Natives and Devils

We spent a lovely sunny Sunday a couple of weeks ago with a couple of friends. We rented a car early in the morning and drove to a town near Tomakomai. There is an Ainu village there where you can step back into the days before mainland Japan took over the "northern barbarian land" of Hokkaido. The Ainu are the native people of Hokkaido, you can read more about them here.

Friends and I with an Ainu statue.


The Ainu village was small but had nice representations of traditional homes and clothing. There was a small museum with displays and information about Ainu lifestyles and heritage, and to our surpise, most of the information panels were in Japanese AND English (shouts erupt from the throng of Japanese illiterate!!). We were even lucky enough to catch a demonstration of traditional dancing performed by who we could only assume were of Ainu decent.

Us in a traditional home.

One portion of the village that we were terribly dissapointed by was the bear display. The bears in Hokkaido look like a small grizzly and were a big part of traditional Ainu rituals. The village had 4 bears on display in tiny cages, with barely any shade, dirty water and a small tube where tourists could pass "bear bicuits" to them. It was a smelly, dirty and dispicable display of animal cruelty - if you go to this place, don't bother with seeing the bears, it will only anger you (I hope).

One thing that we found striking about what we learned about the Ainu was how much their art, dress and lifestyle reminded us of some of the coastal BC first nations. I guess it might be expected given that they are both salmon cultures, with similar resources and climate. Nevertheless, it was an interesting comparison and one that I would be interested in reading more about.

After the visit to the village, we stopped at the beach for a BBQ lunch. We enjoyed some nice steaks while we watched what seemed like hundreds of fishermen fishing in the Pacific breakers. From there we went to a small town called Noboribetsu.

BBQ lunch at the beach.

Noboribetsu is one of Hokkaido's most famous hot springs parks. It is part of the Shikotsu-Toya National park which we visited previously (check this post for more on that trip). This area is famous for it's numerous steam vents, the notorious "hell valley" (called Jijokudani in Japanese), boiling mud lakes and the devil-themed town. We parked the car and took some short walks through the forest to see the famed places around the town. Here are some photos.

A boiling mud lake.

A small stream in Hell Valley.

Relaxing foot onsen in the forest.

Devils!

We finished the day with a soak in onsen (we are starting to get quite reliant on a nice wash in a public shower follwed by relaxing in sulphur smelling mineral bath - it really is a perfect ending to a long sweaty day). The onsens in Noboribestu claim to have some healthy mixes of minerals and I still haven't been able to wash the smell of them out of my towel. Rotten eggs stench to my health!