Having our whole day planned out, we eschew the gym this morning to get on the first shuttle into town. The ship is cleared early, with no announcement, and passengers already streaming off heading for the shuttle around 7:40 when we look out from the Promenade Deck. Quickly heading outside, we hop on the shuttle that leaves promptly at 8am. Japanese punctuality! The ride takes about 15 minutes and we are dropped off in a totally empty parking lot. Huh? The shuttle sign even says we are going to the Earthquake-resistant Cruise Terminal. Well, an empty lot is definitely earthquake resistant, so….whatever. The lot IS next to the Art Museum, so at least there is that.
Of course the Art Museum isn’t open until 9:30, so we head up the street to the Washou Market, a huge seafood and tourist market where you can get Katte-don, basically a do it yourself sushi bowl! You by a bowl of rice, then go to different seafood vendors and buy different sushi toppings. Oh and chopsticks for 5 Yen! We are pounced upon by one of the hawkers here who is so cute, and pantomiming what to do and how to buy things. She almost hugs us when we tell her Atode, which means later. It is far too early for us to even contemplate sushi, so we just wander around looking at all the offerings – the crab are monstrous and while some of the claw meat is reasonably priced, the large crab themselves are crazy expensive. Phew. We’d love to have crab, but….we’ll see about that.
Since it is still super early, we find a little café in the corner selling coffee, where we have a delightful conversation with a guy from Taiwan who speaks fluent Japanese and takes it upon himself to order our coffee for us. So very sweet.
Then it is off into the streets, retracing our steps to go to the Art Museum, passing by a park with a huge steam locomotive that operated from 1939 to 1972 on the two main Kushiro train lines. The engine pulled the Imperial Train when the Emperor and Empress visited Kushiro and was preserved here as part of the 100th anniversary of the railway. Further on up the road, we pass an adorable mural on the side of the Children’s medical center, the huge bowling alley with all the old unusable balls in a steel cage outside, multiple manhole covers and other plaques implanted in the sidewalk and finally to the Art Museum with the bizarre sectioned globe on the lawn in front.
Inside, the museum has a special exhibition of photography focusing on the concept of “Utsusu,” which means to copy, reflect and transform images. A different approach to photography and printmaking with tons of different methods on display. From cool black and white almost screen prints to a vibrant (if not weird) colorful painting of daily life (this from an American, James Rosenquist, known as one of the leading artists of Pop Art), to a bizarre mash up of photos of American Presidents superimposed over Time magazine covers and the artist’s face to plastic tubes filled with tape inscribed with over 20,000 dates that represent the memory of hardships the artist and his family suffered after the war on those dates. A small but weirdly interesting museum.
Next up, we cross the Kushiro river on the Nusami Bridge with the bronze statues of the Four Seasons (we can only take photos of the 2 on our side of the bridge that aren’t backlit), then under the roadway in a pedestrian tunnel that has a warning sign reminding you about flooding (eek!), and up the big hill, past the Kushido clock, to the Kushiro City Museum of Art where a really cool Interactive Wood and Sound exhibit has just opened. A really, really fun display of different wood sound toys that we play with abandon – like the little kids that we are! First the big wheel that makes a melody when you crank it, then the cute little Gear Lions – some flat on a board, others sitting upright, all made from 17 different tree species to signify the 17 Sustainable Development Goals that all intermesh with each other…like the gears on the lions. Next there is the Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star carousel, then the super cool London Bridge cascade, a random cascade of meshed gears and chutes and ladders, and finally a bigger, more extensive Twinkle, Twinkle meshed gear piece with lights that look like flowers or moving stars in the sky. A last room holds puzzles and different games for children as well as these bizarre looking dolls with really big heads and other displays with little dolls depicting a juggling festival. Weird. But oh so fun.
And a bonus! There is an observatory on the 10th floor that allows us some great views out over Kushiro and the harbor.
It is just about lunch time when we finish with the museum, so we head back across the Nusami bridge to the MOO (Marine-Our-Oasis) Fisherman’s wharf complex – a huge building with souvenirs and restaurants. And also teeming with cruise ship passengers and other visitors. Yikes! It is packed with slow moving, wandering fellow passengers making us want to run for our lives. But we need sustenance, and there is a food stall court here that opens soon – which is our goal. Unfortunately though, only 2 out of the 10 stalls are open for lunch, leaving us with a short list of choices. Ed had wanted squid or crab, I just wanted any seafood – the Washou Market would have been good for sashimi and crab, but at a 15 minute walk with rain threatening skies, we decided to take our chances here.
As it turned out, it was a great choice. We ended up at Meshidoki, a little izakaya like place that had the best fried things ever! We got 1 set meal of Fried oysters and fried shrimp, 1 ala carte crab cream croquette and 1 ala carte Kangi (their special fried chicken) to share, plus 2 big beers – and it was great! We were the first customers, and the sweet owner lady came over to tell us it would take 15 or 20 minutes for the food – we said perfect, translated into Japanese, and she was so appreciative. The wait was totally worth it. Everything was really good, but the croquette was the BEST croquette we have ever had – seriously creamy and tasty and just wonderful!
As we sat there, we watched other passengers come up and then leave after trying to figure out the menu. Ended up helping one couple with the menu – they wanted fresh oysters, but Meshidoki doesn’t have those. I explained the menu and they ended up staying. When we left, the owner lady was so thankful for our help and trying to speak Japanese, she gave us chocolate covered biscuits when we paid.
We still have the whole afternoon in front of us, so instead of going back to the ship and getting bored, we decide to take a taxi over to the Kushiro City Museum, which is a combination history, archeology, geology, and Ainu culture museum about a 45 minute walk away. Taxi for sure. There is a taxi station right out front of MOO, so we easily hop into one, show the driver our Google Map for where we want to go, and voila, we are off through the suburbs of Kushiro and out to the museum, situated above a lovely lake and nature park, in no time. There is a hospital close to the museum, and our driver points to it and says “taxi, taxi.” Ok, thank you! That is where we can get a taxi back. Then when we arrive at the museum, he pulls into a parking space at the overlook and says “lake, lake.” So sweet!
Our timing is impeccable – as we pull up to the front door of the museum, a ship tour is just leaving. Yes! Once inside, we begin exploring the beautifully designed, airy atrium style 3 story museum. Beginning on the ground floor with the prehistoric and more current day animal/nature display which has everything from photographs of an active volcano, to migration information to displays of all the different animals that live in the area. Gotta love the Racoon Dog! We’ve never seen anything like that! He’s actually sorta cute.
Then we are on to the human side of history, with replicas of entire sailing vessels, a grave of an original Higashi Kushiro aboriginal person, buried with limbs bended to fit into the tomb, Yayoi pottery used throughout Hokkaido, even after iron and bronze were introduced in other areas of the country, the original foghorn that was set up at a lighthouse here, used until 1962, lots of historical clothing from the war, the setting for a traditional cleansing of the bear spirit (where they capture a cub, let it grow in a cage for 2 years, then kill it in a symbolic ritual – poor bear!) and so much more.
Plus, some great video interviews with local Hokkaido people – one of whom was a deaf wood carver, Takiguchi Masamitsu. He lost his hearing to a high fever when he was young, and at age 22 took a trip to Hokkaido where he then moved and lived out his life carving incredible wood statues based on the spirits of what the Ainu people believe (basically that everything is alive and has a spirit of some sort, so when he is carving his wood, he uses the wood’s eyes to figure out the best thing to do with sculpture). Really interesting.
Moving on, we became fascinated by the fish skin clothing. They sewed the skin of salmon and huchen (a Japanese fish) together with the hides of seals. Had absolutely no idea that could be done. Wild.
Then we are back to the animals. Bear! Look out! But also the cranes! Kushiro is famous for their crane sanctuary – which is about 20 minutes outside of town. While you know we love nature, we decided not to do a tour there or go ourselves after reading the quite frankly universal poor reviews for facilities or visits. Never expecting to see cranes in town (except on the manhole covers) we were happily surprised with this exhibit on the 3rd floor of the museum – cranes and crane skeletons. What more could we want?
Oh – the viewpoint windows with the 2 maps – 1 from 1955 and one from 2015 to show the changes in development in the area.
On our way out we pass by the giant blue whale jawbone – enormous! As well as the monstrous Mammoth skeleton in the entry hall. Truly huge beasts – all. Walking up to the hospital to grab a taxi, we first stop at the lake overlook for the views – and this massive black bird that I think is a Raven but that Google insists is a giant crow. Ok – probably a crow, but it is huge!
Easily grabbing a taxi at the hospital, we are whisked back to MOO in no time where we immediately go across the street to Lawson’s to try to spend our remaining Yen. The place is packed with crew (Charles is there!) and other passengers doing their last shopping before the crossing – and trying to spend their remaining yen as well! I have 700 yen in coins and we end up with a 712 yen total. Darn it! Fortunately there is a donation box there where we can leave the vast majority of the small coins – which Charles and I do – leaving us with a little paper money if we ever return.
Back at the shuttle stop, the line is super long, it takes 2 buses before we can board, but we are kept entertained by the final Anime/stuffed character of our trip – a little crab maybe? Then we are back to the comfy warm ship for the duration….sea days are upon us!
Andiamo 