The Gates of Hell - Noboribetsu and Back

31st October 2003 - It's a 42 km drive from Touya-ko to Noboribetsu (see below)... and our plans were to get back to Sapporo by the evening. This was going to be a long day, and it had started off badly.

On our way to Noboribetsu we had faced many perils, and many demons of fear (my driving for example in the POSSESSED CAR). Still none of this prepared me for the demons that I would face in Noboribetsu... and the truly horrible things that I would see.

My God... So that's what Blue Demons wear under their dresses.... That's disgusting...!


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Noboribetsu is famous really for one thing. It's a Japan-wide famous Onsen (hot springs) town that has made it's fortune from (a) attracting people their to plunge themselves into very hot water, and (b) attracting people to leave said hot water and spend their money on any number of touristy things. Today we had no time for the onsen. Unfortunately we skipped straight to (b)...with a slight detour.

First stop was encouraging. Hell Valley (where above picture of the non-nuclear Oni family was taken). Hell Valley is, as far as Hellish things are concerned, a little over-rated. It's not really a valley (it's a crater), and whilst I wouldn't want to buy land here, it's not that bad.

The path work is nice... shame about the smouldering ground. Oh - did I mention the sulfurous gases (reminded me of Usu-zan)... Hmmm - bad eggs. Yumm-o.

The real estate hereabouts is a tad on the small side...

And the main attraction seems to be this large gaping hole through which you can see... one helluva HOT hot-spring. Clearly, this was not one of the ones that did the attracting of tourists... As we gazed down into the boiling hot water, a voice drifted up. "Prepare Thyselves to Meet Hell on Earth, Human Harumph - and Know Ye Had Best Boil Ye Head Now Whilst Ye Have the Chance. Harumph." Hmmm - sounded a lot like a pirate, ahoy me hearty! Either way, I wondered what could possibly be ahead of me that such a self-inflicted punishment would be better... I was about to find the true Hell-on-Earth in Noboribetsu.

It was Noboribetsu Date Jidaimura... the worst theme park in the world, based on the old Edo-period live museum concept. What should have given it away was the very large and almost completely empty car-park. T-chan assured me that we would have fun here (the Sera's evil spirit had obviously possessed her - but I had not dreamed she could be so evil).

Actually to be fair, the place looked not too bad from the outside.

Hell-oooooooo. Anybody there? Unfortunately there was someone at the ticket counter, and he was more than willing to take our 2,900 yen each (1,500 yen for children). Did I also mention they charge for parking... hmmm - because clearly you pay a premium for space. T-chan, I hope you know what you're doing... This place was largely deserted. To be fair, we were coming here during the middle of the week. In the wrong century.

Finally we found someone... they looked friendly enough. What's that... bring out ya dead? Hey, I'm feeling much better now. Actually... on second thoughts... maybe I should just let myself go peacefully. Sweet death, come to me.

We saw a Ninja show. Actually - I thought it was a show. These kind gentlemen kindly offered to show me a magic trick involving my wallet. Little did they know the man at the front gate had already shown me this trick before. 

There was definitely some colour around. Actually, my hat goes off to the workers here. I mean can you imagine having to go through all of this for a handful of people? They did put on a brave face.

Apparently this procession was just of prior visitors that were still looking for a way out. Interesting early-Harajuku style...would like to see the mobile phone strap that goes with this outfit.

They put on a show - which seemed to be largely about making bawdy jokes involving the handful of drunk ojisan (older men) salarymen that sat in the audience.

Let's go for a quick response from the critics... Hmm  - I'm sensing some discontent from the crowd...

But surely it wasn't that bad... not bad enough to lose your head over? Or was it? Right now the dunking-head-in-boiling-water was looking a good option.

Other's had a more direct display of their considered opinion.

Meanwhile T-chan was getting jiggy with it - what is it with the Japanese and their funky rooms? Is this some sort of ancient earthquake ritual or something?

Actually - I may have been a little harsh. For all of my belly-aching, the park was not quite Hell-on-Earth. It was really quite nicely done. The only problem was (a) we arrived late, and (b) guests were outnumbered by the performers by about 10:1. We could enjoy the scenery however... and I'm sure during the weekends and holidays this is a very different place.

So we left Noboribetsu... our final leg started on this two day Odessey. On the way home we passed through Tomakomai. I mentioned it earlier... and it's fitting to recall the earthquake comment. On September 25, just days before I arrived in Sapporo, there had been a major earthquake measuring 8.3 that had an epicentre just off Tomakomai. When we drove through it, you couldn't really tell, but it had hit international news with a resulting oil storage facility fire. The scary thing was that Sapporo's airport (New Chitose Airport) is not that far away. Driving through and noticing some of the local wild-life I suspect that there may have been some not-so-minor radioactive release. Why couldn't they have taken out the theme park!

Actually it was a really long day... and not even a stop at one of our favourite eating places (Bikkuri Donkey) could revive our enthusiasm. Actually I have to say their exterior looks a little strange, but their 300g beef burgers (ie a slab-o-meat in a yummy sauce) are delicious. Love em.

Driving home to Sapporo, I discovered what it's like to get in a Japanese traffic jam. You don't even know you're in it until it's too late. We were one the expressway (trying to save time as it was now getting very late), and we noticed that there was a huge bank of cars on the left hand lane - doing about 20km/hr whilst we were doing about 100km/hr. Suckers! As we drove blissfully on, we started seeing signs for T-chan's exit ahead. 5 km...4 km... 3km... 2km... 1km... hmmm... those cars may have actually been trying to get off the expressway. In a manoeuvre that would have left Michael Schumacher reaching for the paper bag, T-chan (now well and truly possessed) slammed on the brakes from 100km/hr to 20, inserting the Sera into a gap that was perhaps 10m long. Impressive.

I hope T2-chan's brother (who was going to buy the car shortly) didn't mind a slightly soiled front passenger seat.

What a day... what an adventure. Despite it all, this trip was definitely a highlight of our trip, and T-chan and I look back on it very fondly.

I still can't believe we paid nearly 3,000 yen each for that theme park!......

The Mysterious Waters of Touya-ko & Vengeful Cars

31st October, 2003 - We stayed the night at Sun Palace , one of the larger family-friendly onsen that faces onto the lake. Actually, one of the good things about Touya-ko is that every night there's fireworks on the lakes... fairly decent fireworks as well. The onsen is good too - but a modern style. Lots to do, and lots to eat.

Actually the onsens are fairly new here... they only discovered the hot springs around 1910. We were lucky they did; even if Touya-ko is a bit touristy nowadays.

The lake, as mentioned before is actually sitting in the residual of a giant volcano that had destroyed itself in a distant eruption. Indeed it's the third largest such caldera lake in Japan. At 180m deep, it's also one of the scariest. It's so deep, ice doesn't form on it in winter. The lake itself is about 43 km around, and about 9-11 km wide.

Youtei-zan stands off in the distance, looking more and more like Fuji-san.

But I wasn't the only witness to this view.

And not being a fisherman, I don't know if these make good eating or not - but there were a lot of them. Apparently the mineral rich water isn't that plentiful with life...

Actually, after we had finished up with our last trip to the onsen, packed the car and headed out on our way to Noboribetsu, we made a very quick stop at a convenience store just outside of Touya-ko. T-chan was in the car waiting for me whilst I went in to buy some food/drink for the drive. As I came out, I decided to take one last photo of Showa Shinzan from a different angle... T-chan and her Sera were parked just below the frame of the photo below.

Remember- Sera's have gull-wing doors (very cool, unless for whatever reason the car starts rolling backward and the door closes by itself - due to gravity - and catches your finger in it). As I approached the car, I noticed T-chan was yelling something at me... I just casually assumed she was telling me to hurry up and finish taking photos. I didn't realise till later that she was yelling because she was just about to faint. I realised something was wrong (I'm not that quick out of the blocks), and opened the Sera doors. Her finger (which had been stuck in the door whilst she was desperately holding her foot on the brake) was now about 4mm thick... about the thickness of her finger bone. I don't have photos of that moment...unfortunately... but it was a shocking thing to happen on our romantic getaway...

Suddenly I was feeling very vulnerable as T-chan was really in a lot of pain; we were a long way from home; and my Japanese is shockingly bad. What to do?

After perhaps 20 mins in the convenience store trying to restore some life to her finger, T-chan bravely said that she could go on. As long as I drove her car. Her car is a manual - I drive automatics. Her car is possessed with a vengeful spirit... the road to Noboribetsu is long and windy. Halfway along, we came across signs warning of dangerous conditions ahead due to slippery surface. T-chan started worrying more about my driving than her finger. That was a good sign. Wasn't it?

Thankfully there aren't many times you need to stop (hill starting was not my strong point). The Sera was having her revenge, as this was literally the last day that T-chan would drive it.

The drive to Noboribetsu was beautiful, but we weren't able to easily enjoy it. T-chan was tenderly reviving her poor fingers (at least there were still 5 of them, and a whole spare hand as well). Meanwhile I was bare-knuckle driving the Sera for my life. Half wanting to hurry up to get to our destination - half trying to do my best impression of "Driving Miss Daisy".

There was some breath-taking scenery along the way. You can just make out Touya-ko in the distance. Thank god for cameras... but to hell with the person who invented gull-wing doors! We would soon be getting a closer look at hell... but that's still to come...

Touya-ko and Mischievous Usu-zan

30th October, 2003 - Driving into Touya-ko, you don't get the impression that you've suddenly come across one of the largest remnant volcanoes in Japan. Indeed the huge lake is actually a enormous caldera crater left over from an enormous eruption that had literally blown the top off the previous volcano. Now all that remains is the deep, deep lake.

A note on spelling... the proper name is Tōya-ko which should be written as Touya-ko. You will often see the "u" omitted, to leave just Toya-ko. Youtei-zan is another example where this occurs. This occurs all the time in English web translation of Japanese names.

 From Youtei-zan, it's another 50+ km to get to Toya-ko



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The volcanic story of Touya-ko is far from over however... back in 2000, Usu-yama (actually it was the nearby connected volcanic cone, Nishi-yama) erupted in a spectacular display of force. This volcanic system has erupted every 20-50 years since the 1600's when it awoke from slumber.

The eruption was announced by pronounced activity around 31st March - with major land deformation and crater formation by the 5th April with activity peaking around the 7-10th April. The volcano continued till about June...

Nowadays the area is still active, the air filled with the noxious sulfurous gases... it's as if we had discovered a gateway to a grim apocalyptic future...

Where man had surrendered begrudgingly to the forces of nature. During the eruption, about 16,000 people had been evacuated from Touya-ko and surrounding areas - leading to no known deaths. Alas however, the nearby homes were lost - now a stark reminder of humans (fool-hardy) ability to defy the inevitable. There's a good Volcano Science Centre located near the volcano.

Around the end of WWII, there were a series of earthquakes that had disturbed Touya-ko's then sleepy existence. The resulting earth disturbance lead to a bulging of the surface, that eventually came to be known as Showa Shinzan (Showa-era new mountain)... It's about 300m high, and continues to grow - a disturbing reminder that not all of geologies actions are slow by our standards.

Showa-Shinsan can best be seen by taking the scenic ropeway to the summit of Usu-zan. It costs around 1,300 yen (adult) so it's not a cheap trip... however.. it's worth it.

At the top you'll get amazing views across both the Touya lake...

And find a stark landscape atop the summit, with just a hint of beauty amongst the volcanic desolation.

The views out across Uchiura Bay are glorious. It's the Pacific Ocean ... and it's beautiful.

And another view of Uchiura Bay, with volcanic steam venting through Usu-zan's top.