Hokkaido Part Three: Sato-land, Things of snow, and an ice cream finish

Sato-land, Things of snow, and an ice cream finish

Marina and I tried to sleep in on Sunday morning (or rather sleep off certain post-drinking affects). However, the girls in the room were making a lot of noise fairly early in the morning, so we eventually got out of bed. Marina then asked the girl who had stolen her bunk what the deal with THAT was. The girl replied that neither of them had left their bags on their bunks, so they had been cleaned. So the girl’s bunk had no sheets. And somehow it made sense to her to steal Marina’s sheetless bunk. In conclusion, that girl was crazy.

After a Starbucks breakfast, we met up with Andrew (from Shiga) on the shuttle bus to Satoland. Satoland is a sort of children’s ice wonderland constructed about 25 minutes outside of the city. They have snow slides, an ice labyrinth, and lots of snow games for children. We spent a few hours there, mostly standing in line. The snow maze was about as exciting as a colder version of a hay-maze. Megan and Kyle eventually caught up with us, along with Desirae and her friend James. Together we went on the ice slides (after a two hour stand in a line/queue). It was totally worth it! The slide was ridiculously fun. After standing in the cold, crowded, child-infested Satoland for a few hours, the lot of us hopped the bus back to Sapporo.

We walked around the fish market so Kyle could purchase delicious crab. It’s crab season, and some of the most delicious and expensive crabs can be bought in Sapporo and Hokkaido! (Some can also be bought in my area of Kyoto, I should add). Kyle showed us to a great sushi place that was recommended in her guide book. The sushi was definitely the best I’ve had in Japan. Melt in your mouth delicious, and the price was really affordable to boot!

Everyone left for other activities and I was left with Megan and Kyle. They needed to catch their ferry back home, so I went with them to a convenience store to stock up on snacks and we all had Baskin and Robbins ice cream! It had been too long since I’d had a proper mint chocolate chip sundae.

After everyone was gone, and I realized that there were no new movies out in the cinema, I went back for an early night at the youth hostel. I was exhausted from the day and it was nice having the room to myself to do a little reading.

Hokkaido Part Two: Snow festival, snow slide and beer hall.

Saturday, February 9th Part 2: Snow Festival, Snow Slide & Beer Hall

The youth hostel was so very warm. I slept in until about 9am, while poor Marina left around 7am to go skiing with KAJET (an association of JETs from our prefecture). I have no interest in falling off a mountain on wooden sticks and moreover, I didn’t want to wake up at 6am. So, I enjoyed my lie-in and eventually met Megan and her friend Kyle (female) in Susukino.

Susukino is in fact a red-light entertainment district. However, for the amounts of small children that pass through it during the snow festival, perhaps the prostitutes go on a skiing trip for that week. By which I mean, we did not see any ladies of the evening. We did, however, see a lot of ice sculptures! The ice sculptures ranged from cartoon characters to more elaborate designs with things inside of the ice. One such sculpture showcased crabs, fish and squid (dead, I think). Another had Bailey’s Irish cream bottles inside of the ice. If you went inside the little ice stand, you were allowed a cup of hot Bailey’s with coffee or cream. Not too shabby!

The three of us then went back over to Odori Park to see the snow festival sculptures once more. They were very different in the daytime, and the weather was absolutely perfect for it. There were a lot of families with small, adorable children wrapped up in snow suits and blankets. There were some game show type performances on stage (probably for television) and we even saw some jumping snowboarders on one of the stages! The snow sculptures included massive architectural feats (castles, bulidings etc), cartoon characters, and weird things such as the head of Al Gore. There is certainly something for everyone! After feet were partially frozen and bellies were hungry, we looked around a shopping mall for a famous ‘ramen village’, as ramen is very famous in Sapporo! However, everyone else’s thoughts had already found them at ramen village. So, we settled for Japanese style dim-sum with a nice view of the station. We sat for a long while and sipped tea before setting off again.

A huge ice sculpture including two MAMMOTHS! So cool!

In the evening, we hopped a bus to the Sapporo Beer Hall and Museum outside of the city area. The museum was all in Japanese, so I didn’t learn anything about beer… however, it was warm! We met Kyle’s friend Andrew (also from Shiga prefecture) and his friend Vanessa, who is a Hokkaido JET. The lot of us went to the beer hall for a lamb dinner! All you can eat lamb with veggies (you cook it yourself sukiyaki style) and all you can drink delicious dark beer. Marina joined us too, after her ill-fated ski trip. After much drinking, some falling out of chairs, and a brief interaction with a man dressed as a bear, we found an outdoor slide made of snow and made some use of it.

Drunk and covered in snow, we decided to head back to Susukino to look at the pretty lights and to find some karaoke. We did just that! Karaoke lasted at least 3 hours into the night (and we were joined by Desriae, a Kyoto JET). Drunk and all songed out, we stumbled home to our various hotels and hostels. However, when Marina and I got to our room, we found that some strange girl had taken Marina’s bed! So, Marina and I shared my roomy bunk and slept well into the morning.

Some information on The Snow Festival (taken from Wikipedia)

The Snow Festival began in 1950, when six local high school students built six snow statues in Odori Park. In 1955, the Japan Self-Defense Forces from the nearby Makomanai base joined in and built the first massive snow sculptures, for which the Snow Festival has now become famous.

- The snow festival is still fairly new! This year (2008) marked it's 58th anniversary. The year's theme seemed to be 'global awareness'.

Hokkaido Part One: The Journey North

Friday, February 8th : Part 1: The Journey North

After spending the evening at Amy’s apartment in Kameoka, I met Marina in the morning. Together, we walked to the train station where we’d catch an early train into Kyoto Station, and from there to Kansai International Airport. Marina, the previous evening, had discovered that she had left something rather important at home. That being, her coat. She had fortunately borrowed a coat from Paulette (another girl in Kameoka who had hosted Marina for the evening). Coat drama aside, we made it to the airport without too much hassle. We caught our flight to the airport in Sapporo (New Chisate Airport). We were off to Hokkaido at long last!

We reached the airport in the early afternoon and took a train ride into the city of Sapporo. The subway system and grid system made Sapporo extremely easy to navigate. Using a map Marina had brought, we found our youth hostel with little to no trouble (although I managed to get us fairly turned around). We dressed for the falling snow, dropped off our bags and explored Sapporo Station to find some lunch. We feasted on okonomiyake (ironically a famous cuisine in Osaka, which we had just come from).

We then visited Odori Park, which is the main venue for the Snow Festival (雪祭り) or Yuki Matsuri. It was getting dark by then, so we were able to see the snow sculptures lit up with coloured lights! There were a few performances going on atop of a few of the stages in front of the mammoth ice sculptures as well. Some better than others. The pair of us were privy to a ‘light show’ sponsored by Disney. The sculpture was for the upcoming film Prince Caspian, which is the second of the Chronicles of Narnia. They had a Japanese narration with sound track music and crazy coloured lights. I assume they were depicting the story. By the time we had walked up and down the twelve blocks of Odori park, we were frozen. A quick subway trip back to the station was rewarded with hot chocolates at Starbucks and we then made it an early night and hung out in the youth hostel until morning.

The Prince Caspian light show

The scultpures sponsored by Egyptian Air

Some history on Sapporo:

- The city itself was largely inhabited by the Ainu people (the indigenous people of Hokkaido who appear more Caucasian than Asian). In the mid 1860’s, Japanese settlers began to migrate to the lower areas of Hokkaido and establish their own culture there. However, the name Sapporo is from the Ainu language and means ‘large river running through a plain’.

-In the 1870’s, the city of Sapporo was built with the advice from the American government and borrowed the American-style grid system to lay out the city itself (the city even uses street cars). Sapporo remains a sister city with Portland, Oregon.

-In the city, you can visit the nightlife center of Susukino, the huge bisecting park named Odori Park (odori meaning a large road or avenue), or you can visit the Sapporo beer hall or museum!

-Outside of the city is fantastic skiing and some of the most beautiful and well-preserved natural parks in all of the country. (I will definitely be going back to see some of that in the spring)

Sunday: Let's bathe Kirby and eat too much sushi

Sunday we slept in quite a bit before making MORE FRENCH TOAST. You can't ever have too much french toast!!!!

We then watched more episodes of Firefly in our pajamas. Somewhere into the second hour of doing so, there came a knocking at my door! Who could it be but the crazy girl from Jun's company who lives somewhere in Ine and likes to drop by (HOW DID SHE FIND OUT WHERE I LIIIIVE). She preceded to giggle and present me with some amazing powder blue silk to make a kimono out of because someone gave it to her but it 'wasn't her colour', she says.

OMG. Like... WHAT?

So now I have to find someone to make me a kimono. Good thing I know kimono makers??? I am not even kidding when I say that. Weird.

Anyway, it was setsubun, which translates to 'magic bean day' or something in picture language. Megan and I visited my shrine but there wasn't a whole lot going on down there aside from free sake and a guest book (which we signed). We decided to go eat too much sushi after that.

And then we did. Too. Much. Sushi.

Somewhere between those events, we also bathed my ferret.

That's always exciting. He smells laundry fresh now. Or fresher than ferret stink, anyhow!

After sushi-death, we went to Mipple (the big shopping center nearest to my homestead). I splurged and bought a silly pair of shoes for school, a shelf, and a bag to carry things in. We then did purikura, which I will put a picture of on this blog post as soon as I scan it.
Megan then checked her watch and said 'um... my train leaves in 11 minutes?'

Cursing happened here. I thought her train was leaving 10 minutes later than the actual time.

As I was speeding down the roads of Miyazu towards the station, I believe we actually got AIR as we hit one particular bump. But Megan caught the damn train, and I drove home to put together my shelf.

As it turns out, you need a screwdriver.

And moreover, in seven years of predecessment, not a single Ine AET has managed to own a screw driver? Curiouser and curiouser.

Stranger still, my parents actually live in

this house

. Maybe I'll be joining them after this whole JET thing blows over!

Saturday; French toast, amanohashidate, more izakaya please.

Saturday was a day for sleeping in. It was warm in our futons and we'd all stayed up fairly late. When we were in 'waking up mode', Amy made delicious french toast from the few ingredients that she could find in my kitchen. (I should note that kokedama-chan™ [mossy] was admired).

I took the kids on a driving tour of Ine. Ian played 'postal service' the whole way, which was oddly fitting to the surroundings. The washi tree was sadly only occupied by one washi today, but the skies were clear and you could see all the islands surrounding the bay in Ine! It was really spectacular! We then drove to Amanohashidate to walk around since Ian hadn't been there before. [Again, Amanohashidate is the bridge to heaven where them gods came down and birthed some Japans. ] It was chilly but a really nice walk in the mud and Amy told excellent stories, as per usual. I also had no idea how many of my friends had fired shotguns out of moving vehicles! People never cease to surprise me.

We moved along to meet my spectacular friend Yuuki and her nurse-buddy Momoya at an izakaya in Nodagawa that I really love going to. Liz was originally intended to join, but could not because she had to save a schoolbus of kindergarteners from bears or something. The izakaya is called Isshin 一心　(one heart/mind). I really enjoy that izakaya and have had many a good time there! This particular time was really laid back and man oh man, they have good food. The bartender/owner is Toshi and his mama is the cook. They treat us good. I think Yuuki really liked hanging out with Amy, Ian and Megan too (especially b/c Megan and Ian can speak to them properly).

I hurried everyone to the train station in Miyazu afterwards (not realizing how ridiculously close it was) and dropped off Amy and Ian. Their visit was short but sweet and I think they went home happy.

Megan and I went home to watch Firefly (she'd never seen it!) and to play with Kirby-kun. That was pretty much all we did! It was fantastic! Desirae was supposed to come up, but she too had to save a school bus of children from a bear. Maybe... the same bear?

Friday = Highway to Sleepovers

Well, the weekend was good, as it was expected to be! And it was welcomed after a long crazy day at Elementary School. Granted, having my plushie octopus, 'Pig', (given to me by Brynmor for Rachelmas) helped out a LOT especially with the older kids. They enjoyed Pig-san greatly.

The evening was spent taking the express way for the first time to Ayabe (where I'd never been before!). I picked up Ian, Amy and Megan from Ayabe Train Station and we met Leigh at an izakaya in Iwataki for some delicious foods. I like that we have to 'ask for permission' to go to izakayas because some people are completely insane, but whatever, we got fried food and delicious oolong tea for cheap and it was all that mattered.

It was also super nice seeing Leigh again, as I don't get too many chances what with her sexy boyfriend ;D

She had earlier given me some excellent directions to get to Ayabe. Although later on my JTE would explain that there are cheaper ways to get to the train station (which I know how to do now!)

After dinner I drove everyone up to Honjo for some James Bond watching/chou creme eating/beer guzzling gaieties. And enjoyment was succumbed to by all.

meetings, I hate japanese, illegal questions

There was a meeting that Aimi-sensei and I had been planning for all week today. We had to give a regular 50 minute English class for our first years (7th graders), who are our favourites and they freakin' love English.

I made a plan with her and we put it in English and in Japanese. We prepared all of the work sheets and stapled everything together neatly.

When it came to teach the class, we were both nervous. Aimi-sensei was visably nervous while I spoke more in English than I usually do with teh first years (although I doubt any of the Japaenese people there really could tell). Oh yeah, so all of the teachers from our school AND all of the teachers from Honjo JHS came to see us teach class.

AS USUAL, I was never specifically told why we had to do this. I just went with the flow.

The class went very well, the first years were rock stars because they answered all the questions correctly (even though they were visably nervous doing so). We made skits, they did beautifully, and class ended perfectly on time. It was a really good class, actually!

But then we had to go to a meeting upstairs for an hour and ten minutes. All of it in Japanese, which I guess is good practice, but it wasn't interesting (even if it had been in a language I understood perfectly). The definite worst part was when they asked me MY opinion of how the class had gone... I stood up and attempted to say this:

"I believe that the first years did really well today! They answered all of our questions, and they memorised their original skits very skillfully, I thought. I know they were quiet during the Bingo game, but on their comment sheets they all wrote "Bingo was fun!" "I understood everything" "I did well on the skit!", so I don't understand it, but I think it's good".

Who knows what ACTUALLY came out of my mouth. Probably something like, "Hey everyone, I am a big dumb gaijin and I like goats! I never wash my hands, I wear shoes to bed and I never brush my teeth! I hate children!!!! Blagh lbagh!!!!!"

I don't really remember. I do know that I have been made to stay way passed my general 4:15pm every day this week, which I resent only a little... I honestly have nothing better to do when I get home anyway!!!!!

Also Kirby has been spending afternoons curled up on my lap napping. It's passing the winter!

Also I recontracted for another year with Ine.

Also I found out that downloading movies in Japan is perfectly legal. But then why does it still feel so unethical? Oh, because it IS.

Rachel

Damn if those don't be some nasty cookies.

I don't have much to talk about on this day except for a small anecdote.

I altered this comic strip from www.penny-arcade.com for writing practice and so on. I blanked out the word bubbles and showed it to my JTE.

She said, "neat! What are those cookies supposed to be?"

I think my heart literally collapsed into my chest. Cuz... I'm preeetty sure they are supposed to be penises.

The End.

Weekend of anti-anti-socialness

Weekend was more social than expected.

On Saturday I joined a few Tango people for dinner. Due to feelings that I might have to detach a lot of people from my life in order to be happy/make new friends/keep other friends, I had stopped hanging out with a few of them. However, after some self-evaluation, I decided I didn't like that about myself at all, and tried to reconnect with said people. Not be their best friends, not even be good friends, but be an acquaintance. Nobody's really that awful anyway.

That said, on Saturday I met Marina, Desirae, Andy, Eric, Yuumi, Jarrad and Scott at Mipple for dinner at the little restaurant we always go to on the fourth floor. We had lots of delicious food for not very much money and followed it up with ice cream next door at 'pier jolly', as I discovered it is called.

Afterwards, we drove to Nodagawa to get some karaoke time in. We sang for HOURS. I didn't realize how late it was until one person started throwing up from too much whiskey and my voice was about as useful as said puking person's coordination. Andy and I did a mean nirvana duet complete with headbanging/hoarse screaming! And Desirae and I rocked out to some Alanis Morisette as well, which was the end of my voice. Everyone was really drunk except for the drivers/devoted girlfriends of drunken louts. We played in the snow a little bit too

I drove Desi and Andy back to their home and decided to stay there for the night since the snow might make it problematic to get back to Ine (over an hour away) at 2 in the morning. So, the next morning I set off home to feed Kirby and change clothes and then set BACK off to Mineyama to meet Liz for lunch.

I hadn't seen Liz in ages, so it was nice catching up with her even though neither of us had too much to talk about! We ate a lot of sushi (as to say, I ate a lot of sushi) and then went for coffee at a cute little cafe called 'Honeycomb'. Liz got a very nice looking cake!

Together we set off for an IYP event (IYP stands for something official that I cannot remember). We made moss-balls! So, we took potted flowers and ivy/dragon's mustache (yay!) and shaped the soil into a ball, covered it with soft, damp moss and tied green string around it to make it stay. Voila! Moss and ball, together at last.

Granted, they were really pretty! Mine is set up by my kitchen window now, which gives my kitchen the effect of looking non-horrible! (This is always a plus).

That's the gist of the weekend, anyway. I'll put up some pictures as soon as I find my picture adapter thingie.

Rachel

Yuppie Weekend/Sweeny Todd

On Friday, Leigh and I drove in her car down to the city. The roads are icier these days, so the Japanese people have put in hot water sprays that get rid of the ice on the asphalt. Only thing is, some of them reach your windshield and it's fairly terrifying.

I spent Friday night hanging with Megan and Greg watching The Prestige (which was kindly given to me by Desirae and Andy for my birthday) and eating PIZZA (honest to God pizza).

This is Greg. He always has a good time!

Saturday was going out for burgers at an Americana style burger 'joint' with Greg, John and Megan. It was a LOT of fun hanging out with those guys. And adding a burger joint and a dr. pepper to the mix, it felt like I wasn't in Japan.

Not long after, Megan and I put on some dresses and make up so we could look/feel fancy for the opera that Ian had gotten us tickets to! High heels make me walk... poorly. The opera, as it turned out, was a mix of professional singers and community theatre types. It was interesting, and ridiculous. The Japanese people in the crowd took any excuse to clap to the beat of a song, even if there wasn't really a beat at all. And despite the fact that they generally have no rhythm.

As we were all dressed up, we decided to grab some posh food at a restaurant I have forgotten the name of! We ordered lots of delicious dishes and alcohol (for me: espresso drinks as I was battling jet-lag). Twice it was mentioned that we were having a yuppie's night out. Posh food, posh clothes and the fact that we're all way too young to be taking ourselves seriously doing either.

Sunday Megan and I got together with Amy at her apartment downstairs (we were soon joined by Ian and Lauren). Amy fixed us up a 'southern breakfast' with walnut/banana/chocolate chip pancakes, sausages, (Megan made eggs), and tea! It was immensely delicious. We then wandered out to the city of Kyoto to see Sweeny Todd in an actual movie theatre. Japanese movies theatres are very fancy and I was pleased with the over all experience! Movie was good, too!

Then it was a long series of train rides back to Tango. However, fortunately for me, there was no snow to come home to. And there hasn't really been any snow all week!

England thoughts

England and Belgium were good.
I won't write much about them because technically this is my Japan blog and also I don't think anyone would find it that interesting!

But seeing my family was really really really good. I felt refreshed after coming back to Ine.

Getting there and back was definitely a long journey. Getting from my house to England took about 36 hours (driving, train, bus, train, airplane, train) and coming back was about 28 hours (train, plane, train, bullet train, train, drive).

Fortunately the jet-lag didn't get the better of me, I've been busy at work ever since, and I haven't been as sick of Japan as I was just before leaving. Thank goodness for that especially because man oh man I was ready to get out of Asia.

I was culture shocked in Europe though. London, especially. People there are extremely rude or nonchalant. Spikey, I'd say. It's very different after the kindness and humanity you get from everyone in Japan (even at the post office!) But I suppose city people can't be bothered to act like human beings anywhere you go. Maybe small town life has spoiled me! People in Belgium were much kinder and had a really great sense of humour! It was cold but a really good trip, overall.

I am excited for when my family will visit Japan.

I am not excited for a lot of people to leave in July. I don't' think life after that will be very good for some time. But that's not for seven or so more months. It's best to enjoy people while they're still here and willing to visit my house in outer space!

New Years Under the Snow

New Years was an interesting series of events. Most of the revolving around the massive amounts of snow that came to my town in a hurry.

On New Years Eve, I dug my car out of the four or so feet of snow and drove slowly down to Fukuchiyama. As soon as I hit the 'out-of-Ine' border, there was NO SNOW (yet). Naruhodo.

Once in Fukuchiyama, I picked up Leigh and her friend, Gordon. We drove over to the Yoshida's house for osechi New Years dishes, beer, and Canadians. As to say, we met some. They were former JETs who had been stationed in Sonobe a few years back. They were very jet-lagged and nice.

Here is Kumi Yoshida and some Osechi (New Years assortments of food-stuffs)

Around 11:30 we braved the snowfall that had come to Yasaka and walked up to the local shrine. The shrine was absolutley beautiful under all the white powder and we rang some bells, watched some chanting, and drank some hot sake.
Afterwards, we drove home at 0 km/h in Leigh's frozen car and slept/shivered in her house until morning.

I then drove back to Ine to see even MORE snow. I and my neighbour dug out our parking spaces for a good 45 minutes with shovels and gusto. Once we had spaces, I told her she could just use mine (which was more excavated), as I would be gone for 11 days.

And so I began packing for England! It was not easy getting in or out of Ine for those few days because of the snow. It's good to know that my social life will be on hold whenever snow happens though. And by good, I mean lame.