Taxi Ride to Asahidake (Highest Mountain in Hokkaido)

WE caught a taxi up to Asahidake. It is not the cheapest option, but since my folks were picking up the tab, it didn't bother me. Perhaps the most compelling local attraction, apart from the wildflowers of course, is the peak of Asahidake, which rises x meters to the east/west? Asahidake means "peak of the rising sun", and is the highest mountain in Hokkaido. On the ride up, we were mesmerised by the fields of freshly planted rice, mabushi cherry blossom trees in full bloom, cliffs of lavendar and grey, white boughs of birch, and the toylike houses and barns. I sat back in my seat, and enjoyed the view. I was attacked by pesky marsh insects. The higher we climbed, the colder and whiter it grew outside.

Those wetlands were in fact the Kushiro Shitsugen, and how we ended up there was an exercise in stupidity (my parents'). We were on the hunt for the elusive tanchou, but nobody told us they were not in season (havingt flown off somewhere cooler). It was a nice train ride, a one-man densha via Kitahama (North Harbor) to Abashiri. The hotel was cool. They had Chinese and butter making lessons downstairs... ..