Hokkaido Ride - Day 4 - Russian Culture Shock in Wakkanai

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15th, 2006

SHOSANBETSU to WAKKANAI
115km 5h:25m

Just a long, long, day. The coastline from Shosanbetsu heading north is still amazing, and there must've been a tailwind because I could keep it at 30kph pretty easily. This northern part of the coastline is obviously less travelled, and there are alot more farms around. My keitai (don't buy Foma) kept dying so fast, I had to buy a battery charger at the 7/11 so I could call the travel agent and sort out my upcoming flight to Thailand. I reached Toyotomi at 70k or so and had a break and Papico at the Seicomart. The clerk in there was a super nice guy who told me of a campground 15k away, or I could carry on 40k to Wakkanai. My competitive side got the better of me and I decided to roll on to Wakkanai against my body's (and rapidly deteriorating ass bones) wishes.

I reached Wakkanai city by 4pm (sun set comes by 6 here). I found a 100yen Shop (like a Dollar Store, but about 1000 times better), and parked my bike to resupply inside. Only then did I notice the stares by the Russian sailors all around. I make a point of nodding, saying hey, smiling... they made a point of staring me down, mumbling, and generally looking angry. They looked like hardened men who couldn't see or understand the logic of someone deciding to quit his job to ride his bike around for awhile, and carry all he needs with him. I felt decidely UNEASY in this place. Being a foreigner in Japan (me), has definitely changed me in some way. Being almost exclusively around Japanese has lulled me into a sense of security maybe. I know of an expat American who swears he feels a hundred times safer here than back home. It was almost like a minor case of culture shock. My first time returning to Canada after 1 yr in Japan, was for Christmas 04. I remember having breakfast in San Francisco Airport, jet lagged, tired, and slinking down into a corner watching all these giant white folk lumbering about, and I know this is generalizing, but I couldn't believe how big everyone was. Here now in northern Japan, with foreigners all around me, maybe I understood for a second how some Japanese folk may feel, encountering a foreigner in their all-Japanese looking land. Like the song, have I been "turning Japanese" the past two and a half years?

Well I searched in vain at hardware shops to find a 12v battery for my speedometer, then proceeded to the only campjo around, ShinrinKoen. A map is flat, and on a map, the route looks flat, right? I was at over 100k for the day, mentally exhausted, and now I was staring up at the largest hill/small mountain around, the campjo was on top of it. Angered, and eager to get this

day done with and get some sleep, I charged up the hill. It was one of those hills where even in granny gear, you are barely able to push. Once I made it to the top, exhausted and sweaty, I

got to the campground just as darkness came down. I definitely earned a coke or an aquarius with that effort I told myself.

After searching around, I was crestfallen to see there were no vending machines in sight, only at the bottom of the hill perhaps...... I boiled water and ate a double helping of curry and rice before falling flat out asleep in less than 3 seconds.

(photo) Wakkanai city and ferry terminal view from atop the campground hill