My Wonder Years: Off to the Land of the Rising Sun! (Part 8

This will be my final posting on our adventures in Japan. It was our 11th day in Japan, and the mood was relatively somber, knowing we will be heading home soon. Still, there's much to see for the rest of the day, and no time must be wasted. We ventured out to explore Lake Shikotsu - the other prominent feature of the Shikotsu-Toya National Park, which was also formed by the collapse of earth after a volcano eruption.

7 August 2013: Lake Shikotsu & Chitose

Morning drive to Lake Shikotsu.
So Quiet and serene, we could get off the car for photo op right in the middle of the road!

Yup, it was a clear and sunny day!

Clear waters

Views surrounding Lake Shikotsu

There's a short trail where you can hike.

And then it was lunch. There was a whole lot to choose from in this restaurant. We just could not resist!

That's a super large bowl of ramen noodles for Y1800 (RM60)

And this was what we ordered - the actual thing. Ramen in hearty miso broth. Yums!

And this was one of the tastiest Salmon we've had in Japan. The whole fish wasn't big (size similar to our ikan kembung). It was grilled with salt. Perfectly done - soft on the inside, crunchy on its skin

After lunch, we headed back to Chitose town as we were scheduled to catch our flight back to Tokyo from the Chitose Airport. We still had a few hours to kill so we decided to visit some manufacturing factories (there are several factories in Chitose, opened to public). If you are familiar with Japanese snacks, Calbee is one of the biggest and famous for its french fries Jagabee. I was introduced with Jagabee by my Hong Kong colleagues when I was working in HK. It was really good! So of course I had to visit the factory.
But we were unlucky, as the factory was closed for visit when we arrived :(

Plan B - we decided to visit another one of Japan's famous beer company - Kirin.

Founded in 1885, today Kirin is a multi billion corporation that not only holds beverage production but is also in fields such as restaurants, real estate, logistics, health and many more.

We joined the local factory tour - Japanese language available only

At the end of the tour, free tastings were available.

This was our tour guide. She spoke only in Japanese and she had the sweetest and most pleasant presentation. Though we could not understand 99% of what she was saying, we were most impressed with her smiling and gentle expression throughout the 1.5hours experience. Here, she is showing us how to serve a perfect pint. This is indeed service with a smile!!!