I’m driving along the Shakotan Peninsula today, another cold and blustery day.

15 minutes drive from Iwanai, perched on the coast, the Tomari Nuclear Power Station, run by Hokkaido Electric, has attracted its share of unwelcome attention during Japan’s history as a nuclear-powered nation. The plant’s first two reactors, Tomari 1 and 2, went online in 1989, just three years after the Chernobyl disaster sparked a widespread antinuclear movement throughout Japan. A quarter of a century later, the plant’s third reactor was the first in Japan to resume commercial operations after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was crippled in the earthquake and tsunami of 2011.

The village of Tomari is tucked into a cove facing the blustery Sea of Japan and surrounded by dark, snow-dusted cliffs. It’s home to fewer than 2,000 people these days. In the older parts of the village, small boxy homes bunch up together, dried fish hanging from their weathered wooden eaves. Children and seniors there get free health care courtesy of money from the plant, and every household gets a free computer and annual packets of free tickets to the local hot springs. 95% of the town’s budget comes from the support money from the government and Hokkaido Electric. Tomari is not subject to the economic doom that so many other small, shrinking towns in Hokkaido are facing.

Cape Kamui (‘divine being’ in Ainu mythology) is an 800m walk along Charenka’s path, with magnificent views of the Sea of Japan. See next two pics below…glorious. NOT today, the wind was blowing so strongly I could barely open the car door and it slammed shut again. Cold and miserable…..drove on.

Spirits improved with the sun shining over Otaru as I drove in.

Otaru has a rich history, the herring ‘gold rush’ in the 1850’s transforming the traditional Ainu community. Warehouses were built to store the fish; next came the banks; and the railroad was built that still links the city to Sapporo today. Found in abundance in the seas near Otaru, this little fish was ground up and used as fertiliser for cotton and indigo fields, only 10% being sold for consumption. The role that herring fertiliser played in the modernisation of Japan’s primary industries cannot be understated. However as a result of over fishing, the stock depleted and the industry came to a grinding halt by the late 1950’s. Today, tourism dominates. Charming architecture, seafood restaurants, and the trademark canal built in 1923.