A Night in Asahikawa
Given the lucky opportunity to tag along to Asahikawa with my long time Hokkaido friend, Shiho-chan, and her dad, of course I would go. Asahikawa is Hokkaido’s second largest city, right behind Sapporo. So, this was a big chance for me to get lost in city life for once and also to do some shopping, in case I needed something. Her dad, a Soto Zen monk, was on the way to hold a Buddhist ceremony in his friend’s temple. We must have left at around 2 pm, driving for close to 4 hours through scenic mountain landscapes.

Japanese cities surely are beautiful, especially as it gets darker. Asahikawa is no exception. After checking into Super Hotel, Shiho and I were planning to get a Nintendo Switch. Thus, we went to a big shopping district, close to the main station. Directly next to Asahikawa station, you will also find this huge Aeon, which is a shopping mall chain with lots of fun things. Some, I will show below. Additionally, we made it our goal to slurp some good ramen!

While this Aeon has you covered on all fronts, I mainly spent my time looking for stationary supplies and some pop culture stores, which are organized like a jungle of stuff. Between cool shirts, billions of anime stickers, and a statue of Uncle Sam, I found these translucent Poké Balls, which I thought were super satisfying and made me want to share them with you.

Maybe even more unexpected, a gatcha shop. Yes, it sells nothing but gatcha items from gatcha machines. Here you would find anything from miniature designer furniture, to oversized plastic pill bugs in all colors. I decided to try my luck at getting a funny sash to wear on my arm. While my goal was to get the blue sash for special occasions, which said “drinking,” I got an orange sash which said “sightseeing” instead. In these kinds of shops, you will also encounter prices that exceed the regular 100 Yen mark up to a maximum of 500 Yen. All in all, it’s an awesome idea, which I wish we had in the west. In case you find a gatcha shop for yourself, good luck with your pulls!

Super Hotel is a chain of affordable hotels across northern Japan. The rooms may be quite small, but they still offer everything that’s needed. I was especially impressed by their pillow shelf in the reception. You can grab your preferred pillow, sorted by height and hardness. With the added onsen access, paying around 20$ isn’t a bad deal. Actually, Super Hotel and Guest Houses are some of the cheaper options you can find widely available in Japan.

As you can see in the photo above, the bathroom unit is a fully water-sealed cubicle, which has been designed and mass produced for maximum space efficiency. Everything is fit into the same space and the faucet can be swerved to the right in order to fill your short but deep bath tub. The greatest feature of Japanese style baths, in my opinion, is the water-proofing. Because of that, most people can shower while sitting on a small plastic chair and no matter where you point the shower head, you will never make a mess!

The next morning, approaching the end of our trip, we visited two of Asahikawa’s Michi no Eki (Roadstation / 道の駅), popular souvenir shops available all over Japan. Initially, these were simply train stations in some cities. Nowadays, due to the movement from rural to urban areas and the decline in use of some stations, they have been repurposed to sell products of the region and offer a place to fill your stomach. Once we had eaten some ramen and bought some tasty treats, we were on our way to our last stop, the Blue Pond in Biei. Apparently, the reason for the lake’s beautiful blue hue is found in sunlight scattering aluminum particles. They had seeped into the water as a side effect of efforts to prevent mud-slides. This was the first time I had seen anything like this. A mesmerizing sight of trees growing out of a swimming pool. I heard, during summer time this attraction is filled with tourists – I’m glad we came in winter.
This marks the end of another short but fun little adventure and much needed change of pace. One last remark: I’m not sure what it was, but both on our way to and back from Asahikawa, I couldn’t stop myself from falling asleep. It’s almost as if Mr. Monk’s Toyota had magical powers!