Breakfast consisted of bacon and eggs (we opted out of eel and pickled veg), cringe-worthy coffee and croissant-like toast. Oh, did I mention that it started snowing outside as we were eating? Throw in a couple of grazing deer all on display in the large dining hall windows - and things started getting ridiculously picturesque.
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| How cold was it this morning? Cold enough to snow apparently. |
Our on-board temperature gauge reckoned it was around 4 degrees (not accounting for a fairly emphatic, snowflake-choked breeze), which accounted for my teeth freezing to my lips as I was packing the car. Fortunately, the snow petered out as we headed down out of the mountains and set our sights on Asahiyama (home of Japan's most northerly Zoo).
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| One of few shots where the chimps weren't 'publically exhibiting' themselves. |
We were guided to a parking space by some heavily-uniformed attendants with fluorescent orange batons, who responded to our 'in-car head nods' with emphatic bows of their own. While the rain held off, the temperature didn't get above 5 degrees (I later noticed the hill near the Zoo Car Park doubles as a ski-run).
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| Emperor Penguins. It appears they were looking for some misplaced car keys. |
The eerie howling of Wolves is something you don't normally hear at Taronga, and in lieu of elephants, you get something called a Raccoon Dog - but, you also get up close and personal with Penguins, Polar Bears as well as a Red Panda or two.
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| I know, it's no Raccoon Dog - but fairly impressive nevertheless. |
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| Red Panda strutting over the heads of onlookers like he owns the place. |
We thawed out a little in a restaurant located in the Zoo, and caused a little bit of a stir by turning down the Miso Soup as part of our lunch-time order. It was a pretty decent day at the Zoo all in all (which was surprising, due to the potential for sleet at any moment).
Picking up some fuel at the local Eneos Station (they fill the tank and even wipe your windscreen), we then stopped by a 7-Eleven and stocked up on some Milk Chocolate Pocky (if you don't know about this creation - find out), and I even got some more overly-sweet, cold coffee to go. The day was panning out perfectly, with only about 90 minutes until our destination for the evening.
That's when the Police Car pulled me over - lights flashing, siren wailing, commands issued over an on-board PA system. Quickly moving past a momentary thought of how cute the little patrol car looked, my stomach turned a somersault. One of the surprisingly large gentleman (there were three of them) walked up to my window where I was shakily offering my licence and International Drivers Licence, and asked me out of the car. He motioned me towards their car, and then opened the door for me to get into the back seat (cue cold sweats and panicked thoughts). After what seemed an eternity of Very Serious attempts at communication sitting in the Police Car, they gave up and rang someone back at the station who had a fair grasp of English - who explained to me that while Australia treats level-crossings as a 'give-way' intersection, Japan does not. If you don't come to a complete stop, it appears to be an offence on-par with slaughtering a small village. In my defence, it looked like an abandoned line going through some farmer's fields on a back road (that and there were no signs that approximated stop signs elsewhere). I weakly enquired if I would need to pay a fine (and was wondering when the cuffs were going to come out), but the saint on the other end of the line said that I was free to go - just to not go pulling any of that Australian cowboy driving in his country. I was fairly agreeable.
The overly-sweet, chilled coffee picked up at 7-Eleven was not required for a heightened sense of vigilance for the remainder of the trip. The children commenced a barrage of questions including whether I was now a fugitive in Japan.
Funny.
A very relieved Martin family arrived at Shirogane - and made our way inside the very lovely Yumoto Shirogane Onsen Hotel. The place is perched above a snow-fed waterfall - the snow itself not too far up the mountain.
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| Yumoto Shirogane Onsen Hotel |
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| Just because I know you are dying to know, this is what a Raccoon Dog looks like. |
