On the road again…

After breakfast at Marie’s family home we drove to a nearby lookout. Unfortunately visibility wasn’t the best, we could only imagine how spectacular it would be on a clear day. You can see the mountains, the ocean, and the surrounding towns. We could even see the mouth of the Shiribetsu river where it enters the sea (the river that runs through Kutchan that we used to cross every day to and from work).

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We are now hitting the road again, headed for Hakodate. Hakodate was Japan’s first city to open it’s port to foreign trade in 1854, so there is a lot of history that we are excited to learn about and explore.

 

Suttsu

Yesterday we left Sapporo and drove to Suttsu, Marie’s home town. The drive there was quite beautiful, with a stunning sunset over the sea and rugged coastline. I couldn’t capture a great shot while we were driving, but believe me, it was great.

12We arrived around 6pm and after meeting Marie’s family (Mum, Dad, grandma, brother and his wife and two daughters) we went to dinner for yakiniku (BBQ meat – Stephen’s favourite)!! Marie’s family actually own the restaurant, and they shouted us dinner, which we were so grateful for and totally didn’t expect, especially because Stephen almost ate is weight in meat! The meal was sugoi oishii kata (super delicious).

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Marie and her two nieces. 

We were also fortunate enough to stay with Marie’s family in their guest room. We slept on futons, which are so comfortable!

And this morning Marie’s mum treated us to a traditional Japanese breakfast: ham, eggs and asparagus, rice, salmon flakes, marinated squid and takoyaki (fried balls of octopus). It was all really tasty.

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Breakfast.

That’s all for now.

M.