The annual HAJET (Hokkaido Association of JETs) Summer Meet is a perfect time to get together with JETs from all over the Hokkaido for a weekend of camping, food, friends and fun in the sun. Last weekend, the summer meet was held at beautiful Lake Toya, the site of last years' G8 Summit. It also happens to be inconveniently located on the other side of the island from my house. On a rainy Friday evening after work, Justin and I left Eastern Hokkaido in his car, Roy, and made our way to Sapporo through the scenic Daisetsuzan mountain range. We spent the night at Callie's (new) place and left early the next morning (fueled on Starbucks) in order to make it in time for the morning meetings at 9:00am.

As Justin was in the meetings, I spent the morning setting up the tent in the scorching heat and exploring the Lake Toya campground. Toyako is a caldera lake with a picturesque island in the middle and the area is still volcanically active with numerous onsen around the lake. Mt. Usu, a stratovolcanic mountain on the south end of the lake, erupted just nine years ago and a smaller mountain next to it called Showashinzen is a lava dome that was formed by earthquakes and spewing lava.

Over 30 JETs from around the island showed up for the Summer Meet. There were meetings held in the morning and activities like a sumo competition (of which I didn't win :( ) and capture the flag to tide people over until the BBQ enkai for supper. It was a hot and sunny weekend (finally! after a month of non-stop rain) so a few of us took a dip in Lake Toya to cool off. At night there was a trivia contest, a lot of socializing and a lot of drinking. Alcohol + A big group of Gaijin = Loud. I felt a little bad for the other Japanese campers next to us, but fortunately they were warned earlier that day about how loud we were going to be (and were suggested to move their tents further) but said they would be fine with the noise. So polite, ne?

The next morning we woke up early since the tent became a sauna from the sun (this is at 6:00am, btw) so we ate breakfast, took down the tent and prepared to make our way home. We left the campground in the morning and made our way back to Sapporo, making a quick stop at Jozankei onsen along the way to clean up and another stop in the city for kaitenzushi (conveyor belt sushi) before hitting the road again for the long drive home. We got back in to Kitami just as the sun was setting, nine hours after leaving Toyako. It was a condensed, exhausting, but incredibly fun weekend (over half of which was driving) but I'm glad I made the trek out there. Toyako will definitely be a place I'll return to next summer to hike that island in the middle of the lake. 'Til then!