Went to another hot spring city, Noboribetsu (登別市 Noboribetsu-shi) , part of Shikotsu-Toya National Park, and it's located southwest of Sapporo - about 1 hour by train.The hotel we (I) chose, based on TripAdvisor, "Mahoroba" was disappointing (tacky 70s style, catered for large group and it was more expensive than the one in Jyozankei and quality much lower....)
Not to be deterred, we went for sight seeing.
Went to the Bear Park where they keep 100s of bears in only 3 closures....
Paid 2500yen each (takai!) and took the rope way for 7min, on top of a mountain, our hopes were high... we were hoping to see bears in their most natural form - in the mountains.... but disturbed to find they were put in a concrete ground hole.
Not only that, they were clapping their hands, begging for cookies... Sad.
There were 4 Ainu houses with real Ainu people for exhibition... somehow I didn't feel they were happy...
A questionable duck race thing, lifted the mood a bit, though...
Hell Valley (地獄谷 Jigokudani). Sulphurous volcanic pits and geysers.
I wish I could post the smell...
After the bear hell hole, could not resist this...
