Travel day to Tomakomai

Today our destination is even further north. A small town called Tomakomai on Hokaido island.

This time the hotel bus was upgraded and we travelled in a bit more luxury to Morioka train station.

The Shinkansen speed through the Seikan tunnel to Hokadate. This tunnel is with 53,85 km the longest under water tunnel by overall length and at its deepest point 240m beneath the sea level / 100m beneath the sea bed. Planing for this tunnel started as early as 1946. But only in 1971 was the decision made to actually build the tunnel. It was finally opened on the 13th of March 1988 having cost 1.1 trillion Yen.
From there a local express train (seat reservations mandatory) brought us to Tomakomai. The route followed the coast line a lot of the way. So had I been sitting on the other side I would have had an even better view on the little harbours along the bay.

Tomakomai seems to have experienced some commercial decline.  And having a huge empty building right in front of the railway station is somehow not to inviting either. Same with the old bus stations beneath the car park. Somehow I think this would be a good movie set.

The hotel is only 5 minutes away from the exit and after check-in I made my way to the local shrine. The 50 minutes by foot through residential areas was interesting to me. The shrine area is huge, but part of the size is taken up by the car park.

On my way back I found the sign with the official evacuation zones and their height above the sea bed. How I should make it to the shelters on foot if the alarm sounds I have no idea.
But it would probably work.

The old man working on the shrubs next to the railroad tracks was still at work. For me the next stop was a kombini and some dinner.