Lake Toya Winter Drive Hokkaido Japan – Return to Lake Toya

Lake Toya Winter Drive Hokkaido Japan – Return to Lake Toya

Today we’re driving around beautiful Lake Toya 
in Hokkaido, Japan. Lake Toya is special. It  was created by multiple volcanic eruptions. 
One huge eruption, 110,000 years ago created a caldera which filled to become the lake. More 
eruptions, about 50,000 years ago, created the islands in the middle. . And as you’ll see later 
on, this area is still volcanically active We’ll be driving around what I think is the most 
interesting part of the lake. The plan is to start  near Sobetsu Onsen, on the east side of the lake, and drive around, to the gorgeous Ukimedo Park, stopping where we can, to take photos. This is my third trip here – always in winter. Our first stop is one of the signposted 
eight famous views of Lake Toya. Lets see what we can find … There’s a boat ramp here, and one 
of the things that I would like to do today is get at least a handful of 
minimalist photos, and having some snow around is is a gift because it creates 
all that negative space in your photos. Now sometimes you come to a place 
looking for a certain thing, but then find something completely 
unexpected, and that’s what’s happened here. I’m always in search of minimalism, 
and I think I’ve found a bit. This is the parking area on the east side of what is the most built up area of 
the lake – Toyako Onsen town. Again I’m looking for more minimalist photos 
and the fog as well as the snow will help. Its started to snow. Its beautiful. Just beautiful. If it keeps on snowing I’ll be very 
happy. Of course many things are closed for 
the winter but not the the sightseeing  cruise. Although you would have to be an 
optimist going out in this fog. But what’s captured my eye are these swan boats in 
the foreground. They’re packed away for the winter as if they’re hibernating. I think there’s a photo 
here. But perhaps this one needs some colour. What do you think? There’s one other thing that we wanted to do 
before stopping for lunch. Mount Usu is a nearby  active volcano which erupts every 20 to 30 years. Most recently it erupted in the year 2000. The hot mud flows from that eruption and the previous one 
in 1977 destroyed or damaged an entire section of  the town making the buildings uninhabitable. 
They’ve been left there as a memorial. There is a path where you can actually walk 
right up to the buildings but the question  is can you do it in the middle of winter? Well, this is about as close as you can get  without hiking through some deep snow so it’s a matter of getting whatever photos I can from here. Its about 1:30 and we’re starving. We’re heard about an excellent soup curry 
restaurant called Mog Mog. Soup curry is one of the specialties of Hokkaido so we’ve been really looking forward to trying it here. Unfortunately we’ve left it too late in the day. That is very disappointing… but at least there  is a Seicomart convenience store nearby and that saved the day. We got wedges made with Hokkaido potatoes spicy Zangi fried chicken and fluffy warm onigiri that’s handmade on the premises. There’s a great scenic road that 
hugs the coast, which I recommend. Unfortunately, today I missed the turn off 
and ended up going up this road without  anywhere to make a safe u turn. Never mind. Perhaps we can drive back along  the coast. The road took us up to the top 
of the hill and eventually to this place. This is the Shakotsu Toya National 
Park Silo Observatory and there are more people here than we’ve seen 
all day. There’s a nice view from up here and it looks like a good place 
to stop for snacks and souvenirs. Let’s head back down to the lake We’ve come to one of the highlights of the drive – Ukimedo Park another one of the eight famous views of lake Toya. It has this pretty 
two-story pagoda built to worship Prince Shotoku Taishi. You can tell by all the footprints there 
hasn’t been much snow falling here today. The weather is gorgeous at the moment but you’ve probably realised that for me, there is no bad weather for photos. What a spectacular location! And already it’s time to head back. We’ll be driving back along the lake side road which is a really pretty drive. But in terms of photography I think I’m done for the day. Thanks for watching and if you enjoyed the drive, please consider leaving a comment 
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In this video I return to the winter beauty of Lake Toya in Hokkaido, Japan. I’ll be driving around what I think is the most interesting part of lake Toya’s coastline, stopping wherever I can to take photos. This is my third winter trip to Lake Toya and this would rate as one of the best winter drives I’ve ever done.

My name is Nick Pitsas and I am a video producer and photographer. I’ve been traveling to Japan since 2009, including many trips in winter, so if you have any questions about travel and photography in Japan, I’m happy to try to answer them. I look forward to your comments and questions. More videos are coming so if you’d like to see them, please click the notifications button so that you’ll know when new videos are uploaded.

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