RtG Japan Daily Dispatch - day00 - Flipbook - Page 11
18 September to
16 October 2025
Day 5
Shiretoko to Obihiro (348km)
23 September 2025
Photos: gerardbrown.co.uk
With a post rest day spring in our step, this morning we saddled up and
pulled out of Utoro, making for a Passage Control sitting at 740m on the
Shiretoko Pass, considered one of Japan’s most scenic roads.
The pass links the Sea of Okhotsk to the Pacific Ocean, the climb was spectacular enough,
but the descent treated us to some impressive views of the Kuril Islands over the short
Nemuro Strait. This disputed chain has been under Russian control since 1945, although
Japan claims the four southernmost islands as its territory.
Once we’d closed this knotty geopolitical chapter and dropped to the Pacific highway,
we turned south and noted down some changes to today’s schedule forced upon us by the
recent bad weather. As well as some re-routing, expertly dealt with by the 48-hour car crew,
both of the afternoon’s Regularities had to be cancelled.
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