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We woke up finding ourself in dense fog but never the less delivered to Kushiro on time. We set out in the fog on our tour to Lake Mashu which turned ourt to be a lake in the top of a volcano in an active thermal area. Our guide warned us that Kushiro is known for its fog, with less than 5 sunny days a month, thus dampening expectations. But when we arrived at the site (2 hours later) the sun was out and the day was clear. What we did not expect was snow. It was every where. Nobody lived in that area until the 1870's when people realised it was a source of sulphur. As we left the guide told us that the roads had only been opened three days earlier. We enjoyed another traditional Japanese lunch at Kowayu Onsen a very small village. On the return journey we stopped at a roadside station and had a footbath in the hot springs. Closer to Kushiro the driver stopped outside a Japanese Crane Park and we had the opportunity to see Japan's national bird, the Japanese crane. This event was not on the official itinerary so our drivers must have decided amongst themselves to return by a different route.
On our return to Kushoiro we learned that the fog had been down all day, which made us feel better because we had enjoyed 4 hours of sun. At four o'clock we were astonished by the number of cars arriving at the dock. It seemed that the whole town was coming to see the ship off. Being a smaller town, population 190,000, they only had a saxophonist in contrast to the bands at prevcious ports.
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