Abashiri Archives - Viki Pandit

It was supposed to be a drift ice cruise. Each year ice forms near the mouth of the Amur River in Russia. From there it drifts southward, aided by currents, until it eventually rolls onto Abashiri. The drift ice appears around late January and stays till mid-April. Unfortunately it was gone, almost a month early. What is going on!! Can someone please take a stand and stop this global warming?

It was the day of our cruise on the sea of Okhotsk We had booked the Aurora Ice Breaker cruise months in advance and we were looking forward to a ride among the famous ice drifts (流氷, Ryūhyō) of Abashiri The drift ice cruise starts at 930 am in the morning We got up early and walked down to the harbor The footpaths were covered in snow and extremely slippery at places We walked slowly and carefully As we walked, we talked about the interesting stories we came to know about the Ainu people of Hokkaido at the Museum, the day before On the way, we passed a very peaceful Abashiri river The river had a

We go on an incredible journey into the lives of the Ainu people at the Hokkaido Museum of Northern Peoples. The true origins of the Ainu people remain a big mystery to this day. It is common knowledge that the Japanese language is inspired by Chinese but it has to be stated that the Ainu speak a language that resembles no other language in Asia or its surroundings.

My initial interest in Abashiri was just to experience the Drift Ice phenomenon that occurs every winter along the coast But as I went around northern Japan, my curiosity for the Ainu people grew with every trip My first foray into the world of Ainu took place at Lake Shikaribetsu The Ainu are an indigenous ethnic group of people who live in Hokkaido in Japan as well as in Russian islands of Kuril and Sakhalin My thirst for knowledge about this ancient culture grew stronger when I had another brush with it at Lake Akan where an entire village exists, recreating the ways of the Ainu This village, known as

Abashiri

Cruising the Sea of Okhotsk

Hokkaido Museum of Northern Peoples

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