Sapporo—>Furano—>Tokachigawa Onsen

We got up early to visit the tourist information office. We’d decided to revisit a favourite and spend 2 nights at Furano. Yes, it’s another tourist mecca but it really is very pretty. Disappointly the tourist information office couldn’t help us book accommodation; and neither could the travel agency we were directed to. We decided to stop off on our way to Tokachigawa to make the reservation ourselves. With the sheer number of hotels and b&bs in Furano we weren’t worried.

That settled, we headed off for brunch at the seafood market. The more popular one is Nijo Market near Odori Park but we went to the Central Wholesale Market which was just 10 mins’ drive away. The advantage was the less crowded location and easy parking. We’d also seen a leaflet for Kaisen-ichiba Kitano Gourmet which reassured us that a) there’d be some English and b) it had a phone number for GPS direction. We weren’t disappointed, the prawn looked like it was gonna jump off the bowl, the seafood was so fresh. Two chirashi plus a grilled conch came to ¥6,750. No need for drinks, a jug of cold tea was on every table. Watched the finish of the woman’s marathon, so impressive when the runners enter the bird’s nest stadium.

Dessert was yubari melon from a street stall, Japan’s version of luxurious cantaloupe melons. To give a perspective on just how luxurious, the best pair in this year’s first auction fetched ¥2.5 million in May. Ours were more modest, at ¥100 a slice.

The drive to Furano was just under 2 hours. Would have been faster if we hadn’t gotten stuck behind some truly sloooooooow drivers on the single-lane A-roads. The speed limit was 50km/hr, so okay, we were above the limit. Then again, so were 98% of the other drivers. Not sure of the purpose of setting such a low speed limit only for it to be broken by almost everyone.

It was straightforward booking the hotel, even with the language difficulty. We went for a pension near the ski lift that mentioned an in-house onsen. Stopped off for an ice cream and then we continued on our way to our destination for the next 3 nights, Kangetsuen at Tokachigawa Onsen.

This was the highlight of the trip. The Japanese-styled room was simply furnished but roomy. The sizes of the rooms are measured by the jo. Ours was 8-jo which converts to 12.24m². The futons were put away in the closet during the day, and the hotel staff set them out on the tatami during dinner. Originally we wanted to book the rooms with en suite spa, but our agent couldn’t secure them.

Our stay included breakfast and dinner. The dinners were traditional Kaiseki style, consisting of a multitude of delicate courses carefully cooked and presented. The attention to detail was amazing, from the small glass of pre-dinner drink to the orientation of the plates.

After dinner was another highlight, the onsen. After thoroughly showering, it was time to try out the different baths. There was a main mineral bath with whirlpool section, a separate whirlpool, waterfall, stone walking pool, sauna and an outdoor bath. My favourite was the outdoor bath, overlooking what looked like the fields outside the hotel and further, a nearby bridge (hard to see without glasses, hee). Rocks form the boundary of the bath and there were submerged areas to sit on when the water got too hot.

The Olympics were on tv. We watched volleyball, basketball, gymnastics and other games. Commentary in Japanese was interestingly incomprehensible. Naturally they focused on the Japan team, and it looked like they were doing very well.