Noboribetsu - Interesting Characters Around Town

Since I did a post on Otaru's interesting character around town, I thought I'll do a similar one of Noboribetsu. So let's start with little Jizo in the snow. I have mentioned it before in the hiking in the snow post. I love Jizo. I just think it's so thoughtful to have a guardian taking care of you while you walk. It's like you are never alone, so you don't have to be afraid. 

But before we get carried away here, Noboribetsu is famously known as Hell Valley! So Demons are them main attraction here. You can see the very first and visible one as you enter the Noboribetsu area, right at the highway, a super large red demon points you towards the down and welcomes you into Hell Valley! Which reminds me, after all the post on Noboribetsu, I've totally forgotten to blog about the main attraction itself - Hell Valley! Face palm. Stay tune!

 

But let us get the demon out of the way first. So in order of appearance, and apart from the night demons I have mentioned in my previous night post, above is the blue demon and its (I assume) kid. See, demons are also family oriented! We came across them after our natural hot spring footpath. As we walk back to town via a not-so-crowded highway, there are carparks and little shrines along the way. The blue giants were found at one of the carpark. For comparison, you can see a small car parked at the left side of the photo. That's how huge these giants are. 

We also came across a shrine that has two demons guarding it. So above is the green demon.

And here is the red/orange demon. I guess maybe in their folklore, all these demons actually live in the Hell Valley, and this was their home before humans inhabitate it. Now they have become popular tourist attraction and souvenirs to tourist instead. Still, it's nice to see them around.