{"id":3736,"date":"2009-10-02T18:04:34","date_gmt":"2009-10-02T22:04:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/?p=3736"},"modified":"2009-10-02T18:04:35","modified_gmt":"2009-10-02T22:04:35","slug":"akanko-onsen-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/2009\/10\/02\/akanko-onsen-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Akanko Onsen (Part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Sept 13) The Lake Akan hot springs resort is a small community surrounded by the forests of Akan National Park.
\n
\n\"Akanko\"<\/p>\n

A sightseeing boat that travels around Lake Akan is a popular attraction.
\n\"Akan<\/p>\n

\"Akanko<\/p>\n

The high point of the cruise is a stop at an island in the middle of the lake…
\n\"Akan<\/p>\n

…which features an exhibit of marimo<\/em>, spherical blobs of algae that grow in the lake, which the Japanese apparently find fascinating.
\n\"Girl<\/p>\n

\"Marimo\"<\/p>\n

\"Marimo2\"<\/p>\n

<\/param><\/param><\/param><\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

Little marimo are sold in jars in souvenir shops all over Hokkaido, so you can take them home and raise them as pets.<\/p>\n

\"Marimo<\/p>\n

I am told that they will grow very large when supplied with fresh water and artificial light. I wouldn’t recommend them for American tourists though. Probably Customs would take a dim view of them.<\/p>\n

These things are the inspiration for the popular marimokkori<\/em> dolls that are also sold all over Hokkaido.<\/p>\n

\"Fighters<\/p>\n

\"Marimokkori\"<\/p>\n

\"Akan<\/p>\n

The New Akan Hotel Shangri-La is one of the larger hotels.
\n\"New<\/p>\n

In spite of its name, it is a ryokan. There are no western-style hotels in Akanko, and very few foreigners.<\/p>\n

The ceiling of the lobby features an elaborate light show.<\/p>\n

<\/param><\/param><\/param><\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

The video doesn’t do a good job of conveying the scale. Those things on the side are balconies that look down on the lobby, and those are three transparent elevator shafts at the far end.<\/p>\n

An outdoor footbath where passers-by can wash their feet in hot spring water.
\n\"Akan<\/p>\n

The water is just pleasantly warm.
\n\"Akan<\/p>\n

If you didn’t bring a towel there is, of course, a handy vending machine.
\n\"Towel<\/p>\n

There are many easy trails running through the woods.
\n\"Akan<\/p>\n

\"Akan<\/p>\n

A bokke<\/em> (a large pool of gently bubbling hot mud.)
\n\"Bokke\"<\/p>\n

The entrance to the Inari (fox god) Shrine is a very steep series of steps running up the side of a hill.
\n\"Inari<\/p>\n

\"Inari<\/p>\n

The interior of the shrine is quite small, almost lost among the huge trees, which seems appropriate for a forest spirit.
\n\"Inari<\/p>\n

By contrast, the Mt. Akan Shrine near the center of the town is much larger, able to hold a crowd of people during a festival.
\n\"Akan<\/p>\n

\"Akan<\/p>\n

\"Akan<\/p>\n

The town also has a small Buddhist temple.
\n\"Shotokuji<\/p>\n

\"Akan<\/p>\n

There are a number of small hot spring fountains along the town’s main street, suitable for handwashing.
\n\"Akan<\/p>\n

\"Akan<\/p>\n

\"Akan<\/p>\n

All posts from this trip.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Sept 13) The Lake Akan hot springs resort is a small community surrounded by the forests of Akan National Park.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,174],"tags":[308],"class_list":["post-3736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-japan-vacation","category-photos","tag-hokkaido-trip"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3736"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3736\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3774,"href":"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3736\/revisions\/3774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}