JUN NO BANYA (純の番屋), Rausu (羅臼), Shiretoko Peninsula (知床半島), Hokkaido (北海道), Japan, 2019.06.17

Day 3 (2/2).

Written by Hokkaido playwright Sô Kuramoto (倉本聰), Kita no Kuni Kara 2002 Yuigon (北の国から遺言) is the final chapter of Kita no Kuni Kara (北の国から), a popular television drama series about a father and his daughter who moved to Hokkaido from Tokyo after divorcing his wife. The series and its special episodes were first broadcasted in 1981, and ended in 2002 with Kita no Kuni Kara 2002 Yuigon. Throughout the years, Kita no Kuni Kara and other stories written by Sô Kuramoto have become part of the cultural identity of Hokkaido, while his efforts of promoting Hokkaido have made places like Furano to become well known tourist attractions nowadays.

In Rausu, a seaside timber house that appears in Kita no Kuni Kara 2002 Yuigon has been rebuilt and converted into a lovely seafood restaurant Jun no Banya (純の番屋). Ran by several local ladies, Jun no Banya serves fantastic local seafood. During our two-day stay in Rausu, we had two delightful seafood meals at Jun no Banya that ranked among the top highlights in our Shiretoko experience.

Jun no Banya is a popular seafood restaurant housed in a rebuilt timber house that appeared in Kita no Kuni Kara 2002 Yuigon (北の国から遺言).

The Jun no Banya is managed by several local ladies.

The interior of Jun no Banya is full of colours.

Outside the window, the sea looked calm and relaxing.

We ordered some local seafood after checking out the seafood display in the fridge.

Many decorations in Jun no Banya reveal the restaurant’s strong connection to the fishing industry.

Many Japanese glass fishing floats were handmade with recycled glass from sake bottles.

A cute little lantern.

Dried fish are also used as decorations.

A series of colourful lanterns lined along a timber beam of the house.

A poster in the restaurant reminded us that Shiretoko had been inscribed in UNESCO’s World Heritage sites since 2005.

Uni (sea urchin) and kani (crab) on sushi rice is definitely a signature dish of Shiretoko.

Super fresh sashimi from the area was another delight.

Shrimps from the nearby waters and oysters from Akkeshi Bay (厚岸) let us experience the true sweetness of fresh seafood from clean and cold seawater.

Located beside Rausu Shiretoko Tourist Information Centre, the Rausu Fisherman Store (羅臼(漁協)直営店海鮮工房) offers wonderful souvenirs including the famous Rausu kelp and local salmon made from this remote fisherman village.

A map in the tourist information centre explains the main highlights of Shiretoko and the northeast coast of the peninsula.

At the tourist centre, we tried out the light blue ice-cream inspired by the famous Abashiri (網走) Ryuhyo or drift ice.

Outside the tourist centre, we quietly looked at the sea across the street, hoping the sea would calm down and the sun would come out the next morning.