{"id":107574,"date":"2025-01-28T21:49:06","date_gmt":"2025-01-28T12:49:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/voyapon.com\/?p=107574"},"modified":"2025-02-09T10:56:39","modified_gmt":"2025-02-09T01:56:39","slug":"kitami-hokkaido-winter-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/voyapon.com\/kitami-hokkaido-winter-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Eastern Hokkaido on a Winter’s Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The hum of an engine and swirl of water followed by ice breaking surprises the morning silence. The fisherman clad in purple, stands in a white boat full of harvested scallops. He revs the engine churning the brackish port water. The boat rises onto the ice which now covers Lake Saroma and, for a moment, it glides on its surface before it breaks into slabs and disappears under the waves<\/strong>. He reverses, a meter or so, and fires the engine again breaking the slab. Finally positioned, he cuts the engine and lumbers portside. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Solitude of Morning <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The morning is quiet again but only for a moment, he fiddles with a large metal wire where nets dangle. The fisherman struggles for a sheet of ice the size and girth of a fridge door. Unaware of my presence atop the bridge, he curses in an abstract fisherman\u2019s brogue in battle with the heavy ice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A curious eagle circles above, large and kingly, its brown head revolves mechanically scanning for prey. Soon it loses interest and flies towards open waters. <\/strong>I walk down the bridge and get back in my car in pursuit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n