First Drive ドライブ...Lake Toya
The JET Southwest Party at Lake Toya. Not having as much of a JET community as I had previously expected in my own town, I was kinda looking forward to meeting fellow comrades. Not to mention doing some travelling out of Hakodate and Hokuto finally. Got a ride from Kiku who picked me up at almost 10am and saved me from spending almost 10000yen on train tickets. So, there I go on my first driving trip, with sketchy directions and neither of us knowing the way very well. But, besides a little accident induced by a miserable buzzing fly, we were one of the earliest to reach Lake Toya, at about 2pm. So Kiku and I set off to get our late lunch and do some sightseeing on our own.Lake Toya itself is a huge lake with several islands in the middle of it. Near Lake Toya, are some famous volcanos. From what I can gather, there's like big Usu, small Usu, Shinzan, Nishiyama...but they're basically known as Mt Usu. Don't ask me why..I don't get it. But the view was good and it was cool. There's a trail built up the volcano and around ruins that used to be roads and houses, reminding visitors of the danger and destruction of an eruption.
On one side of the lake, there's a cluster of hot spring hotels, many offering a good view of the central islands. Our campsite of the weekend is on the other side of the lake. Apparently, "campsite" in Japan means driving outdoors in your wagon and setting up tents, BBQ, tables, chairs, etc and make it look like home, except it's outdoors. But it is quite nice and peaceful there and camping is a cheap alternative for accommodation at 700yen per night. Not much of a camper myself. Managed to set up my tent with some help.
Having said that I do wanna get in touch with the JET community, I wasn't particularly engaged in the party. The 'party' kinda started early with people starting to drink from 5pm. The food didn't come till it's like 7-8pm though. At that rate, many got high way too early. But again, that seems to be the whole point anyways. Many times, JET gatherings just seem like an excuse for foreigners in Japan to get together and drink themselves silly. In fact, that was what we did for both nights in Toya, sit out under the sky and drink and talk till the wee hours in the freezing cold. Now, having said that, most of them aren't bad but I guess we just don't click, even beyond the accents. Never felt as misfit as I had then, especially since I was practically there by myself. But it was not all bad. It was a very different experience, kinda like seeing how I stand among all these people, mostly Western and how different and, sometimes, similar we are.
Anyway, on the second day, it was late breakfast and then the Southwest rep John brought us to this farm that sells fabulous ice-cream. After the initial fascination over the various flavors like 'Japanese Herb' or 'Pumpkin' or 'Blue Salt,' all of us emerged into the wide field behind, ice-cream in hand, blue sky, white clouds, flowers everywhere, mountains in a distance...it was beautiful. Then to complete the tour, it was a trip to the onsen.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chibi-akane/ ~ Lake Toya
I suppose the company wasn't fantastic to me but it was not bad too. The weather in particular has been very kind to us. While it was cold at night, it only started drizzling in the morning as we packed up our tents and cleaned up our trash. Then it was time to go home.
posted by weiling @ 11:17 PM
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