was clear and we could even spot the Russian Sakhalin islands off in the distance. 

I found a kaisendon restaurant on Google Maps that we were heading for but driving and sightseeing took so long and times got messed up so we didn't make it. 

That's okay! We had some really good ramen instead. Scallops were incredible all around this area. Learned later, they're everywhere because China isn't buying them (um, Fukushima water releasing issues). So everywhere AND they're really cheap at the moment. 

Tritium aside, they really were incredibly delicious.

While at Cape Sōya, Julyan's girlfriend found one of those "below some godawful temperature" rooms that let's you experience how cold winter gets here. Richard had forgotten to wear long sleeves and bailed quickly. It was a bit of a sad little show, that room.

Cue: Bad Taxidermy. 

Julyan just lost it with the expressions on the below tanuki pair. Those totally aren't tanuki faces. I suggested, could they be Pekingese dogs? #eegads

Then this poor thing. #jeez There weren't too many animals, thank goodness. 

This fellow below demonstrating how to spend six months of snow reaching your the second floor of your house.

Then a drive to Wakkanai and the white shell road. 

Apologies, I was so into watching it I didn't take any photos that convey how beautiful it was. 

Another.

Okay, back home and re-energized! Lots to do! ♪(๑ᴖ◡ᴖ๑)♪

XO,

t