Things had not been “clicking” for me during my first few days in northern Japan. Amongst many other problems, most signage in
Wakkanai (稚内市) is in Japanese and Russian, not English.

These folks live closer to Siberia than Tokyo, I reckon.

With miscalculated bravado, I’d traveled to remote Wakkanai to hike Rishiri-Zan volcano, a short ferry trip off the northern tip. … That didn’t happen. … I arrived a month too late.

Instead, with nothing else on my itinerary, I hiked the town of Wakkanai itself discovering, unexpectedly, all sorts of attractions.

The Autumn colours were evocative.

I was quite taken with the “tourist attractions” around the Wakkanai Kōen (稚内公園) park and the Motoe Hiraku tower.

In the Spring there are 4,000 wild cherry trees here to picnic under, a passionate Japanese pass time.

You might mis-assume I traveled to the far north to “collect” some geographical bragging point — but the furthest north is Cape Sōya, 30km away. (I was too cheap to pay for the bus ride there.)

Perhaps you’ve heard of Cape Sōya in connection with the 1983 incident where the Soviets shot down Korean Airlines flight 007.

A passenger flight just like this one. It might be 007 en route to Seoul.

After seeing all the “tourist” attractions, I went walkabout on animal trails over the peninsula to walk back along the shoreline.

So … happily and unexpectedly I had a wondrous day, all the more memorable for the challenges.

See more photos from my day hike of Wakkanai.

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