One of the best 100 beaches in Japan !

by Kazu

On our way from Niseko Area to Shomamaki Village, we found one of the best 100 beaches in Japan, ENOSHIMA beach filled with small stones.

The landscape under the water was not so magnificent but the surface of the ocean and the beach is fascinating.

The beach seemed to be not so comfortable to lie on but for us divers, it seemed to be so nice to enter the ocean.The color of the ocean turns bright blue once it get fine.  

From the port of Iwanai Town to Setana & Shimamaki !

by Kazu

We went down to Setana Town in Hiyama Sub-prefectural Area where I worked from 1990 to 1993. Can you see the three rocks like the Three Sisters in Blue Mountains, Australia ? They are called "San-bon-sugi-iwa" that means three-cider-trees rocks in Japanese.
On our way from Setana Town to the north, we dropped by the look out to see "the Window Rock" in Kamoenai Town.

This is the sign on the lookout near the small port beside the coast-side road on the west coast of Hokkaido Island. What the sign shows can be seen beside the sign.

We went through this tunnel on our way from Setana to the north.The west coast of our island shows a variety of countenances made up by the attacks of waves and winds from the west.

From the hillside in Iwanai Town !

by Kazu

Usually, we stay in "Takashima Ryokan", Japanese traditional inn established by a fisherman who ran a pleasure-boat company in Shimamaki Village on the west coast of Hokkaido Island.

On the upper-side of the hill, there is a hotel that has a Sweden-style sauna and a art museum on its premises. For the size and population of the town, many art museums are there because the town produced Japanese famous artist Mr. Kinjiro KIDA. The wind of art is blowing in the town with the smell of the ocean.

Japanese Japanese in Iwanai Town !

by Kazu

It can be said that this kind of Japanese traditional style of housing and interior were for the high-end people in Hokkaido at the early stage of pioneering.

 This Japanese traditional tea-party room was and is in the museum near the hotel we stayed in Iwanai Town. Traditionally, we Japanese have had a lifestyle to minimize the damage to the environment and the nature.

That was the virtue in the traditional tea groups and that is why the traditional Japanese house had been small and cozy. Even after finishing one's life, the houses of them were easy to break down.

Shinsen-numa Marsh 3 !

by Kazu

"Let us preserve and nurture the nature !" was described under the name of the pond "Shinsen-numa", that means Deities' Marsh.
So many kinds of creatures were breathing in the marsh, I felt.    

They do not care but some of them were watching.and smelling us in the fog without showing up.

We headed to the west coast of Hokkaido Island after strolling around the marsh on the highland. What do you think this Japanese Japanese style room is exhibited for ?

Shinsen-numa Marsh 2 !

 by Kazu

What would you feel if you stepped into this sacred area? Can you keep quiet while you are strolling around on this marsh ? Some lotus-like leaves of plants were floating on the pond.

 Your love may be in the fog but a real shape of love might be in this fog. Everything was conducted in silence in the fog.

The diversity of the creatures including plants on the marsh may show that all the creatures need water. Even so, every time we visit such marsh, we are so surprised by the diversity of the creatures.

Shinsen-numa Marsh !

by Kazu

It was very calm on the marsh on the highland in Niseko Area as if it was a sacred zone for the deities that nurture all the creature inhabited there.

Basically, when a human being step into the sacred area including the mountains that is worshiped by the indigenous people, calmness should be kept. Yes, mums the word.

Otherwise, you can not feel the existence of invisible beings that nurture the beautiful scenery and the atmosphere with healing aroma.

Shinsen-numa Marsh in the morning !

by Kazu

After bathing in the hot spring bath of the annex building in Goshiki Onsen, we headed to Shinsen-numa Marsh on the Niseko Highland.

These plants of violet flowers may be poisonous on the hillside.No creatures bite this kinds of plants. Is that the reason why ?

The wooden deck lead to the deep part of the fog and the forest. Would yo be fascinated ?

Goshiki Onsen Annex !

by Kazu

This is the place to take off and put on the clothes before and after bathing in the hot spring bath in the annex building of Goshiki Onsen Hot Spring Spa.

 Early in the morning on that day, nobody was in the bath other than me. It was so nice to soak in the hot spring bath that I would like to stay for a few days with some books.

 I am eager to try to stay in the hot spring spa and hotel for a week and read some books taking enough time in winter. But my wife declined again and again such boring stay like the life of a hermit .

In the Fog !

by Kazu

I jogged for fifteen minutes to the west and savor the fresh air with a little bit sulfur gas in the area. I did not feel the smell of animals but I felt some kinds of curious in the air.

The air with the color of milk was strolling around the hillside and still hiding all the creatures inhabited there.

I found a dead body of   shrew mouse on the road. It is a peculiar kind to Hokkaido. It seemed to be struck by automobiles. It could not reach the flower garden on the hillside. Amen.