James Moar
@jamesmoar.bsky.social
Tomorrow heading back to a hotel near New Chitose Airport. While I could take a route that’s basically retracing my steps back via Asahikawa to Sapporo, there’s a more circuitous route that gives me the cheap satisfaction of having passed through more of Hokkaido.
November 16, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Tomorrow heading back to a hotel near New Chitose Airport. While I could take a route that’s basically retracing my steps back via Asahikawa to Sapporo, there’s a more circuitous route that gives me the cheap satisfaction of having passed through more of Hokkaido.
The kamameshi was topped with silver flatfish. The advice on eating it was to eat half the pot, then add the jug of dashi broth, light a small wickless candle under the pot, and wait until the candle burns out for it to heat up the broth-and-kamameshi mix.
November 16, 2025 at 12:04 PM
The kamameshi was topped with silver flatfish. The advice on eating it was to eat half the pot, then add the jug of dashi broth, light a small wickless candle under the pot, and wait until the candle burns out for it to heat up the broth-and-kamameshi mix.
For dinner, went to a place that did robatayaki (charcoal-grilled items) and kamameshi (seasoned rice cooked in a pot with various possible toppings, though this restaurant stuck to seafood). As robatayaki I had venison sausages plus salmon grilled with garlic.
November 16, 2025 at 11:56 AM
For dinner, went to a place that did robatayaki (charcoal-grilled items) and kamameshi (seasoned rice cooked in a pot with various possible toppings, though this restaurant stuck to seafood). As robatayaki I had venison sausages plus salmon grilled with garlic.
After the Drift Ice Museum, I visited the Abashiri Prison Museum. Think I’ll hold this one over and do the writeup another time, though.
In lieu of that, here’s the theme from a series of films about an escapee from the prison:
youtu.be/5YEHm84q9vg?...
In lieu of that, here’s the theme from a series of films about an escapee from the prison:
youtu.be/5YEHm84q9vg?...
Ken Takakura - Abashiri Bangaichi
YouTube video by Metempsychosis
youtu.be
November 16, 2025 at 11:50 AM
After the Drift Ice Museum, I visited the Abashiri Prison Museum. Think I’ll hold this one over and do the writeup another time, though.
In lieu of that, here’s the theme from a series of films about an escapee from the prison:
youtu.be/5YEHm84q9vg?...
In lieu of that, here’s the theme from a series of films about an escapee from the prison:
youtu.be/5YEHm84q9vg?...
The drift ice room is kept at -15 degrees Celsius. Visitors are given damp towels before entering, and encouraged to spin them round and see how they quickly freeze stiff. I acknowledge that I probably should do up my coat.
November 16, 2025 at 11:44 AM
The drift ice room is kept at -15 degrees Celsius. Visitors are given damp towels before entering, and encouraged to spin them round and see how they quickly freeze stiff. I acknowledge that I probably should do up my coat.
The room in the museum that holds pieces of drift ice. Not clear whether they’re real or not, but fetching actual chunks in season would probably be easier than creating large irregular pieces with convincing bits of dirt on them.
November 16, 2025 at 11:41 AM
The room in the museum that holds pieces of drift ice. Not clear whether they’re real or not, but fetching actual chunks in season would probably be easier than creating large irregular pieces with convincing bits of dirt on them.
The reason for there being a Drift Ice Museum in Abashiri is that in the coldest part of the year (around January-February) ice from Siberia makes its way south to the coast here.
November 16, 2025 at 11:33 AM
The reason for there being a Drift Ice Museum in Abashiri is that in the coldest part of the year (around January-February) ice from Siberia makes its way south to the coast here.
Aquarium in the Drift Ice Museum with sea angels. They’re about the size of a fingernail.
November 16, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Aquarium in the Drift Ice Museum with sea angels. They’re about the size of a fingernail.
View down to Abashiri and another to the lakes next to it. Abashiri is along the north coast of Hokkaido, though as it’s in a large curved bay more hills can be seen across the sea behind it.
November 16, 2025 at 11:25 AM
View down to Abashiri and another to the lakes next to it. Abashiri is along the north coast of Hokkaido, though as it’s in a large curved bay more hills can be seen across the sea behind it.
Lunch at the Mount Tentozan Observatory after the Museum of Northern Peoples and just before the Drift Ice Museum (which shares a building with the Observatory). Had Pizza Bianca — well done with a good base, but I think I like more contrast than this had without tomato sauce.
November 16, 2025 at 11:18 AM
Lunch at the Mount Tentozan Observatory after the Museum of Northern Peoples and just before the Drift Ice Museum (which shares a building with the Observatory). Had Pizza Bianca — well done with a good base, but I think I like more contrast than this had without tomato sauce.
Fishing implements. The two-pronged harpoon in front is an Aynu seal-fishing harpoon, and apparently the only one of its kind remaining in Japan.
November 16, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Fishing implements. The two-pronged harpoon in front is an Aynu seal-fishing harpoon, and apparently the only one of its kind remaining in Japan.
Pacific Northwest boat.
November 16, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Pacific Northwest boat.
Inuit snow goggles.
November 16, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Inuit snow goggles.
Pottery of Hokkaido’s Satsumon and Tobinitai Cultures. The Satsumon pots, from a pre-Aynu culture across much of Hokkaido, are decorated with scratch-line markings. The Tobinitai pots have Okhotsk markings but a shape like the Satsumon pots (Okhotsk pots bulge more with a thinner neck).
November 16, 2025 at 10:53 AM
Pottery of Hokkaido’s Satsumon and Tobinitai Cultures. The Satsumon pots, from a pre-Aynu culture across much of Hokkaido, are decorated with scratch-line markings. The Tobinitai pots have Okhotsk markings but a shape like the Satsumon pots (Okhotsk pots bulge more with a thinner neck).
Model of an Inuit house. The underground path and entry into the house by a hole in the floor is a method of separation from cold outside air.
November 16, 2025 at 10:41 AM
Model of an Inuit house. The underground path and entry into the house by a hole in the floor is a method of separation from cold outside air.
Waterproof garments made with animal intestines.
November 16, 2025 at 10:36 AM
Waterproof garments made with animal intestines.
Inuit woman’s ceremonial parka. The extremely long hood can be used as a baby carrier.
November 16, 2025 at 10:33 AM
Inuit woman’s ceremonial parka. The extremely long hood can be used as a baby carrier.
Visited the Abashiri Museum of Northern Peoples this morning. It’s doing something a bit different from the Hakodate museum of the sane name — where that one was primarily an Aynu museum with some coverage of culturally-linked groups, this one is seeking patterns across a wide geographic range.
November 16, 2025 at 10:30 AM
Visited the Abashiri Museum of Northern Peoples this morning. It’s doing something a bit different from the Hakodate museum of the sane name — where that one was primarily an Aynu museum with some coverage of culturally-linked groups, this one is seeking patterns across a wide geographic range.
Tomorrow doing some of the major museums in Abashiri. That will be the last day of the holiday that isn’t travel-heavy — it’s back to the New Chitose Airport area the day after and flying out the day after that.
November 15, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Tomorrow doing some of the major museums in Abashiri. That will be the last day of the holiday that isn’t travel-heavy — it’s back to the New Chitose Airport area the day after and flying out the day after that.
Christmas stockings stuffed with sweets on sale at a supermarket. Character designs include Pokemon, Kirby, masked superhero Kamen Rider, long-running magical girl series Pretty Cure, and of course Anpanman, the superhero who wants you to eat his face.
November 15, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Christmas stockings stuffed with sweets on sale at a supermarket. Character designs include Pokemon, Kirby, masked superhero Kamen Rider, long-running magical girl series Pretty Cure, and of course Anpanman, the superhero who wants you to eat his face.
Dinner after the museum. Gyudon, bowl of rice topped with stewed beef and onions, with an additional topping of cheese in this case. Also a salted caramel milkshake.
November 15, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Dinner after the museum. Gyudon, bowl of rice topped with stewed beef and onions, with an additional topping of cheese in this case. Also a salted caramel milkshake.
Okhotsk burial rituals are striking — corpses are buried facing north-east, with their legs broken and a pot placed over their heads.
November 15, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Okhotsk burial rituals are striking — corpses are buried facing north-east, with their legs broken and a pot placed over their heads.
The Okhotsk Culture lifestyle in some ways resembled the traditional Inuit one, in sea-mammal hunting and fur-wearing, though these would be practical responses to similar environments rather than cultural connections.
November 15, 2025 at 12:28 PM
The Okhotsk Culture lifestyle in some ways resembled the traditional Inuit one, in sea-mammal hunting and fur-wearing, though these would be practical responses to similar environments rather than cultural connections.
Example of Okhotsk Culture pottery. It’s distinguished from pottery elsewhere in Hokkaido at that time in its use of short notched marks, but from a less technical angle the appearance of realistic shapes like the birds on here instead of elaborate extracts is even more distinctive.
November 15, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Example of Okhotsk Culture pottery. It’s distinguished from pottery elsewhere in Hokkaido at that time in its use of short notched marks, but from a less technical angle the appearance of realistic shapes like the birds on here instead of elaborate extracts is even more distinctive.
Paid a short visit to the Moyoro Shell Mound Museum. A dig in the area shown found the first indications of the Okhotsk Culture, a group present in northern Hokkaido and Sakhalin in the second half of the first millennium AD.
November 15, 2025 at 11:58 AM
Paid a short visit to the Moyoro Shell Mound Museum. A dig in the area shown found the first indications of the Okhotsk Culture, a group present in northern Hokkaido and Sakhalin in the second half of the first millennium AD.