The ironman of travel Yoshimasa Ikeuchi

（Sakhalin）

Epilogue

To Phantom Viafuto Village

Sakhalin Island　

Prologue

Russian Federation

Happening

Night train to Tymovskoe
(492km, downhill No. 1)

Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk

Night in the station square of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk

Morning in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk station square

Snow country slideshow

Eurasia Hotel where to stay

Morning and night in the station square

Tymovskoye airport

Chitose Saharin Airlines counter

Kotetsu taking a walk in the snow park

Abek standing on a bench in a snowy park

Thunderbird stuffed

Kotetsu touring the hall

A stone monument of Japan that was once placed on the border

Ainu costumes on display in the museum

Taxidermy of bears and the author

Sakhalin State Folk Magazine Museum

Sakhalin Regional Museum in Japan

City wall mosaic

Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk station square

Russia and Sakhalin Island Flag

Only one hour from Sapporo

Saharin Airlines also changed from a propeller plane to Boeing

After the check-in was completed and
I had to wait for an hour for customs clearance,
the flight was canceled today due to
"aircraft improper maintenance".

This trip to Sakhalin Island is Takeshi Kokubo (Tokyo) 38)　
Introduced by an acquaintance in Alaska to a winter trip to Sakhalin Island ...

Why in winter again? I found out why I was tilting my head.

Experienced in polar travel around the world,
15 years of support for polar coverage

Climb to Mt. Everest (8848m)
　
With a strong ally who is also participating in the 41st
Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition Survey Team

His next plan is to run 1100km in Sakhalin in winter

Do you have a body with such an adventurer?

Although he complained about the poor response of the staff,
many passengers agreed and all the conditions for requesting dinner and breakfast were understood,
but the in-flight meal "Sandwich" was distributed for dinner.

We greet the morning in a shabby room.

I also confirmed with my own eyes
that about one-third of the natural gas transportation work
from the north end to the south end of the island was completed.

The natural gas liquefaction business is progressing,
and many major Japanese trading companies are also expanding.

The town is a fur coat fashion show　
High heel boots and fur hat even on snowy roads

Good style and many beautiful people　
If you look at it, you may be caught on a snowy road

The stone monument on the border at that time
is quietly exhibited at the Local History Museum.

Japanese and Koreans are sleeping
in the communal graveyard on the outskirts of the town.

After the underground resources were confirmed,
remarkable development progressed and prices and monetary values rose.

From Moscow Sakhalin 9000km away(1875) was the hellish island
of prisoner exile as the "endmost" island

As a result of the Russo-Japanese War (1905),
the provincial capital, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk,
became Japan's "Toyohara" south of 50 degrees north latitude,
and the Karafuto Agency was located there.

August 1945 The Soviet Union entered the war against Japan,
and South Karafuto was merged with the Soviet Union.

50km from Cape Soya,
the northernmost point of Japan You can see the island with the naked eye on a sunny day

Both Japanese and Russian people have lived
for hundreds of years.

My dad was stationed in Sakhalin during World War II,
so I wanted to visit him once.

Today, it is a Russian territory,
but at that time it was a Japanese island called Sakhalin.

Visited as a commemorative island
for the 50th island of the Earth

Finally arrived at Sakhalin Airport one day late

I wear winter shoes up to -30 degrees with Kotetsu,
so it's not a big deal at -5 degrees.

At first, I managed to persuade my wife who was reluctant
to participate only in Sakhalin's trip and accompany her

Women especially avoid places with bad toilet conditions

The local toilet situation is not so bad,
but when I go out I use an instant toilet by digging snow

Check-in to the hotel "Eurasia" safely in 30 minutes
from the airport

prologue

Tymovskoe station yard

Load your luggage into a jeep in the dark

Nikolai's pet dog

Soviet Jeep "Gazou (1953 type)"

30 minutes stop

Arrive at Tymovskoe station 7:00 am

Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Fruit Shop

Night view

Mr. Kokubo indulging in reading on the sleeper train

Me listening to music on a sleeper train

Take a break on the sleeper train

Sleeper train shelves

Japanese locomotive D-51

Night train ticket

Yuzhno-Sakhalin Station

Night train to Nogliki

Train slideshow

This-everyone knew the next morning one hour before the arrival station,
the conductor will knock each compartment to let you know, so you can rest in peace.

At 1:00 am,
I keep knocking without knowing that
the toilet is locked in the middle of the night.

The conductor doesn't get up easily either.
I couldn't stand it anymore and used the coal bucket
that was on the deck "sorry" arrived on time.

Alcohol is prohibited in the car,
smoking is prohibited, but I drank the alcohol I brought.

"I have to drink to sleep"
This time I'm hungry.
Take out the "apple"
I bought for breakfast from the bag and
in the middle of the night I bite so as not to make a noise.

Departure without a signal to depart.

Only coffee and tea are sold in the car. 　
Treat yourself to Chai (10p, 45 yen) in Russian.

When I was relieved, a sleeper attacked me.
At midnight, the outside air enters and the shoulders get cold.

I wake up saying "It's cold.
I wrapped my winter pants around my shoulders.

The heating inside the car is too strong.
Sweat drips and all the winter clothes are taken off.

My underwear is soaked with sweat and my body is exhausted.

Instead of the romantic journey of the night train,
I finally settle down through the hot and cloudy glass.

A night train that spits coal smoke and scatters snow.
Point the camera and the guard will rest in the palm of your hand.

"why".
It is still a remnant of the Soviet era, or photography is prohibited at airports and stations.

Mr.Kokubo has a private affair,
so please tell me first,
so I will head to the designated car 1.

He gave his passport and ticket to the beautiful conductor,
but pointing in the opposite direction.

It seems that the last car No.12 is wrong.
"That's a big issue".

Hurry to car 12 on a dimly frozen platform.
Push up the two bags with a steep entrance and full power.
The temperature is -10 degrees Celsius.

Sakhalin: Eastern Main Line, Northern Transversal Line,
No.1 20:40 to Nogliki North.

Arrival in Tymovskoe at 07:21am the next morning.

It's been 40 years since I got on a night train.
Kotetsu also feels nostalgic since his junior high school excursion,
and it will be a deep night train trip,
next to the hotel is Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk station,
which is a big help,
but since all the tickets are written in Russian,
I do not know the name,
seats, vehicles, etc, at all.

Even though it's 7:00 am,
it's still in the dark.

A stranger will carry your bag to a place
that looks like a platform.

Mr.Nikolai [58],
a guide and driver.

Heading to Nikolai's house with a Soviet Jeep [1953 model]
picked us up in the falling snow.

492km to Tymovsk by night train

"Do you like the cold?"
Nikolai says, "Please come next summer,"
in a tongue twister. >

To the Phantom Viafuto Village

Railroad history slideshow

Click here to start the art school slide show

Children visiting the State Museum

Even tanks and fighters are on display

Exhibited inside the State Museum of Local History

Natasha and Kokubo

The store also sells pig heads

Buffet style restaurant

Calculate with abacus in a small store

Fried Curly fish

Calculate with abacus in a small store

Salted salmon roe

Curly fish

Piroshki

Fried noodles

Japanese restaurant sashimi

A store that sells lactic acid beverages

New supermarket

In front of Yuzhno Sakhalinsk station

Street vendor in front of the station

Truck vegetable shop

Sell piroshki in the open air

Nanny ski

Nanny ski I named

Church

Kotetsu seeing graffiti

Russian Orthodox Church in Yuzhno-Sakhalin

This town was named "Toyohara" in the Japanese era
and is modeled after Sapporo.
The streets are tidy from east to west.

If I was thinking "I saw a town somewhere",
it would be Sapporo.

Japanese-era buildings It became a state museum of local history
and tells the story of the time.

Her husband, Sergei (52), is Russian.
He was also a collector of Japanese tableware during the Sakhalin era
and was an "archaeologist during the Zoku-Jomon era."
I had dinner with his eldest daughter,
Natasha, at a Japanese restaurant in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.

The smart "Natasha" (27)
dreams of studying in Japan.

If she thinks that Japanese blood is flowing,
she feels a familiarity that cannot be thought of as another person.

Mr.Svater was born in Sakhalin and raised in Sakhalin.

Although her parents are Japanese, she doesn't understand Japanese at all.
Raised with 10 siblings, he returned to Hakodate once every two years.

To Wakkanai, Sapporo, Tokyo once every two years.

Japanese people living in Sakhalin are also returning home.

The rice cooker that we are proud of brought back from Japan, the rice is from Korea.
The taste is a little core.

I am very happy to be interested in Japanese customs
when I teach them how to wash them.

The fish in winter is "Curly fish".

It's a big spelt and contains fish eggs.

I got the fried food at the house of Mr."Sbeta" (47)
in Tymovskoe The smell of cucumber is faint.
The body is well oiled and delicious.

Besides, it also contains plenty of fish eggs.

Seasonal food is delicious no matter where you go.

Mr.Wajima (Aomori), who works for a Japanese trading company in Sakhalin,
has lived in Sakhalin for two and a half years.

Enjoy the cold winter with "Japanese food" and "vodka"
Fishing is popular in the summer,
and the phantom salmon "Ito" is a big catch.

Many Russians also like fishing.

All-you-can-eat cheap and delicious salmon roe in September.

After the season, it will be salted and the price will jump.

I didn't know that "Ikura" was Russian.

The town is full of cars and Japanese cars are also very popular.

The only leg of the citizen is a small shared bus.

Long lines line up randomly wherever you go.

Street vendors will also be transformed
into new supermarkets and organized.

Russians lament that rising prices threaten their lives.

The capital of Sakhalin, which is being developed at a rapid pace.

Natural gas liquefaction development will soon be realized.

The number of Japanese residents exceeds 100,
and major trading companies and banks are prominently expanding.

There are four Japanese restaurants,
and Russian waitresses are dressed in unfamiliar kimonos.

The taste is ok but the price is high.
A bowl of ramen costs 1200 yen.

What impressed me especially was the stone monument on the Soviet-Japanese border,
which was placed at 50 degrees north latitude and is now sleeping in the museum.

Many Ainu and Russian minority household items are on display.

For me, who lived in the era before and after the end of the war,
my complicated feelings are overwhelming.

Click to slide show

Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk
Japanese name (Toyohara)

Road mural

Road mural

Japanese cemetery

Common graveyard

Extended stay at Hotel Eurasia

Pallet using a candy container

Parent-child painting class in the museum

In front of the museum

Sakhalin Museum of Art using Hokkaido Takushoku Bank Toyohara Branch

A little early Christmas tree

People waiting for the bus in the wonderful blue sky

Convenience store in front of the station

There are few cars on Sunday.

If you look into the museum, you will find a painting class for parents and children.
A landscape not seen in Japan.

I was surprised to see North Korean works of art
on display in a room on the second floor.

There is even a Buddhist altar in the relics of the Japanese era.

I learned that there was a Japanese grave
in a communal graveyard on the outskirts of the town,
so I rushed to visit the grave.

Thanks to Mr.Kokubo, who is fluent in Russian,
I was able to send the hotel rescheduling,
but I do not know the result.

I also asked a friend of mine who lived in Sapporo
to change domestic flights from Sapporo.

All I have to do is sleep and wait.

Thank you for your friends.
Thanks to the delay of one day,
I was blessed with good weather with a blue sky the next day.

After that, I just pray for tomorrow's flight as scheduled.
I don't feel like unpacking my luggage.

In the Internet age, it has become easier
to book hotels around the world,
but Sakhalin is still developing.

Internet is not available except in some hotels.

The only way is to go to the post office
and ask the staff for an email.

I will call Japan to change the schedule from tomorrow,
but the phone will not connect easily.

This is the first time that the schedule has been changed
for both round trips during the five-year Island tour.

Private trips in Russia still don't go as expected.

It took several hours to arrange all the rescheduling from the next day.

The telephone bell rings, which gives me an ominous premonition
when I am ready to go home and relax.

"The plane is canceled" is contacted.

Local Japanese lament that delays and cancellations
are noticeable as soon as they change
from propeller planes to Boeing 737s.

I felt refreshed as if I was visiting my father's grave,
and enjoyed my last lunch at a Japanese restaurant.

The stalls of piroshki and steamed bread were delicious,
but Japanese food is the most delicious.

Happening

Red-crowned crane slide show

Kushiro Red-crowned Crane

Icicles hang

Tymovskoe station

The fish I caught is a side dish tonight

Me who makes a hole in the river and fishes

Children of the ethnic minority "Nivkh”

Colorful coats line up in the changing room

In the classroom

21 students

Picture of women's toilet

Men's toilet picture

Pictures drawn by children

Churumbede Village

King salmon has the best fat ride

Borscht

me

Reiji Ramanabuna

Kotetsu

Kotetsu's one word

I was impressed by the snowy scenery like wearing a cotton hat in white.

The cold I expected was not so much thanks to the winter clothes and shoes, and I enjoyed a walk on the snowy road at -20 ℃.
Everything on the trip to Sakhalin was my first experience.

　 Thank you.

From November 24th to December 5th, 2007,　　　　Yoshimasa Ikeuchi, a traveling ironman

Japanese people who work for a trading company say
that this Island is related to interests,
and even a single permit depends on "connection and money".

There is something very similar in every country.

Thanks to Mr.Kokubo,
I was able to meet many Russians on the Island tour,
which has different selfishness.

As soon as I arrived at Chitose Airport safely,
my physical strength was weakened.

An angler is holding a fish
with his bare hands by making a hole in the frozen river.

You can catch a lot of fish.

People are generously telling us to bring the fish home.
Everyone is like an acquaintance.

The people of Sakhalin enjoy their lives
while fighting against the frigid nature.

Ethnic minorities live while helping each other,
but depopulation is progressing.

It's nice to go out with Russians who look blunt.

Speaking of Islands, I imagine "Southern Islands",
but frigid Islands are likely to become a habit.

When walking on a snowy road at -20℃ to 30℃,
it becomes commonplace.

The white powdery snow seems to cover
the entire town with a cotton hat,
and its beauty makes you forget about the cold.

The surface of the snow receives light and shines brilliantly.

Sakhalin in the Japanese era is a long time ago.
The map of Sakhalin is one map with the four northern Islands.

The Kuril Islands are called the Krill Islands,
but there is a weekly flight between Kunashiri Island and Sakhalin.

A route from Sakhalin to the four northern Islands is possible,
but the issue of returning Japan and Russia involves political issues.

I was screaming to visit the adventures
of the four northern Islands in the summer.

The number of elementary school students in the village is 21,
and they wear colorful hats and stylish jackets.

Most of the children of the ethnic minority "Nibihi" are Shy.

All the children politely "stand up"
and greet us when they enter the classroom at any school.

I ask them to be the subject in their usual undecorated form.

Home-cooked hospitality is "borscht"
(chicken and cabbage, onions, red turnips)
Even when it gets cold,
the taste is still remembered by the tongue.

The light taste that doesn't seem to be Russian food is perfect for my taste.

Kotetsu also ate everything while saying it was delicious.

Smoked salmon as a souvenir has a too strong odor,
so I refrained from doing so.

"What is the population of the village?"
"I don't know."
Immediately call the village reference room
and the village office responds with "285 people".

In this village, people are doing some work while they are fine.

Russians win the way to enjoy life.
Each family welcomes sudden visitors in a favorable way.

It is said that there are no tourists from Japan to this village,
but the smiles of children are dazzling in the world of silver.

I feel relieved to be an on-board person one hour later.
Sakhalin's journey where everything is done for the first time.

Jeep on a snowy road to visit an ethnic minority village
and have a meal at an acquaintance's house.

Reiji Ramanabuna (65) in the village of Churumbede
is a neat and tidy room,
but toilets and showers must use school facilities.

The international flight at Sakhalin Airport is a small building next to the domestic flight.
"Moscow-Sakhalin" flies twice a day,
but "Sapporo-Sakhalin" flies once a week.
　
From a propeller plane to a Boeing 737
There have been many delays and cancellations.
It flies around "Seoul-Sapporo-Sakhalin-Hakodate"
with just one aircraft.

The other aircraft is under repair, and the recovery will be in mid-December.
Aircraft accidents are common in Russia and it is a noisy story.

　 Since I came to Hokkaido, I took a short detour and enjoyed shooting the red-crowned crane in Kushiro.

At 6 am, aim for a shutter chance at the moment
when the sun comes out and the sky shines orange and the breath of the crane looks like white fog.

I can't take this picture easily.

It's warmer than Sakhalin by -8 degrees Celsius, but it's hard to wait for the cranes to arrive.

However, my chest swells with the expectation that it is still or not.

She is always beautiful when she is fascinated by her black and white appearance.

"What color is the butt of a red-crowned crane?"
"Of course, black"
"No" "It was white."
The tips of the wings are black and the buttocks are white.

Epilogue