Journey to the North : Day 2

February 9, 2009

Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

Asahiyama Zoo, Asahigawa, Hokkaido, Japan

Our first full day in the Nörth begins with an early morning breakfast in the underground sector of the accommodations. The hotel has provided us with the necessities: a spread of strange, eastern foods – most of it pickled or from the sea. Lauren (pictured with her explorer game face) partakes, her hair shining with the gleam of the Orient. At last I spot some Western Delicacies: eggs, toast and instant coffee. We snack on provisions while waiting for Kristin and Jian-wen to find us in the basement corridor.

Kristin and Jian-wen are prepared and ready to face the early morning chills of Sapporo. We leave the lodge and trek northwards towards the transportation vessel. Our tickets are purchased and we have brought everything we need to make the three hour journey to Asahiyama Animal Park. Cameras in hand, we board the highway vessel. Joining us on this voyage are some young, native women. They apply copious amounts of make-up (no doubt to blend in with their snowy environment) and giggle, as though they are small children. Lauren and I posit that this is in order to attract the men of the Japans. The island gentlemen must find this high-pitched noise instinctively alluring, and can hear the frequency from a long ways off. Sure enough, a male and his female companion join the ranks. He wears sunglasses inside the bus – perhaps it is a genetic eye condition, or perhaps he looked into an eclipse, thinking it was Amaterasu calling to him from the heavens. His hair is slicked back with seal blubber, and he is growing a weak beard. It seems queer to me that in such bitterly cold climates, the indigenous men seem incapable of growing thick beards or facial hair of any kind. Though, perhaps their skin is tougher than my own. The engine starts revving and our vessel gets on its way.

Lauren sleeps during most of the journey while Jian-wen attends to Kristin’s blistering headache. Perhaps she ate too many pickled sea creatures and is feeling the unfortunate consequences. The ride is long. I stare out the large, glass windows as the mountains and tall trees fly by. Memories unexpectedly emerge from my mind… playing in the snow as a child in Northern Virginia… trudging through the tundra of Western New York Territory… my first Oshõgatsu (Japanese New Years) atop the shrine of Yasaka Village (covered in snow, of course). It feels like a dream to be out in the middle of such grand nothingness.

We arrive at a rest stop and see a great crowd of visitors from every imaginable village in the Japans. They are in a frenzy; shopping, eating area delicacies (most of it iced cream, naturally), and taking daguerreotypes of snow sculptures outside. Wee ones play and frolic on the man-made sliding ground and elderly women simply take in the view and have their photos taken from inside a Japanese-made igloo.

Our first sighting of a snowbeast!

Another hour or so on the steel vessel and we find ourselves at last at the entrance of the expansive Asahiyama Animal Park. At last the opportunity to see indigenous beasts in their natural environments! Sadly for our group, the park is extremely crowded with more natives. Seems curious that they should be so eager to see their own wildlife. Though I suppose if I ever saw a Nörth American moose, elk or raccoon I would be equally delighted.

We decide to find provisions and hike up the mountainside to the very peak. The view is breathtaking – snowcapped, vast mountain ranges for all the eye can see. We find shelter and food inside one of the huts atop the mountain. Other visitors seem to have the same idea, but our timing is key and we find seating and nourishment in the form of hotdog, soup and rice.

After eating, we press through the building crowds and gallivant off to see the wildlife. Such variety of fauna, indeed! No explorer could have imagined how many indigenous species call Hokkaido their home. Chimpanzees, Hippopotamus, Rhinoceros, Wolves, Polar Bears, Seals, Lions, Tiger and even Giraffe! Whereas in my African travels I have many a time seen lions eat giraffe and giraffe eat leaves from tall trees, in the Nörth, the giraffe eat the very snow they live in! The lion simply paces around his paddock, growling at those who dare to peer inside. The hippos and rhinos seem a tad less active than those in my previous studies. They simply lie down atop the frozen wasteland. Perhaps their lack of hair prevents them from activity. Surely their natural fat stores keep them warm, however. I do not worry. On a side note, I instruct Lauren on the correct way to identify an ostrich. Emu, indeed!

After a strenuous three hours, we encounter something most curious indeed. A parade of small penguins makes its way through the crowds, ever so slowly. Many people take photographs (our troupe included, surely) and in a moment the penguins are gone. We are left with our growing frostbite and seek out another native delicacy – warm meron pan (bread that tastes of melon). Tea and meron pan in hand, we board our vessel once more and instantly fall asleep for the three hour journey back to our lodge.

And what do you suppose they're looking for?

Tiger tiger burning bright, he will eat some snow tonight.

Madonna and Child: Macaque

The March of the Penguins

Egads! A grasslands animal that eats snow naturally!

Kristin and Jian-wen decide to leave the North the next morning, much to my dismay. Lauren leaves our group to meet some friends from her homeland while Kristin, Jian-wen and I are left to our own endeavors. We wander over to Õdõri Park to see the famous ice and snow sculptures.

Such wonders are these in the darkness! The native Sapporians have set up lights in order to bring out the smallest details of their festive seasonal installations. Carvings in the snow of famous castles (Hamamatsu Castle), famous people (various athletes, animated characters), and even an international section where various nations have submitted their own artists to sculpt strange things from the frozen ground. My own nation has constructed something most repulsive and strange… a combination of Wisconsin Indigenous Mythology and Frank Lloyd Wright. Whereas Jian-wen’s nation, Singapore, has tendered a most delightful snow sculpture of an animal… or a person… it’s quite hard to tell, actually. The clear winner of the statues is that of Thailand, an eagle fighting a giant serpent. Certainly worthy of the gold medal! Even Lithuåniå has crafted something – a tall rodent leaning on what appears to be a mitten. The description tells us the folk story of a mouse who found a glove and shared it with the other creatures of the forest. The tale ends with a bear crawling inside, ripping the glove. The mitten must have been spun from most elastic yarn. Rather, that which only Lithuania can produce.

We finish off our busy day with fried noodles with meat and cabbage, purchased from a local vendor stand in the midst of the festival. The hot noodles slip down our throats and give us strength enough for the walk home. I bid farewell to my traveling companions as they retire for the evening.

In my accommodations, I fall asleep almost at once, only to be awoken by Lauren returning after a night of frivolity and intoxication. Lauren spends the evening in the bathroom, perched over the privy, as I drift off into a warm and deep sleep.