Strange Shaped Rocks and Blue Sea -Charatsunai Observatory in Muroran-

Charatsunai Observatory (チャラツナイ展望台) is a beauty spot on the outer beach of Etomo Peninsula (絵鞆半島) in the south part of Muroran city and is located between Cape Chikyu (地球岬) and Muroran City Office (室蘭市役所). Charatsunai was namd after Chararuse-Nai (チャラルセ・ナイ) in Ainu language and means "A stream flow like falls". There is still the stream actually. The Charatsunai Observatory is not famous, so few people come. But a view with strange shaped rocks and blue sea is very good. Admission free. The parking lot is free of charge.

The largest strange shaped rock was named Mukaru-iso (ムカル・イソ) that means Masakari-iwa rock (マサカリ岩 * broadaxe rock) in Ainu language in the strange shaped rocks. But, unfortunately, it is not seen from land side. The Masakari-iwa rock has a square hole, and a small boat could go in and out the hole at high tide, so people called Mado-iwa rock (窓岩 * a window rock) in old days. People believed the hole was conected with Mt. Horai (蓬莱山) because of the hole facing east later, the Mado-iwa rock is instilled to be named Horaimon (蓬莱門) now. I do not know that the Mt. Horai is related to something facing east.

Accommodations

Refer to following websites for the accommodations around Muroran.

Muroran Youth Hostel(室蘭ユースホステル)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Hotel Muroran Hills(ホテル室蘭ヒルズ)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Muroran Prince Hotel(室蘭プリンスホテル)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Escale Muroran(エスカル室蘭)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten

Booking.com

A page of Muroran is here