This past weekend I took another trip up to Wakkanai (my first visit was last year) with my friend Chris. We were attempting our second climb of Mt. Rishiri - the volcano island off the coast of Wakkanai - and this weekend was the only time this summer I had time to climb it. Our first attempt was foiled by four feet of snow on the peak so we went earlier this year, hoping for better weather.

We took off after work on Friday and drove 3.5 hours to the Northern edge of Japan. We were staying with a new JET - Valerie - who had just come to Japan last month and whom I'd met two weekends ago at Sapporo Orientation. We went out that night to meet up with two other Wakkanai JETs - Mike and Elizabeth - to hang out at a fancy, closet-sized bar where the bartenders wore suits and bowties. After a few hours there and some midnight ramen, we headed back to get some sleep to catch the early-morning ferry.

At 5:00am, I was woken by the sound of splattering rain on the balcony. I got up and looked outside to see the rainclouds regurgitating an ocean of water back into the sea. I woke Chris up and we decided we'd have to cancel the hike that day.. hiking in a drizzle would've been okay but that rain would soak us in seconds. A little disappointed, we went back to sleep and slept until the afternoon. Rishiri had defeated us once again..

We didn't have plans that day so another new JET - Alex, who was placed on Rebun Island - came over and the four of us went to get breakfast/lunch at Niko-Niko Bentou. It was noon and the rain hadn't let up at all. Valerie was invited to a Yosakoi festival by her supervisor so we decided to go and check it out. We got there early and fought against the hundreds of cars trying to pack into the parking lot. There was a outdoor mainstage, a food village, a secondary gym with bleachers in case of rain, and was six hours long with groups from as far away as Okinawa, Gifu and Chiba! It was a pretty big deal. We watched the cute kindergarten students do their soran in the gym before heading outside to take in some of the food. We watched the main stage for a bit and stuck around long enough to see some of Valerie's and Alex's students perform. I even ran into Nami, a JHS student who fell in love with me at HEC Camp. About half-way through, we decided to go for supper where Valerie and Alex had their first taste of okonomiyaki and monjyaki. Then we went to 'M' for a long, enjoyable night of Karaoke. We ended with a drive to Sukiya at 2:00am to finish off our gastronomical day with gyudon and miso soup.

The next day was spent relaxing with an afternoon walk in the park behind Valerie's house. We saw great views of Wakkanai and the Sea of Okhotsk from the lookout points on the hill and even went up the Wakkanai Memorial tower to get a panoramic view of the entire cape - including Rebun island, the cloud-misted Rishiri island, and Russia in the distance! We browsed through the museum at the bottom of the tower to learn about the history of Sakhalin island, then ate lunch before making the long drive back home. It was another short, intense weekend in Wakkanai and, even though we didn't get to climb Rishiri, was a weekend well spent. I'm going to attempt Rishiri again next summer and I'm hoping the weather will cooperate then. I'm determined not to leave Japan until I've scaled Rishiri! As they say, third time's a charm.