Sapporo to Lake Akan and Kushiro

The drive from Sapporo to Lake Akan was just so lovely. Here are the various photo stops we made along the way.

                                     

Lake lakeside hot spring resort of Akankohan is the only town around Lake Akan. We stayed at Hokkaido Akan nationalpark 6 Chome-2-2 Akanchō Akankoonsen, Kushiro-shi, Hokkaidō, Japan Mayumi Okeya +81 9020740360. I chose this place because the owner said that her place was surrounded by lake river and forests, quiet neighborhood.　

We opted for meal which was optional and cost 1500yen (breakfast and dinner) as we wanted to see what Japanese family eats. Here, we had had free Wifi. However, this place would be better for a single person as the room was a little too small for us.

Lake Akan Onsen is a hot spring area located on the south shore the lake. It consists of a collection of hotels, restaurants and omiyage (souvenir) shops. If you are looking for onsen, you can visit the public hot springs called Marimo Yu, located across the street from the main boat dock. Another place is the Akan View Hotel. This is a more elaborate facility offering pools, water slides and onsen pools. Though my bnb place had a bathroom, it wasn't used for baths as it was used as a storeroom. Insteade, my host brought us to the onsen and we had our baths there. It was my first experience using an onsen and my host taught us the onsen etiquette. And it was here that I fell in love with the japanese onsen and I love it!!!

Our place was very near Lake Akan (阿寒湖 Akan-ko). Until approximately 6,000 years ago, lakes Akan, Penketo, Panketo, Lake Koakan constituted a single lake. (The last two of these now are on the side opposite Mt. Oakan.) This caldera lake was formed by the eruption of Mt. Oakan. We visited the Lake Akan visitor centre and we were lucky to be able to admire art sculpture that were in display. 

Lake Akan is famous for its marimo algae balls. Marimo are bright green perfectly spherical balls of algae, which form by rolling on the bottom of the lake. They are unique to Lake Akan and (believe it or not) have been designated a National Natural Monument. It is said that it takes approximately 200 years for marimo to grow as large as a baseball. But the ones that my host gave us were really tiny. 

There is also a small Ainu museum and lacklustre dance performances in the village of Ainu Kotan. Ainu Kotan is an Ainu village located west of the hot spring area. There are many handcraft shops and tear rooms. You can also witness woodcrafts being made and enjoy live performances of traditional Ainu dances. 

We drove to Kushiro Washo Market  13-25 Kuroganecho, Kushiro, Hokkaido 085-0018 , Japan  tel +81 154-22-3226   GPS 369595854 for really fresh seafood. Kushiro Washo market is located within a 5 min walk from JR Kushiro station. It is not a wet market, hence is clean. We bought a bowl of rice from one of the stalls (you get to choose the amount of rice that you would like to have, according to weight), and go around the other stalls to pick your fish, as they sell the fish on a "per piece basis". There is quite a good variety of sashimi available, which includes fatty tuna (toro), whale, uni, kani, amongst others. The sashimi was really fresh and prices were reasonable too. Parking in the basement was complimentary.