After a year in planning, Team Marimo was finally able to visit the birthplace of our team name, Lake Akan! Last weekend was a long weekend thanks to a "Sea Day" Monday, so Callie ventured out of her concrete jungle to spend time with me and Justin in rural Eastern Hokkaido. Our common bond for Hokkaido's greatest mascot brought us together and we vowed to one day visit the place where algae-boner mascots are made reality.

We started our adventure on a rainy Saturday afternoon by driving out to Lake Akan. Our first impression of the quaint, little tourist town was of endless rows of gift shops, Marimo street lamps, mechanical bears, and more algae ball-themed.. everything than you can think of. The first thing we did was stop by the tourist information to get a map of the town and area we would be spending the next few days exploring. Since we were staying the night, we set our tent up at the campsite then took a walk in the drizzling rain to get a proper look and (literally) soak in the town. We walked through an "authentic" Ainu (Hokkaido's native people) village, took a peek at the marimo souvenirs and wood carvings on display at the tourist shops, took pictures with Marimokkori, pet a monkey who needed his diaper changed, and headed to the Eco-Museum to walk through the forest and see the stinky mud pits called Bokke. Wet and still dirty from partying the night before, we promptly went to the best onsen in Hokkaido to sit naked in the rain in the outdoor bath. Feeling clean, refreshed, and stuffed with complimentary steamed potatoes, we went back to camp and barbecued five pounds of pork for supper. We went to bed as the sun set, letting the rainwater splattering on our tent lull (?) us to sleep.

We planned a hike up Meakan-dake (Mt. Meakan) the next morning, but as we woke to the sound of more intense rainsplatter than the night before, the outlook wasn't so good. We weighed our options (as the rain picked up even further) and decided to cancel the hike. I was crushed :( We sat in the foot onsen right next to our tent and decided we would head back that night to stay at Justin's instead of camping for a second day. After a quick breakfast, we took down our soaked tent, then went to the docks for a boat ride on Lake Akan. The 75-minute boat ride took us to a tiny island in the center of the lake where we spent fifteen short minutes at the Marimo Observation Center, looking at displays of enormous marimo. We were in heaven! The ride back to the docks took us on a scenic route of the lake's lush shoreline while blasting marimo-themed music over the loudspeakers. Once we arrived, we picked up a few last-minute souvenirs before eating lunch at a restaurant called Pronno for authentic Ainu cuisine and oak root tea.

As we left, our last glimpse of Lake Akan was shrouded in mist and rainclouds. But there beneath the waves are the hundreds of marimo, growing and synthesizing as they have for the past hundreds of years, fascinating tourists by virtue of being large, green, algae balls. Team Marimo's mission was a success!

Check out Callie's blog for more Marimokkori goodness!