March 2023❄️Catch up with the polar drift ice trip in East Hokkaido, Japan❄️Part 1 - Drift ice walk
At first, I thought it was worth the long journey to take an icebreaker.
We finally embarked on the Arctic ice trip with some doubts. Fortunately, we came to Eastern Hokkaido.
Since there is no direct flight from Eastern Hokkaido to Hong Kong, we took a red-eye flight to Kansai Airport and then transferred to Memanbetsu Airport. The Daisetsuzan Mountains seen on the plane were very spectacular, which made us very tired and excited.
After getting off the plane at Memanbetsu Airport and picking up the car, it took 5-10 minutes to drive to the first attraction: Melhen Hill. Just park the car on the side of the road and you can see a row of larch trees planted on the hill. It is famous for Kurosawa Akira's movie "Dream". It has different scenery throughout the year, and you can feel the tranquility of the snow in winter. On the way to Abashiri, I passed by a popular Gelato shop - Gelateria Rimo
📍Address: 418 Yobito, Abashiri, Hokkaido 099-2421Japan
🕰️Business hours: 1100-1700 (Wed off)
The gelato is dense and solid, with a variety of flavors to choose from. If you drive by, you might as well try it.
Abashiri Prison Museum is a must-visit when you come to Eastern Hokkaido
📍Address: 1-1 Yobito, Abashiri, Hokkaido 099-2421Japan
🕰️Business hours: 0900-1700
The Abashiri Prison Museum is a well-preserved outdoor history museum that displays Japan's most representative prison culture and prison architecture from the Meiji period. The most distinctive exhibition area in the museum is the "Five-wing Radial Cells". The design of this prison building is similar to the Western "Panopticon", with five corridors radiating from the central monitoring tower to facilitate managers to monitor the movements of prisoners. When you enter the prison, you can see wax figures that reproduce the lives of prisoners at that time, including scenes of labor, dining, sleeping, etc., which makes people understand the prison system of that era more intuitively. At that time, prisoners were forced to build the Hokkaido Road. The extremely harsh environment and high mortality rate made people feel awe and sympathy for that period of history. The museum also exhibits the tools, prison uniforms, and the development history of Abashiri Prison at that time. The content is quite rich, and it can deeply understand the history of the development of Hokkaido. It is definitely one of the most representative attractions in the Abashiri area.
Then we went to the Okhotsk Drift Ice Museum
📍Address: 244-3 Tentozan, Abashiri, Hokkaido 093-0044 Japan
🕰️Business hours: 0830-1800
The Okhotsk Drift Ice Museum is an exhibition hall with the theme of drift ice and polar ecology, allowing visitors to experience the charm of drift ice up close. The drift ice experience room in the museum is maintained at minus 15°C all year round. Visitors can try the "frozen towel experiment" of shaking a wet towel to create an instant freeze, which is very interesting. The ecological environment of the Sea of Okhotsk is also introduced in the venue, which makes people marvel at the vitality of polar creatures. The observation deck on the top floor can overlook the Sea of Okhotsk, and the view is excellent when the weather is good. Overall, this is a museum worth visiting, especially for tourists who want to learn more about the winter wonders of Eastern Hokkaido.
The highlight of the second day-Abashiri drift ice sightseeing icebreaker Aurora
Northern Hokkaido (the northernmost tip of Hokkaido) is close to the Sea of Okhotsk, and the drift ice phenomenon is very obvious. The drift ice in the Sea of Okhotsk mainly comes from the ice near the Amur River (Heilongjiang River) in Russia, and then flows south with the ocean current to the eastern coast of Hokkaido. Every winter, the sea surface in the northern region of Hokkaido is covered with drift ice, forming a unique winter landscape.
Drift ice is a natural phenomenon, affected by weather and ocean currents, so the specific conditions of drift ice may vary. It usually appears between January and March each year. The best season for ice viewing is from January to March, when the drift ice is densest and easiest to see.
We can see and experience the large and small drift ice drifting down from the sea by nature in the severe winter of the Sea of Okhotsk. We are very grateful. In the silver world in front of us, we take an hour-long icebreaker voyage, while breaking the drift ice covering the entire sea surface, and the drift ice crusher slowly moves forward. The vast drift ice field presented in front of us and the vibration and shaking caused by breaking the drift ice are all the presence that cannot be experienced by ice skating sightseeing on land, which can allow you to experience the white beauty of the north country more deeply. Thank you for catching up with the tail of the drift ice. The ice conditions and weather are good. Sometimes you can't take the icebreaker due to the climate.
There were some other things to do, but due to the situation of drift ice in Shiretoko, the drift ice walking experience originally planned for tomorrow was changed to today, so we went straight to Shiretoko! GOGOGO!
Walking on the drift ice in Utoro wearing a waterproof cold weather jacket was very fun and exciting❤️
It is definitely worth the experience😎😎
#Doto Tourism
#Abashiri Trip
#Shiretoko
#Doto Drift Ice