The tour bus reached Akan National Park at 630 pm, after 5 hours of journey from Chitose airport. After checking into the 3-Star, and a decades old hotel, we walked around the Ainu Kotan Village. The word kotan means village in the Ainu language.



I am not sure whether this village is a replica or an original Ainu Kotan


There are a lot interesting souvenir shops in Ainu Kotan village. Most of them sell wood crafts.








Marimo is almost the mascot for Akan National Park, as I could see it almost at every corner, and even in the toilet of the ryokan we stayed.

Marimo can be found only in Akan Lake in Japan. It is a species of filamentous green algae which grow into large green balls.

4 comments:

roachz said...

Oh that cat! I have petted her before.. She belongs to one of the Ainu souvenir shopkeepers right??

roachz said...

Here are some Hokkaido pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/roaccchz/070808CyclingHokkaido

Anonymous said...

Mr Eddie:
Professor Chan sponsored you for this trip? So you had a romantic trip with Ton? haha!
BTW, great pics as usual! ;)
Ernesto.

AL LEE said...

cool pictures! I remembered that place! And I remembered that I was really cold!