Hokkaido Camper Van Journey | Day 4–5 | Northern Tip to Okhotsk Coast

Hokkaido Camper Van Journey | Day 4–5 | Northern Tip to Okhotsk Coast

All right. So, first stop for the day is Cape Noapu because we’re so close to Russia. You can see the Russian influence here. [Music] Uh many places like this you can buy a prepackaged and then they will ship it for you from the actual store and usually like on Blackhat or something like that. It’s a really great service. that you can buy and send to either to your house or to someone as a souvenir. That’s what we’re looking to do right now. 69. So 70 about what? $50 or so. $50 for three cantaloupes. But they’re beautiful. They’re perfection. [Music] They pack it up and ship it for you. Awesome service. We’re heading to Cape Soya, most northern point. Most northern point in Japan, about 45 minutes from here, right? Yep. [Music] A that’s gorgeous. It’s clearing up. This is Soya history road. Soya history road. Oh, people knew it was good. I tell you there’s some nice big houses. I tell you, fishing must be really good around here. [Music] This monument is actually Japan’s northernmost point monument. Okay, that was a little climb. Wow, look at them. Wow. Anchorage, Russia, Ishigaki, France, the Philippines. Sorry, I didn’t mean to bother you. [Music] Wow. Gorgeous. [Music] That’s cool. Constructed to commemorate reaching 1 million tons of milk. [Music] inside. [Music] Do you think they have ever attacked humans? [Music] The deer is blocking the road. He’s just like, “What? You’re in my territory.” He’s literally just standing there. Haven’t seen one of these in a while. Right now, I think we’re going to go up up that way. You’re like, “Are there any cows?” I’m like, “Yeah, look right here. There’s some cows right there.” All right, we’re heading towards Wind Farm Hills, I think it was called. Taking a little detour off our Oceanside road just to come up here. kind of coco. ele. for lunch. The white path. Continue for 1 kilometer. [Music] Wow. Quite impressive operation there. [Music] I wonder how many people like actually work this farm. Yeah, a bunch of cows in there. [Music] It’s full of cows in there. Wide path road. In 500 m, take left. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] So, I guess this is the reason why they call that White Road. And it’s all uh seashells, right? And this is probably one of the first non-paved roads I’ve seen in Japan. [Music] That’s cool. Look, it’s like like going straight into the ocean. Whoa. Little bumpy. [Laughter] Looks like we’re at the end of the white road. [Music] First michinoi of the day. Sutsu Park 1 kilometer. And we still have no idea what we’re going to do for the next if we’re going to keep going along the coast or go down the middle. It’s quite empty. What? Okay. Which way is the actual Mino itself? It doesn’t matter. We need to walk. We are just arrived to the Michino Futsu Park. They have an onen here. Quite ample. Quite a few people here in their camper vans. They’re making stops. Check out that huge stain over there. That’s pretty cool. That’s a delica. Older style delica. And the mino is up in here. [Music] Do you find the pens yet? This right here is a huge campground. So now we over here looking for the gacha gacha pen. [Music] Huge scallops. [Music] Well, unfortunately we are also getting some rain. Huh? Was Marine Island Okashima? Oh, it’s the shape of a boat. [Music] People are going to think that all we do is go to Michinois, huh? But it’s a good way to stop and rest. Look like there’s uh restrooms down there. Is that that must be a campground over there. All right, let’s go check out this place. Yeah. So, one of the reasons why we do like to stop at different Michinois along the way, one is kind of cool just to collect stamps and look around and buy local stuff, support the local economy, and it just kind of gets you out and about, stretch out every 45 minutes or so. And uh this is just a good way to travel and explore. But this place seems a little bit different, like shape of a boat. Uh looks like there’s an observation deck. We’ll go check it out here in a minute. And then behind it is where that campground is at. [Music] Got our ice cream. Just going to go up to the top real quick. Check out the view. [Music] Well, we’re heading down that way. Still along the coast. Couple more stops. [Music] Got some bicyclist here. Oh, they’re foreigners, too. I wonder how far they’re going. [Music] Oh, [Music] [Music] I [Music] So, we’re about to arrive to Michinoi Omu and we’re noticing just a whole bunch of farms, silos, lots of corn, cows. Look at all these pretty flowers on the side of the road. This one is open till late. Do they have an onen here? No. Well, that’s interesting. Whatever that tower is up there. Okay. Stretch out. Check out the uh meat vending machine. That’s cool. Soup. Well, we couldn’t figure out how to get up there. Everything seems to be pretty closed. And there’s really not a whole lot right there, quite frankly. Huh. But we last stop. Next one is our last stop. Hopefully, we’ll find a good place to rest and then onen and dinner. So, we found the restaurant and then onen we’re going to go first, right before we find the spot to sleep. All right. Well, let’s go check it out. Get some good onen, good dinner, and rest. [Music] Okay, so we are going to this hotel that has an onsen and a restaurant. Hotel Hinod Misaki. Yeah, that [Music] all of this was like $10. And look at your chicken. This like oversized chicken. Wow. [Music] Yeah. So last night we ended up uh arriving at this michinoi after we went to the onsen and awesome dinner. Much much quieter here. Uh and but it’s actually quite spacious and the restaurants are very very clean and enclosed. I’ll walk around later. But that right there, that train is converted into like a cafe and a hostel and there’s some bikers in there and a huge park. But uh yeah, right now we’re going to uh cook us some breakfast and uh see what uh this next day brings, but it is free. I think you just have to register in the information center probably. But the usage is free and it’s just a little like a tatami like uh platform. That’s really cool. They converted this old train into a hostel. Rugosa Express Hostel is you can use it from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Mhm. Just just sit there wherever meeting or whatever. Is it locked? [Music] Okay, right now it’s locked, but yeah, this is like a little sitting area. And then they have a um electricity. And then also there’s Wi-Fi. There’s Wi-Fi at the information center too, right? They have a toilet in there, too. Oh, wow. That’s pretty cool. The host is 4 p.m. to 10. [Music] He’s coming all the way from Kagoshima. Wow, that is really cool. He has the solar panels and everything. Yeah. Yeah. He must He must be Rupert’s neighbor. Wow, that’s cool. Has a antenna and water. I love it. I love it. That is so cool. Nice. That’s impressive. Kirishima City. They are coming from Brazil by bicycle. By bicycle. And they have been tell me uh Germany, Iran, we start in Germany. We travel on the Balkans to Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Germany, Iran, we took a flight to Bangkok and travel in South Asia and now Japan. Wow. How that at least two years, right? You said two years. We travel 6 months in South America too. In South America. Why? And why are you doing this? Why not? It’s a dream. Uh travel around the world. And what were your names again? J. My name is Lis. And And I’m going to get your Instagram. Are you doing YouTube or anything like this? Y. Oh go tell me what it is. What is your your YouTube channel? Asia. Okay. I’ll find that right now. I’m sure you have thousands and thousands of subscribers probably small. I’m I’m small small but well too. But wow, this is really really cool. I love this. Look at that. Wow. It’s bags. A lot of bags. Have you been using the same bikes the whole time? America. We have another bike. Oh, okay. In Germany. Wow. That is cool. Awesome. Well, I don’t want to keep you too long. I appreciate it. Okay. Bye. Me, too. So, we may end up at Abashidi today. We don’t know. Little by little. We had a little late start. Uh, and then right now, we’re heading to do some laundry. We got to get some laundry done. But in the meanwhile, we had a cool little chat with several people. I was talking to a Brazilian couple and uh they have a YouTube channel. I’ll be sharing the link here below. It’s really cool. They’ve been traveling all throughout the world on their bicycles. And while I was over there chithatting, Choco was talking to the gentleman uh that uh in the little K truck conversion and he lives in Kagoshima and he goes back and forth. Uh so for the summer he comes up to Hokkaido and for the winter he goes back all the way down south uh Kagoshima is pretty much right the most southern point of Japan is Kyushu right but not Okinawa not including Okinawa. So that was really cool. Unfortunately I did not get a chance to talk to him but anyways we got to head on over to uh to get some laundry done and let’s see what comes up. Well, we are entering Montbetsu City, right? And this is where the laundry mat is at. And you are looking online where you can see if it’s being used and if they’re any available and stuff like that, right? That’s pretty cool. So, this is the first time that we have ever tried using a laundromat on the road because that’s the first time we’ve ever been past 3 days right here. This got quite heavy. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Huh? Oh, it cleans it. These are huge. Wow. Oh, you even have a massage chair. It’s a nice massage chair. Oh, and this is for your shoes to wash your shoes. And then the smaller typical ones like you see in the states. But that’s pretty cool that you can pre-wash it. Is that something normal that you normally do in the States or not? States? No. No. Right. I don’t know, folks. I have not been to a laundromat in the United States in many, many years. So, let me know. Do you have Wi-Fi? I’m going to test it out right now. Here are a couple young guys on the motorcycles. 60 minutes for 1,800 yen. So that’s uh about wash and dry. So that’s about $12. And the app tells you when it’s done, I’m assuming, right? Number one. And uh you say you can look online and it tells you when it’s done. 1 hour sunb and the the other guys. It shows that it’s been used theirs. [Music] So, our first michinoi of the day. Say it again. [Music] Our [Music] first minoi for this moment. Okay. You saying that’s it. You say [Music] mu. All right, I give up. Go ahead, guys. Close up. Go ahead. Okay, we’re just going to sit there staring at each other. [Music] Oh, I think the mino is over there. So, I just saw the sign. It’s It’s behind this tree. So, we just arrived to the Michinoi and uh there’s also a museum which we want to see the sea ice museum and uh still going to go in there and explore the Michinoi, but it’s a huge huge spot right off the ocean. Seems like really Oh, look. Tacos. What? Well, I think I might go get some tacos just for the heck of it. All right, let’s go look inside here. [Music] You don’t push forward, you pull back. [Music] We keep on driving down that way. [Music] Negative [Music] [Music] 20. Oh, wow. Some we just got ah Okay. Are you sure? We paid to get to freeze. Okay. I got to find the largest one I can find here. L. Okay. I have not been recording this whole time. She just called me stupid. I I’ve been walking around freezing and talking about how cold I am and then I have not been recording. So now I have to go back again. Okay. Pre practice makes perfect. But it is very cold in here. It is very cold and I’m wearing shorts. But they give you these jackets. Um, but it’s -20° in here. Oh, look at this. All these are frozen fish inside these actual ice blocks. Oh, this one’s going to have to be a little bit quicker than the other one because I’m going back around again. like queen nobody. They hang those up for uh uh kids day like May 5th weekend. But we are in the uh ice museum at this minoi. Pretty cool. See, there it is right there. -20 Celsius. But I was telling Choco, this reminds me of when I I was a young man used to work at a fish market and my job was to pack the fish and send it to restaurants and every so often we had to do inventories of the big freezer and I hated it because it was just like this because it’s too cold. What? Oh, bubbles. And what? They they freeze. Uhhuh. Catch your frozen bubble. Oh. Oh. Oh. Right here. You’re supposed to catch your on your jacket. On your jacket. There you go. Bubble like a skink. [Music] Okay. I think uh I think I am I think I’m ready to go back out. Oh, when you open that and made it worse. Yeah, [Music] my glasses. [Music] Where am I? My glasses. Oh. Oh, okay. I can’t see the camera. I think it’s right here. I still can’t see. Can you help me hang up this jacket? Thank you. Cuz I can’t see anything. Oh, [Music] okay. Well, I can’t see very well, but there’s Hokkaido and then Russia right there. And we were at that tip the other day, right? Right over there. Here it seems like there’s a whole lot of corn cows flat for Japan. Kind of feels like Nebraska a little bit, doesn’t it? [Music] Look at this train. the old train right there. [Music] It’s a nice big place. [Music] Yeah, we made it to the next michinoi. And I’m not even going to try to pronounce it. Uh, Yubetsu Kami Yubetsu area guide, but it looks like a really nice place. A really cool train over here. Nice and ample. I’m pretty sure it’s quite modern just by looking at it. We’re gonna go around and explore some a little bit. Wow. Can you get in? [Music] walk through it then I’ll do that. [Music] Wow. Yeah. So far, Hokkaido has just been impressive. And uh my wife and I were just talking a minute ago. It’s like really cool seeing all the different types of people that have over here. Uh like I said, I just met a couple from Brazil. I check out their YouTube channel. They’re like all over the world in this I don’t know they’re just cool people pursuing the dreams. Uh whether they’re elderly Japanese people, the young Japanese people, uh foreigners coming to Japan to explore this beautiful area. I don’t know. It’s just uh really cool. [Laughter] It’s okay to be silly as long as you’re not stupid. Okay, then let’s go ahead and prove what I was going to do. So, hold on. This is the reason why I stopped myself. And then you said it’s okay to be silly as long as you’re not stupid. So, but I’m going to have to get all the way down because I I was having a hard time saying the name of the Okay. Oh, this is for kids. But I guess it’s okay to be a kid once in a while, right? Does my face fit? Yeah. Cute or cute? Because that’s a girl. Uh, really? Oh, okay. Okay. Even worse. Uh, I ah I got here. That’s what it is. [Music] Look at all these farms. Oh, lots of cows and corn. Wow. Huge. I landsu. [Music] So, Familyland U. Really beautiful park. It’s really beautiful terrain. And we just passed a whole bunch of like cattle farms, uh a whole bunch of uh corn fields. It’s really interesting interesting to see uh something different because uh usually over there in the where we live, you don’t see a whole lot of that. Whoa, that goes pretty fast. [Music] That’s a nice view from here. There it is. Lake Soma and ocean or ocean. Combination of both. Michinoi sakaco. I thought it was the minoeki for a second. There’s a closed hotel. Well, that’s a waste. See, there it is. Lake Soma, the big lake and a teeny little entrance into the ocean. [Music] Minoi saco. [Music] [Music] We’re heading towards Kate Kinu Anipu. Oh, look at the beautiful yard right there. It almost looks like the fake grass. And this is the peninsula into lake into Lake Soma. Make sure there’s no one coming. No, [Music] that’s a lot of parking. And probably restrooms there, too. Lake Soma. Looks like they’re set up here for the day. [Music] Wow. So, this is a really nice, quiet place. There’s several people setting up right here. And looks like over here there are some restrooms. Oh, and that’s a campground over here in front of us. Let’s go check it out. [Music] [Music] sex. [Music] Oh, okay. Okay. [Music] little walk to go to the bathroom all the way over here. But so free camping. See that’s so cool. But where else do you get to like have a beautiful place like this for free and then someone is taking care of it. I don’t know how well the restroom is maintained but probably pretty nicely. and a couple of single tents and then they they provide the little cart for you to carry your stuff. See, I tell you, Japanese people, they they go all out when they camp. Well, these guys are little little small, but when they come like a whole family, they bring out the lights and the laundry hanging, the dish hanging, Christmas tree lights. See the restroom’s right there. No one here. Well, yeah, you can’t see the view, but still at night you can’t see it anyways. Do you think the bears are going to come out and get you? [Music] I wonder if that’s the reason why we we don’t see a whole lot of tent camping. There’s a whole bunch of car and camper van camping, but no or very little tents with the scare right now with the bears. Okay, so it’s not funny at all, but recently a guy was attacked and dragged into the woods and killed. And of course, it’s national news. So, everyone is warning us, be careful for the bears. Yeah, I just checked the bathrooms and those are extremely clean. And again, all this is free. All you have to do is register at the information center right there. That’s very neat. And they have all kinds of places like this throughout Japan, too. So, it’s not just this place. Actually, there are several apps, too. I’ve never really used them, but like free camping Japan that you can check them out. [Music] [Music] Little baby fox. [Music] There’s a fox. There’s a bear. Look at these farms. Another big tractor here. This is new to us for for Japan. We’re used to the little rice planters. [Music] That’s still the lake. Oh, that’s the other lake. Wow, these fields are impressive. Motoric and then Lake Abasik, Lake Abasi. And tomorrow we’re heading toward Abasi. Well, today right now we’re kind of heading towards Navas, but tomorrow we’re going to go to the prison prison museum. [Music] So after bouncing around all day, we ended up going to the zones right by this lake. And now here shortly, we’re going to find uh Michinoi that’s nearby, spend the night, and decide what we’re going to do tomorrow. It was a great day. Really good travel. Absolutely gorgeous. Highly recommend it if you are considering driving, bicycling, motorcycleycling, whatever the case may be through Hokkaido. All right, let’s see what tomorrow brings. [Music]

We’re traveling around Hokkaido for 14 days in our camper van! Day 4–5 took us to the very north of Japan—Cape Noshapu’s sunset point and Cape Soya, the northernmost monument. From there we followed the Okhotsk Coast, stopping at Michi-no-Eki scallop spots, birdwatching sites, and ocean-view onsens. Southbound, we fit in a quick laundry stop, soaked at Tulip no Yu, enjoyed Lake Saroma, camped free at Kimuaneppu Cape, and learned about drift ice in Abashiri. Two days full of seafood, hot springs, and scenic drives on our Hokkaido road trip.

#VanlifeJapan #HokkaidoRoadTrip #CamperVanJapan #HokkaidoTravel #CapeSoya #OkhotskCoast #MichiNoEki #HokkaidoVanlife

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