Train ride to Sapporo/Carlos Pueblo

Train ride to Sapporo/Carlos Pueblo

On the second day of Hakodate, we took a train ride to Sapporo in a whole day.

It was a result of my poor planning before the trip and I thought that I knew the

way in Hokkaido. We met two retired ladies on the train and learned the Onuma

Quasi- National Park where we visited on the following day.

It started with the Hakodate Main Line, the express train went through the Lake

Onuma and continue on the same line entering to the quiet Uchiura Bay, snow

cap mountains on the left while the coastal line on the right with fishing villages

and townships. I know what they are doing by reading the Kanji posts of the

building, like an office of a physician, a restaurant, a grocery store, and a business

venture, etc. Plenty of used balls shaped, glass fishing floats, were piled up on the

backyard. They were for the arrangement of fishing nets to catch fish and obviously

not in function due to long range fishing vessel in use. Balls are no longer in glass but

plastic in orange color often.

I mostly appreciate Japanese artists for their work to describe the beautiful scenery

of seaside wave. I witness the peaceful wave on both side of the Pacific, Uchiura Bay

and the Sea of Japan, smoothly reaching to the beaches like an beer bubble overflow

from the glass. They are also very good at describing the Tsunami swallowing houses

and villages. We are still on the Hakodate Main Line until Higashi Muroran and still

circling the Bay. On the left side of the train, there are snow cap mountains and beyond

the mountains are two beautiful lakes, Toyo and Shikotsu of the old volcano, now a

national park in combined. The train is circling on three sides of the snow cap Mt. Usu

right on the side of the Lake Toya.

The names of Hokkaido township are very well described in Kanji, i.e. Toya, Muroran,

Datemombetsu, Tomakomai, and one more, Noboribetsu. Kanji characters are well

kept in Japanese and I sometimes need to check on my dictionary. We stopped by

Higashi Muroran, Muroran is  the original designated port of the cruise and changed

to Sapporo, actually is Otaru port north of Sapporo. We entered the Mororan Main

Line still on the coastal line toward Tomakomai Station and then turned north on

Chitose Line toward Sapporo Station on Ishikari Plain. At the end of the plain is

Otaru Port on Ishikari Bay. Mirei Kitahara’s Ishikari Banka is one of my favorite song.

I compare the old red brick Hokkaido governors building to the old red brick governor

general office in Taipei, current day Taiwanese Presidential Palace. I thought that we

got a better deal, yet an old volunteer gave me a copy of his sheet. Hokkaido building

was built in 1869-1871 while Taiwan building was built in 1912-1919. There is a difference

of the Empire strength between Meiji and Taisho era.

I have arranged several photo opportunities for Amy and several Japanese Japanese

young ladies on their traditional furisode kimono, long sleeves dresses. This time

were a new wed couple in front of the pretty garden of the red Hokkaido Office.

Three young mothers with their babies on strollers at Kagoshima volcano view.

Three coming of age ladies, two at Tokyo Kitanomaru garden and one at Himeji

Koko-en Garden under a red plum blossom.