Lake Onuma

This weekend we traveled into the deep southwest of Hokkaido for the HAJET Southwest Welcome Party. While the party itself was not photographed (what happens at the party stays at the party), our explorations around Lake Onuma and hike up Komagatake were highly documented.

We arrived at Nagareyama Onsen Campground at 1pm sharp for check-in and only a couple other JETs were there, so we explored "Stone Crazy" - a sculpture garden not far from the campground.

When we returned, a couple more people were there, so we checked in with the help of a gracious Japanese-speaking dude who wrote the kanji on our license plate on the registration form since we are totally inept, but our tents weren't there yet, so we went to a feeding zoo. I just made that up. It's like a petting zoo but you mostly just feed things. Let it be known that I LOVE BUNNIES!

And I also love this progression of photos - Tom sought out the smallest, shyest bunny and made a super cute friend:

There were other animals too, including this aggressive horse with greenish teeth:

Next, whilst trying to find something fun to do (bike rental or a place to swim), we found a great, long path from island to island with bridges. We liked how each bridge was unique, rather than utilitarian and identical.

Back at the Welcome Party, we set up our tent and ventured into the onsen hot bath. Onsens are separated by gender. You bring in a small "modesty towel" and wash yourself thoroughly before entering the bath. My tolerance for onsens is comically low: I can only be in the bath for about 5 minutes before I am dripping with sweat. I especially enjoy the outdoor onsens at night: melting into the hot waters with the cool air on your face. Not only are onsens extremely relaxing and great for your skin, it is liberating to be absolutely naked in front of absolute strangers, sharing in the joy of the hot bath.

The rest of the night was kind of a blur, so I'll leave it at that.