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In late April, at the turn of Hokkaido spring, Cary and I hopped on the train and rode out to the old Russian port of Otaru. About 45 minutes from Sapporo, Otaru is a narrow strip of European city wedged between the mountains and the sea. Known for glass-blowing and Japan’s best bouillabaisse, Otaru seems oddly out of place, yet it was entirely fitting as the departure point from which we would attempt to ski Rishiri-fuji, the icy wedding cake that towers six thousand feet out of the Japan Sea at the very end of the Japanese world. We picked up lunch boxes of sushi, several cans of beer, and hunkered down on the lower deck at sundown for the overnight ferry ride to Rishiri Island. The boat was not very crowded, since the tourist season on Rishiri doesn’t get in to full swing until July, when it’s blanketed in fragrant wildflowers. April can still be pretty cold.

Photo of Rishiri Island from NTT telephone card