The Himedomachi Cycling Club

The hotel owner Mr Ohno (his real name) was following the tradition of the family run places I’ve stayed in and was out, watering the flowers when I was expected to leave.

Workmen came in and out as I loaded my bike and he told me that Hokkaido had got much warmer due to climate change and he was installing air conditioning, although so far almost no where offered it.

“People come here expecting it to be cool!”

I told him I planned to visit Usu-Zenkoji, the zen temple in Toya town.

“Oh, you just stop at the michi no eki and eat the sea urchin rice bowl.”

I’m not a fussy eater, but even thinking of sea urchin make me gag. Its slimy texture, its over powering taste. The way your teeth squeeze out ooze when you eat it.

I cycled over the pass and thought of Alan Booth clumping along the pavement in his walking boots. We’re very different in significant ways. He drank beer non stop and found it an excellent entry to taking with local people. He had no fixed plan and stopped whenever he was tired in one of the inns that lined the way. He must have felt free. I imagined him singing as he went and waving his walking stick around.

I stopped briefly at a viewing place. Tourists were already there as the view looked directly at the volcano. When I turned up they all started looking at me. As I cycled past them the scampered onto their bus like a herd of sheep at the approach of the sheep dog.

I wondered why Booth made an 8 kilometre round trip to see the temple. My question was answered instantly. Because it’s so beautiful. Mr Ohno told me there were four different kinds of cherry trees in Hokkaido (he also told me the legend of the dragon that lives in Lake Toya) and I think all for kinds were there, artfully arranged with the temple, it’s outbuildings and its rocks. The largest, most lustrous crows I’ve ever seen flew from tree to tree.

The old woman Booth spoke to is long gone. A groundsman wished me good morning. Otherwise I had three place to myself and spent time walking around there grounds and breathing it in.

Busloads of tourists were arriving at Toya station. Asians and westerners with striking blond hair. The sky was a curious colour, blue I think it’s called, and the wind was light. I had a lunch plan, to visit Japan’s national award winning station lunch box manufacturer, but it was closed. So was the Cabinet de Toilette building beside it. I cycled on and had a spicy beef dish with a raw egg on top instead.

I stopped in Kuroiwa, Blackstone, for a drink. Booth would have recognised this place instantly with it’s shelves of beer and food and household equipment and other miscellanea. The woman behind the counter was in her seventies and I suspect custom was very slow, but she was still there with her eyes and her smile. Kuroiwa couldn’t have more than 500 people in it, yet it still had a post office, a train station and a community hall.

I went to a museum in Yakumo, Eight Clouds, the town where I’m staying. I read the kanji as ‘Yakumo wood something bear museum’. The missing character, as I found out, was carving. It was full of sculptures of bears. 100 years ago a member of the Tokugawa family visited Switzerland of all places and brought back two carved bears, which are proudly displayed in the museum. The are about the size of your first, one bear holds at spindle of thread between his paws, the other two spindles in a rack. Unfortunately I couldn’t take photos.

Anyway, from these humble beginnings an industry was born as he persuaded farmers to carve bears during winter which I guess he then sold. I don’t wish to be mean but the museum was a bit crap and when I read that, according to the museum, wooden bear carvings are becoming popular again I spluttered with laughter.

Tonight I’m staying in a dormitory room in a hostel and I’ve met a couple from the Jura and we’re going for supper together. After 8 days of being by myself I hope I don’t witter too much!