Japan

A work trip meant I was in Japan for the end of June. Luckily, Libby was able to fly out to join me and we took a week off to explore Tokyo and then the northern island of Hokkaido. Tokyo was an incredible experience with neon lights and sound everywhere. The food was amazing, especially the seafood, although I have to say that raw fish for breakfast is something I will struggle to adapt to! What struck me most was just how respectful the Japanese are and it's not just to foreigners, it's to their fellow Japanese too. Many businesses in Europe could learn a thing of two from their Japanese counterparts about customer service. With all the bowing, I imagine you would have a tough time living in Japan if you had a bad back!

We visited the sacred temple at Asakusa, where the air was filled with incense and the myriad stalls were selling all manner of typically Japanese wares, including pottery, plastic food (yes, really) and lots of cute toys. After wandering the streets for several hours we met up with a friend who has been living in Tokyo for the last 10 months. He took us to a fantastic traditional Japanese restaurant where you must exchange your shoes for slippers and sit on cushions on the floor.. We were served several rice and noodle dishes, including fish, chicken and tofu, all washed down with some Asahi beer. Fantastic.

We then travelled north to Hokkaido for a week, hiring a car at Kushiro Airport. We drove north to the Akan National Park where volcanic activity is still commonplace and we treated ourselves to a fantastic hot spa. The traditional Japanese spa was a little unnerving for me at first but I soon overcame my apprehensions and thoroughly enjoyed it. The spas are usually split into male and female baths and one must wash thoroughly before entering the water. This involves sitting on a stool, completely naked, next to fellow bathers while showering with soap and water before immersing oneself into the hot water. The idea is that this keeps the hot water clean and pure. For the self-conscious, a small towel (actually more like a flanel) is provided to cover your private bits while walking around. Of course in the pool itself you must be naked and the flanel must not enter the water - the usual practice is to place it on your head. Once fully soaked in the bath you are provided with a gown and slippers which many people wear to dinner. I have to say the first time felt quite odd to go to dinner in what felt like my jim-jams and slippers...!

After our volcanic experience in Akan we drove north to the Shiretoko National Park. This is a pristine wilderness consisting of a heavily forested peninsula that juts out into the Sea of Okhotsk, just south of Russia's Sakhalin Island. It is said to home the largest concentration of brown bears in the world and is also famous for Sea Eagles and Japanese Cranes. We saw several of the latter by the roadside during the drive north and, of course, one of our aims was to see Brown Bear.

On our first morning we stopped at a small cafe for a coffee and sitting on the next table was a Japanese wildlife photographer who specialised in brown bears. I asked him what our chances were of seeing brown bear and he said "50/50" as we were there for several days. He drew us a map and pinpointed the best spots to see Brown Bears, saying that early evening or early morning were the best times. At our first attempt we were delighted to be treated to a ten minute encounter with a very young bear, probably only 1-2 years old as it made its way along the roadside, turning over stones to look for ants. We were captivated as it walked slowly past our car, only two to three metres away. A really awesome experience. As I did not have my camera with me you will have to make do with the poor quality video (shot sideways with my mobile phone). Can you tell what it is??

Spectacularly, on the morning we decided to hike up Mount Rausu (complete with hip-bell to warn bears of our presence), we came across a second bear, this one much bigger, complete with a radio collar and ear-tags. This one was in the middle of the road before climbing a tree to reach the berries in the upper branches. It seemed precariously balanced as it stretched to reach the outer branches and, at one point, I felt certain it would fall. But, of course, it didn't and expertly climbed down, back first, and wandered off into the forest. It was slightly unnerving to be walking along trails as we ascended Mount Rausu shortly afterwards, especially as we saw several trees with claw-marks on their trunks, but bear encounters are uncommon - generally bears are very shy creatures and will move out of sight if they sense humans approaching. The walk treated us to stunning views of the peninsula and the surrounding waters. A truly magical place.

At one of our guest houses as we were waiting on the balcony before dinner, a local fisherman stopped his van and threw out a load of by-catch onto the beach right below our balcony. Normally, I wouldn't have appreciated that very much but the smell immediately attracted a host of Slaty-backed Gulls that fought over the bits of fish. And it got better when, just as I was getting bored with the Slaty-backs, not one but two White-tailed Eagles swooped down to take the leftovers, literally feet away from our balcony... dwarfing the not to be sniffed at Slaty-backs. They made several passes before settling on nearby rocks to gorge themselves. A stunning backdrop of the setting sun over the Sea of Okhotsk made the perfect pre-dinner entertainment!

PS I can't believe how posh Libby sounds on this video...!!