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This Akan Nature Center business card and Lake Akan map will come in handy should you want to sign up for guided tours.

The next morning, we arrived at Akan Nature Center all geared up in Teva sandals and caps. Ryo, the eldest son, was assigned as our guide. He drove us to a small clearing where the canoes were stowed.

Before long, we were drifting in the placid lake.

Ryo would bring us along a circuit covering the western end of the lake. This part of Lake Akan is not traversed by ferries and is ringed with virgin woodlands best suited for observing wildlife.

Lake Akan is actually a caldera lake formed by the collapse of land following a volcanic eruption. It has a circumference of 26km and is 44.8m deep at its deepest. Seaweeds thrive in the shallow waters along the shore and form safe havens for many fishes.

The water was clear to about 2-3 feet’s depth and cute Marimo seaweeds could be seen floating around. Ryo told us that the entire lake actually froze over in the winter months. That’s when ice-boating and other winter-sport enthusiasts flock to Lake Akan.

As we rowed, Ryo pointed out different species of birds to us. Occasionally, he’d flip through the thick dictionary he brought along when he didn’t know the English names for the creatures. According to him, Japanese northern fox sometimes sneaked right into the locals’ houses looking for food. Bears were sometimes spotted in the mountains too.

Koied in the act

Once, we heard some splashes and couldn’t locate their source. We lifted our paddles out of the water gingerly and drifted noiselessly along.

3 pairs of eyes scanned the water.

To our surprise, a large koi suddenly surfaced between our canoes with a loud splash. Before we could even shout in joy, it plunged back into the depths of the lake. My wife and i looked at each other. We couldn’t believe what we just saw – the koi had actually caught something, most likely a low-flying dragonfly.

“You are very lucky!!” Ryo grinned.

The scenery across Lake Akan was framed by several mountains of which Mt. O-Akan (1370.5m) was the most majestic. I had left my clunky Canon S3 IS in the hotel because the water-proof bag provided was only big enough for compact cameras.

Truth be told i didn’t relish having a camera dangling around my neck in the canoe. After all, it’s about the experience right?

That was a big mistake. Luckily my wife brought her phone along and we were able to record some of the most beautiful sceneries of our Hokkaido trip.

Read on for a map of Lake Akan as well as contact information for Akan Nature Center…

“Here. Try this!”

Ryo pushed a shiny metallic flask into my hands.

I tipped the flask and filled my cup with a clear, brownish liquid. I caught the smell of mushrooms and took a sip.

Ryo, spotting a boyish stubble, grinned from ear to ear.

“You can’t buy this from shops!”

My young Japanese guide had given me mushroom tea freshly brewed by his mum this morning. We had just pulled our canoes out of the cold waters of Lake Akan. I helped to lay the canoes on the reeds while Ryo grabbed a mat from the depths of his canoe. Within seconds, we had a small picnic going, complete with crackers and mushroom tea.

Around us, birds whistled and reeds crackled and rustled with the movement of unseen creatures.

How Ryo stowed everything in his canoe was beyond us. The coup de grace was a 5-inch thick Japanese-English dictionary that he pulled out of his pocket from time-to-time. 2 hours on the lake with our shy and knowledgeable guide had transformed our impressions of Akanko-Onsen (Hot Spring) – the main attraction along Lake Akan.

Akanko-Onsen – packaged tour hell?

Our first impression of Akanko-Onsen was not good. We had driven 3 hours from Sounkyo Gorgo when the small village emerged from the deciduous trees. Our perch for the next 3 days was Hotel Gozensui located along the main street called Kouun-no-mori Shopping Place. This narrow, 2-way street was lined with hotels on one side and tacky sourvenir shops on the other. I had the sinking feeling that this is going to be our first packaged tour hell in Hokkaido.

Akan Nature Center to the rescue

Most tourists probably take the ferry tours and plow across the lake. As usual my wife and i wanted to do something different. So we drove to Akan Nature Center looking to sign up for their guided canoe tours.

A middle-aged lady, Ryo’s mum as it turned out, greeted us. She seemed surprised to see us. They probably don’t get many foreign, independent travellers here. Her husband told us in halting English that there’re no more tours today. We are to turn up tomorrow at 9am sharp. Great!!

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