Sapporo: Final Days

Wednesday, Claire Martin Michael and I went to the 白い恋人チョコ工場、aka the White Lover Chocolate Factory. It's supposed to be a super-romantic date spot and so we decided to go on a fake double date. Here's the factory. It looks like a little town:

Inside they took a picture of us next to a pretty fountain.

The factory wasn't really a CHOCOLATE factory but instead made a lot of white chocolate covered cookies, which was kind of a bummer, but the cookies were good. I bought some for my host family for omiyage. After browsing around a bit we had to rush from the factory to the train station to buy tickets for a ski trip later that night. We ended up missing our train but got to chill out at Mr. Doughnuts. Eventually we made it to the slope:

Skiing was interesting because Martin had never gone before. Ever. I thought skiing would be simple because I take it for granted that I've been doing it forever and it feels natural. I guess for a noob its not intuitive to strap boards to your feet and fling yourself down a mountain. I was too impatient to ski so I only took Martin down twice, showing him the basics. Mike took over for two runs after me and then we left him on his own. Probably we are terrible friends but Martin made it down the mountain, said he loved skiing and he didn't break anything so I think everything was a success >:D

The next day I met Martin down town at Odori and we went to a concert by someone named "Kokia." Martin really likes her and according to him she was really famous back in the day but now her fame is starting to wane. She had a nice voice and the concert was short, only thirty minutes, but outdoors and free. I split my time between listening to her and browsing around the sculptures from the snow carving contest. Countries competed against one another for the prize:

This was my favorite. I think it came in 4th place.

Later in the day, to unwind from our hardcore vacation and ski trip Martin and I ran to catch our bus and arrived at an onsen spa place two hours later. At first we were skeptical because the onsen was the last stop and the bus dropped us off only us two in a dark parking lot, but everything turned out fine. We made our way into the small building and split up. I went to the women's baths and there were a decent number of people there. Everybody enjoyed the outdoor bath, which was a natural hot spring. The place was way up in the mountains and it was completely dark besides the lights illuminating the snow on the side of the slope. Then it began snowing. Completely awesome.

Following that, I met back up with Martin and we checked out what the place had to offer. For example, the electronic foot massager that breaks your bones:

Since it was our last night in Hokkaido we decided to celebrate so we got off the return bus at the party section of town, Susukino. The street was lit up and completely crowded with people and ice sculptures. There was even one with dead fish and crabs (neat idea, but some of the fish were bleeding):

This was my favorite one

They also had a tunnel of lights woo~

So when we got tired of walking around the streets we stopped at a restaurant bar and Claire met up with us later. It was a good time just talking and chilling out until Claire and I had to run for our train at around midnight.

Sapporo: Day 3

On the third day I went to Sudome, home of the dome, for snow festival events taking place there. I was expecting there to be a lot of people but it was pretty low-key.

we went tubing (!!)

And we got pulled behind a snowmobile in a raft. Those are some of the women I met at the hostel. Everybody was super funny and tons of fun to hang out with >:)

There were lots of random snow sculptures.

Eventually I met up with some AKP people and we chilled out in the dome a little bit. The rest of the day was chill. I eventually returned to the hostel, ordered some pizza, and then watched a JUGGLING VIDEO with friends.

While eating dinner, I met a guy whose sister had done AKP in the past and now lives in Tokyo. Small world :O

For some reason the hostel was filled with all this juggling gear for sale. I guess the owner must be a huge fan of juggling. 不思議な〜

Sapporo: Day 2 (Snow Festival Start)

I woke up pretty early Monday but couldn't get my butt out of bed but when I finally did I met some other girls at the hostel and we all decided to go out together. First stop was a local bakery for breakfast:


Afterward, we headed over to Odori (where I went Sunday night) to check out the ice sculptures during the day and go ice skating. The skating was pretty cheap, although the rink was small.

we tried skating with our arms linked but stopped after almost mauling a Japanese girl.

We posed around a bit in front of stuff.

There was a giant statue of Sazae-san and her family, who're like the Japanese version of The Simpsons.

Later my hostel friends and I met up with some AKP people and we went and ate delicious Indian food :) Following that, we walked to the station and went to the Pokemon Center and did PURI KURA.

We finished up the night by trouping back to Shiroishi near the hostel and going to CARAOKE DRAMA. The place was so retro and dumpy and the mikes had WIRES attached to them, like the mikes they used to sing karaoke with in the Stone Age. It was fun though :) Probably the best day of snow festival so far~

Sapporo: Day 1

Sunday was my first full day in Sapporo and because the Snow Festival hadn't started yet, I decided to check out some of the city. I went to Maruyama Park because they have a shrine there and a zoo.

There were disgusting looking monkeys...

...And a lonely tiger...

...And a few wolves, along with a bunch of other animals.

They had a lot of creatures but the cages were really small and the place was kind of dirty. It was also completely overrun with children and I got stared at a lot for being white. It was my first time to a zoo and it was OK. I would never go to an Asian zoo again though..

I bought some snacks at a convenience store on my way back from the zoo and as I was walking down the sidewalk, back to the train station, a huge black crow landed in front of me. Things went much like this (click to make larger):

That is, the big bird gave me a death glare and then motioned to my food. In fear of an impending attack I threw my food down into a snowbank to let the crow have its way. I THOUGHT the stupid bird would take my rice ball and fly away since the whole bag was too heavy for it to carry alone. INSTEAD it took my almond chocolate, fat stupid bird. And so that's how I watched a box of sweet, probably very yummy almond chocolate disappear into the skies.. very poetically and all.

Depressed, I made my way back to the hostel to get ready to go out again. I didn't have any concrete plans for the evening and so I was surprised when I went to the shoe room to go outside and saw Mike from AKP on the other side of the door. He's staying in a different hostel with other people, so it was really confusing. What was up is that his friend Claire is staying at Ino's Place in a different room than me and he was helping her move in. It was really coincidental that I saw him, though, cuz he had no idea I was staying at the hostel too.

Anyway, I told them about our other friends from AKP meeting up at the Sapporo Beer Museum and so we took a taxi and met up with them there:

The museum was interesting and free of charge to get in and so after we browsed around a bit we went to get dinner at the Beer Garden:


Since it was a restaurant where you cook meet on a grill in front of you, they gave us cool bibs. We had the "genghis khan," some lamb striplets and veggies.

Following dinner, we decided against a taxi and walked a ways back to Odori, the center of town. We could see Sapporo Tower lit up for the night:


Also, they had the snow sculptures for the festival lit up. The two major snow carvings this year are of the Great Wall of China with some Japanese-y culture stuff mixed in, and one based on the Lion King musical. The sculptures are as big as a house and incredibly detailed (!!) :

Setsubun 節分 (Bean-Throwing Festival)

This past Thursday was a big Japanese holiday called Setsubun. We didn't get a day off but we did get to throw beans at things. Setsubun marks the first day of spring on the Japanese calendar and according to wikipedia the word means "seasonal division." From what I know of kanji, 節 (setsu) is season and 分 (bun) means to divide, so that makes sense.

A big part of the holiday is getting rid of evil spirits and cleansing everything in preparation for the new year. This is usually done by throwing mame beans at demon-masked children while yelling "I PURGE THEE DEMON. IN WITH THE LUCK! [creative translation]," followed by slamming the door in the mask-wearer's face.

We did something similar at school by chucking packs of beans at fellow mask-wearing classmates. We also ate traditional setsubun makizushi (sushi rolls) while closing our eyes, facing this years lucky direction (South-South-East ??) and wishing for a lot of good luck, all without saying a single word while we ate.

Makizushi is filled with supposedly lucky foods and I also got to eat a couple of them at home thanks to okaasan. Afterward, I went out to celebrate the holiday at Yoshida jinja, which was having a festival for Setsubun. It was the largest shrine festival I've ever seen and I had to wade through a half mile of crowded, vendor-lined streets before reaching the base of the shrine.

Once I got there, I didn't go up into the actual shrine area because it was too crowded. Instead, I went and met Hubbard-sensei, her husband and some other AKP people at a beer tent on Imadegawa Street and we partied for the next hour :)

A photo from the lounge on Friday while I was writing the essay I didn't write Thursday night:

We were also watching a spectacularly dubbed-over version of HP and the Sorcerer's Stone >:)

Host Family Day Trip

Last Saturday was the AKP day trip with our host families to Ise Jingu. Ise is the most famous shrine in Japan right now because it's where the imperial family goes to worship, or something, I think... Anyways, Ise is also a "Power Spot," or a place that supposedly gives good luck to whoever visits it. Japan is in the middle of a "Power Spot Boom," where tons of people believe in good fortune, health, good relations, etc. that comes from visiting a power spot. I think that Shimogamo-jinja, right next to my house, is considered a Power Spot.

Although it was a "host family" trip, that apparently meant that our host families just happened to be on the same outing. Nobody's fam expected them to hang out. They kept telling us to chill with our friends whenever we tried to chat with them, which felt a little weird. I hardly saw my host fam at all (we weren't even on the same bus), so I don't have any pictures with them..

The first place the bus stopped was a craft center where they do special silk weaving. We all got to make our own bracelets/ key chains. I had a feeling it was gonna be super-lame but it really wasn't. In fact, it was neat and my bracelet looks ultra-stellar.

we sat on the floor and weaved them with those circle-y things

Next we went to Ise and there were a hell-of-a-ton of people since it was still so close to New Years. Okaasan and Otousan waited forever in that huge line to go pray at the shrine but I opted to hang back and not stand around. Instead I had an OK time with friends:

To end the day, a few of us drifted down the packed street outside the shrine where they sell all kinds of food and souvenirs. I ate a ton, but in all the trip wasn't as great as I thought it would be.. For one, it wasn't actually a host family trip, and also it's kind of boring to be at a super-crowded shrine, even if it is famous..