The Morning Asahikawa Became an Isolated Island | A Journey to Cape Soya with the Hokkaido & East Japan Pass #08 (December 2025)

I woke up at 5:00 AM, and the first thing I checked was the train operation status.
The screen was filled with notices that the Soya Main Line would be suspended at least until after noon.

My child was also checking the operation status on their smartphone and said,
'Local trains are scheduled to be suspended, but there's no announcement for limited express trains, so maybe we can still ride those...'they said.

'Since the reason for the suspension is heavy snow, isn't it unlikely that only the limited express trains would be running?
It's probably just not announced on the official website yet, and they are likely suspended too.'

I replied, but I decided to head to Asahikawa Station, pinning my hopes on a glimmer of possibility.

⛄ When I arrived at the station, it was...

When I left the hotel around 5:30 AM, it was before sunrise, so it was still nighttime all around.

Usually, it's about a 5-minute walk, but the sidewalk was completely covered in fresh snow, and every time I took a step, my feet would sink in with a 'thud,' and my shoes gradually started to get cold.

As I got closer to the station, the sidewalk was packed down with snow, but then it became slippery, so I proceeded carefully, step by step.

I finally reached Asahikawa Station and asked a station attendant, who said,
'All trains departing from Asahikawa Station are suspended for the morning.'they said.

When I told them I wanted to go to Wakkanai, they replied,
'If you want to go to Wakkanai, you might have no choice but to take the limited express 'Sarobetsu No. 3' that departs at night.'
was the answer.

After thanking the station attendant, I left the ticket gate and walked around the station premises for a while.

All over the station, there were overlapping voices of people who had been out drinking for a year-end party and found the trains weren't running when they tried to go home, or people who had come for business but couldn't return to Sapporo.

Asahikawa had become an isolated island on land.

⛄ Back at the hotel...

On the way back from the station to the hotel, snowplows were moving everywhere.
When I asked the hotel staff, they told me that snow had piled up to knee height overnight, and they had been clearing it since early morning.

I decided to stay at the hotel until checkout.
In the meantime, I'll run the coin laundry.

While waiting for the laundry to finish, I was drinking free coffee, but perhaps because I had only slept for five hours, my eyelids were gradually getting heavy.

A year ago in July, it was heavy rain, and this time it's heavy snow.
Once again, I am being held back by the weather.
Is it bad luck, or is that just the kind of trip this is?

Even so, this time I have built some flexibility into my schedule for Wakkanai and Cape Soya.
Telling myself that things would work out, I listened to the sound of the washing machine spinning.

⛄Back in the room...

When I finished the laundry and returned to the room, my child was using both a smartphone and a tablet to do something.

And, having found something, they started talking to me.
They seemed a little excited.

(To be continued)