Our last stage took us from Lake Akan to Kushiro. But before the start of the last trip we had our obligatory breakfast at a convenience store. This time it was at a Lawson and as always it included a variety of Onigiri, sweets and juice. We drove almost the entire distance on a straight road heading south.

Akan International Crane Center

Halfway to Kushiro we stopped at the Akan International Crane Center. Before visiting the center we needed some lunch of course. We found a really nice restaurant just on the other side of the road. After some delicious rice, sashimi and miso soup we were ready to explore the fantastic world of the cranes. You can walk through an expedition in the center, which explains the different stages in the life of a crane. Also the natural habitat of cranes and what they normally eat it described and shown. In addition, injured cranes are taken and cared for in the center. Furthermore, behind the center a big meadow for the feeding of the cranes could be seen. To enjoy this to the most, the center provides a lot of binoculars that can be used for bird watching.

Kushiro

Finally, we arrived at our destination, a little port city called Kushiro. Because we had to prepare for our train journey back to Sapporo we decided to sleep in a hotel. We had a separate parking lot for our bicycles observed by a security person 24 h. In Kushiro we relaxed for the next days and enjoyed this nice city. We did a trip with one of the local sight seeing trains to Touro (through the wetlands of Kushiro-shitsugen National Park). Additionally, we got the chance to visit a japanese marine ship in the port and checked out the city by night.

Route

Download file: japan2019-stage8.gpx

The complete tour is here.
This post arose from various tweets on twitter.