While I was in University taking Japanese courses, my Japanese teacher told me all about Hokkaido once she found out I was coming here on JET. She told me about one place in Hokkaido where you can dig a hole in the sand on the beach and make your own personal outdoor onsen. I tried imagining it at the time then promptly forgot about it until just last week when we happened to come across it on the way back from Lake Akan! It's at a place called Sunayu, which means "hot sand", on the shore of Lake Kussharo, part of Akan National Park. Lake Kussharo is another caldera lake (like Lake Toya) with an island in the center and the entire area a thermal hotbed. At Sunayu, the thermal vents are so close to the surface that it heats up the sand along the beach. They've built some small foot baths where you can soak your feet, and the water is hot!

We went there to see the local mascot, a loch ness-ish monster called Kusshi. Apparently there have been sightings of Kusshi in the lake, but most Japanese claim it was just a large trout. The truth? We'll never know...