Know the Points 2: Erimo

Next up, the second goal on our Four Points Tour of Hokkaido:

Distance from Sapporo: 214km

Distance from previous Point (Matsumae): 509km

When Heather and I ran into a friend and fellow ALT from the Erimo area in sweaty, sweaty Aomori during the Nebuta festival, he was slowly dissolving into a puddle inside his black jeans and black T-Shirt. We asked him if he hadn't lost it, going out in such an outfit when those of us in shorts and linen shirts were already baking in the Aomori heat. He explained that he couldn't help it, that he'd spent the last year out near Erimo, and as the temperature never rose above 20 Celsius and the clouds and fog seldom lifted, he had no use for summer wear.

Stories like that made me falter momentarily, wondering if Erimo would be worth hitting on the four points tour. Consulting Wikipedia on the subject, it had but the following to say about Cape Erimo:

Hot and cold fronts meet nearby of the cape thus creating a dense mist which covers the cape for more than 100 days a year. Wind blows here with the speed of 10 m/s for almost 300 days a year. Every year more than 400,000 tourists visit Cape Erimo.

I mean, with piss-poor weather like that, what did those 400,000 tourists see in the the place, and what was the point of making our way all the way down to that southernly arrowhead of land tapering out into the Pacific.

Then Mark mentioned that he'd read about the famous cliffsides of Erimo, and how among all those mists you could peer down from those cliffs upon herds of seals seeking refuge on the rocks. He spoke of winds so tangible in their ever-presence that the people of Erimo had erected museums to venerate the breezes, to archive their long-past blowings.

And all of a sudden it started sounding like it might be the best destination on our trip.

Distance to next Point (Shiretoko): 358km