The last couple of days have been spent in Esashi and Monbetsu, along the north eastern coast of Hokkaido.
This is a public toilet block! 
In a ski lift building on the top of the mountain overlooking Esashi, we found a small cafe with a great view! And the cafe also had a very friendly hostess who spoke good English! Mitchiko has developed her cafe with a very crafty decor, with lots of handcrafted items on display. 
Mitchiko.
We also met two of her friends. Hena is a photographer and we saw some stunning photos of Esahi in winter time.
There was lots of fun and laughter and I think a great time was had by all! 
This is a lookout! It is used for viewing sea ice and perhaps whales. It is a public building, not a cafe or any other business involved. Only in Japan! 
In Monbetsu we went to the ice museum, which features a simulation room with a temperature of -20C!. It certainly was cold! This is an average minimum temperature ( at night) in Monbetsu in winter. Monbetsu us famous for the sea ice which reaches Monbetsu.
The cold room also had cold water creatures in frozen blocks of ice -very interesting.
There is an observatory which allows one to see the ice from above and an ice breaker boat with a new Archimedes screw technology to propel it over the ice. There are tourist tours in this boat in winter! That would be quite an experience.
Then there was an underwater observatory and aquarium.
Don't you love this face? The observatory is worth seeing at night. It attracts fish which are attracted to light. We only saw it during the day.
There was also a seal exhibition. This facility rescues injured seals which have been caught in the moving sea ice, rehabilitates them and returns them to the wild. These seals are spotted, and are very tame. They can be touched by the public and put on a show of simple acts such as rolling over, clapping, opening their mouths on command. They seem very placid animals, and very cute!
in my opinion if you come to Hokkaido to ski then a side trip to Monbetsu would be well worth while!
We found a tempura Resturaunt last night, specialising in San Sai Ryori -Wild mountain vegetable cuisine. I'm not sure whether San Sai Ryori is always tempura style but I will ask further when I get the chance.
The vegetable tempura was delicious. The chef was gracious but very busy with a full house.
After we left and with a couple of Sakes on board we walked down a street which seemed a bit lively. There was a busker so we stopped to listen. He immediately started singing English songs so we sang along. Stuart and and I particulary were enjoying ourselves, but Nira and Joe were keeping an eye out to the activity around us. Inadvertently we had wandered into the red light street of Monbetsu! Apparently while Stuart and I were completely oblivious, there were negotiations going with girls behind us, a madam, and young men coming and going. The busker was a decoy to keep people in the area long enough for the girls to get to them!
To top off a great day today we went for a walk on the beach -black sand!
And a great camping spot on a lake...
And Joe did what Joe does, in comfort.
BTW Joe has now lost three hats and a beanie since we came to Japan. But that's OK. He has bought three more so he has some to spare! :)
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