It was time to pack my bags in Hakodate and take the train to my first onsen of the trip in Noboribetsu. But first it was breakfast in the hotel. Yesterday I had the ramen. Today I went to the omelet bar.

The trains in Hokkaido aren’t electric trains. They’re diesel. OK, technically they’re probably diesel-electric. In any case it does make it feel like we’re in the middle of nowhere.

The train from Hakodate to Noboribetsu only took a couple of hours so I arrived around noon. I had to take a bus from the train station up into the mountains to get to the onsen. I think Google told me it would take an hour and a half to walk up there? There really wasn’t much to see on the way up.

As soon as I arrived, I noticed the area was full of Chinese tourists and smelled like farts. Truthfully “FULL” isn’t quite right: there weren’t the gangs of tourists in northern Japan that are all over Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, etc. I had misgivings about the ryokan, but it was great. I gave them my bags and then asked about the local beer. I guess the 7-Eleven was remodeling so it didn’t have the Onidensetsu Beer from Noboribetsu even though it’s just down the hill a bit. I decided to go to the source, a brewery halfway down the hill back towards the train station. It was suggested to me by the woman at the tourism bureau that I take a taxi back. She said there’s no crosswalk and people in Hokkaido drive FAST. I figured I would be in a much better mood after a couple of beers anyway. The fart smell and the small groupings of Asian tourists were getting to me.

Onidensetsu Beer is made by a confectionary shop and they have a restaurant upstairs. Luckily, I made it in before the blackhole between lunch and dinner when restaurants in Japan inevitably close.

The brewery is right next to the gift shop where they sell Japanese sweets.

Amazingly they had a taster flight. Most places just have pints and nothing else. I had the tasters of their three beers and then a couple more of the Kin-Oni (Gold Devil) because when else am I going to find this? (Turns out they have it at the Watering Hole in Tokyo, a place I go to every trip to Japan.)

 

Here’s the first of two Kin Oni.

After that it was back to the onsen to check in. They told me that dinner would be busy and asked if I could have dinner at 5PM. I’m OK with early dinner but I asked if I’d have time to see Jigokudani, one of the many places named Jigokudani (Hell Valley) in Japan. They said it’s only a 10 minute walk. So once again, off I went. The room was a nice onsen room.

The first thing I saw was a 15′ tall animatronic devil that was just about to do his thing. He said he was the king of the devils and was pretty placid until it hit 3PM and the music started.

His face changes and he waves his arms around a bit. I can’t remember what all he said, but there’s a speech in Japanese.

Then it was onto Hell Valley. There’s lots more than the couple of pictures here. Surprisingly, I think I saw my first group of Korean tourists here.

There’s also a nice (hilly) walk through the woods to get from the valley to the hot lake.

There’s even a continuously bubbling geyser next to a hotel in town.

I didn’t make it back in time to take a bath before dinner. The food was pretty good, but I picked the fish instead of pork. My cousin told me later that the fish, hokke, is supposed to be tough, dry, and difficult to eat. I guess I picked an early dinnertime because I was the first one down there.

After that it was a trip to the onsen bath (no shower in the room) and I spent the rest of the evening using up the data on my SIM card watching Rick and Morty. Ah the joys of Japanese Netflix.

Oh, and my Bose Sleepbuds are broken.