Noboribetsu

Noboribetsu was supposed to be our hot springs and death/sulfur valley experience on our trip to Japan, but turns out it was going to be your second entry, having visited Hakone earlier on. We started nice and early from Sapporo, relatively speaking. We jumped onto the 1132hrs local train and settled in for a few hours of non-stop train travel. This was however the island of Hokkaido, where trains are slower, journeys longer, but still very enjoyable.

Arriving in Noboribetsu was very different to what we had been used to. This was a small coastal town with a single train station and there was just nobody around, just the handful of folks waiting with us for the one bus service.

The bus took us all the way up the hill to the bus station just opposite our hotel this evening, Noboribetsu Manseikaku, where we dropped off our bags and then were on track to seize our day with a mild hangover.

Our first stop would be the Noboribetsu Bear Park. We were excited! A cable car ride up the hill to a Bear Reserve to see lots of happy bears doing happy bear things, like frolicking and roaring. The cable car ride was pretty cool and gave us a great view of the valley below and Noboribetsu town on the coast.

But at this stage it was too late. We had paid premium entry fees, we'd ridden the cable car, we were distracted by the bear cubs, we didn't realise we had arrived in a hell scape for bears. There were no happy bears here, just sad begging for food bears living in crappy little concrete jungles and looking very depressed.

There was a museum that continued to depress us, but there was a good view at the top of the volcano lake, Lake Kuttara.

We at least enjoyed the cable car back down to the main street so we could forget this horrible place. I gave them a one star review.

Walking up the street, we were aiming for the Hell Valley area, but as we kept going we did keep coming across these ogre mascots. The ogres are called Yukijin (Hot Water Gods). There's a bunch of souvenirs and statues based on the Yukijin legend all over town, each statue massive in size.

Hell Valley itself consists of a number of trails and boardwalks, between the gravel hills, and amongst the hot sulfur vents coming from the ground. In certain areas you can see the hot springs and the hot spring water bubbling and some flowing along the Oyunuma River towards Noboribetsu to service the many hot spring hotels. There are a lot of signs of the toxic gases because the plants all tend to die in the vicinity. Still, it was pretty green all over the place.

We headed back towards the hotel, with a quick detour to the local Pizza place, which is usually against the rules of travel abroad (unless in Italy), but this place was amazing. With over 50% of Japan's milk supply coming from Hokkaido, you know the mozzarella was going to be amazing.

Noboribetsu - Visit for Hell Valley and the Pizza place. Avoid the bear park of intense sadness.