Life on the island is not easy. The current catch was konbu (seaweed), which it seemed that virtually the entire island was spreading out on large rocky expanses maintained in front of their houses for that purpose. (Incidentally, the straw mats you saw on Day 3 are apparently for spreading konbu on.) Even on this beautiful day, the chilly breeze was proof of how cold this place gets in the winter time. Therefore, people have to spend the winter living off what they earn in the summer. A hard life... particularly for those living on the western coast. At the inn that night, I was able to confirm what I'd read in a guidebook: the residents of this area (which has no roads) really do leave their homes in the winter, moving to more inhabited areas of Rebun or the mainland, to escape harsh winter conditions that include blizzards so fierce that visibility is limited to 1 - 3 meters.

After cycling the length of Rebun back to the ferry port and taking a short ferry hop, I found myself on Hokkaido's "other" northernmost island, Risshiri. The most striking thing about Risshiri is how different it is from Rebun - much more similar to the mainland and other parts of Japan, in terms of vegetation and practically everything else. Although konbu gathering seems to be one of the main occupations here as well, there is a great deal of new housing construction and other signs of prosperity than you don't see anywhere on Rebun. This photo was taken from a bikepath that goes a third of the way around the island; at least one cycling guide said the maximum difference in elevation on any of the roads or bikepaths was only 30 meters, a claim flatly denied by this photo.