Sapporo Winter Sports Museum & Hokkaido Jingu

Today I was treated to a special trip with my host family. It started out with them asking if I wanted to go eat some ramen and ended up in an excursion of Sapporo's, “hard to get to” treasures.

In earlier posts I talked about the Matsuri. There are tons of different kinds of Matsuri and different ways it’s done. My host family took me to the 2006 Ramen Matsuri in Sapporo. As you could expect, tons of dealers were broadcasting their ramen as "Oishii (good)". With my ticket, I went to the most vacant stand and ordered a bowl of ramen. I can't tell you which ramen it was other then the fact that it was good ramen. The climate today (and especially in there) was really dry and the pressure was high too, because I got a small bloody nose while in there which I had to promptly take care of. It is a good thing that Japanese stores bombard you with little tissue packs everywhere you go!

After cleaning up and finishing a fine bowl of Ramen, my host parents asked if I wanted to go to the "jumpu." "The jumpu?" I asked, "hai, sukii jumpu." They were referencing the famous Sapporo Winter Sports Museum (札幌ウィンタースポーシミュージアム)　which is in Miyano-mori, Chuo-ku. To get there from Shiroshi (where we were) took about 15-20 min by car through Sapporo's tricky and clustered roads. Up the hill we went until we saw the giant ski jump. Chances are that, if you didn't have a car, you could take a taxi from Odori there but I don’t know how reasonable it would be.

Now, for those who experienced 1972...

If you can remember 1972 and the 1972 winter Olympics in Sapporo, I salute you! For those who did not, here is a brief recap of the ’72 Winter Olympics...

• The 1972 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XI Olympic Winter Games, were held in 1972 in Sapporo, Japan, the first Winter Olympics to be held in Asia.
• 35 Nations competed including: The USSR, United States, Yugoslavia, West Germany, East Germany, Great Britain, and the North Korea, oh and Andorra(?).
• The USSR took the most medals with 16 totals (8 gold/5 silver/3 bronze). East Germany took 2nd with 14 (4g/3s/7b), and Switzerland took third with 10 total (4g/3s/3b). The U.S. placed 5th overall with 8 total (3g/2s/3b)/
• The Banner looked like this. (right)
• The opening ceremony was opened my Emperor Hiro Hito
• It was Avery Brundage's (84) last year as president of the International Olympic Committee; as the 1972 Winter Games approached; he decided to make an example of Alpine skiing, which had become highly commercialized in Europe.
• Karl Schranz (AUT) was disqualified.
• Yukio Kasaya, Akitsugu Konno and Seiji Aochi gave the Japanese public a triple in ski jumping, on the 70m jump. It was the first Japanese Olympic title in the Winter Games.

Remember now? If do not remember, that’s ok... What matters is the last event, "3 Japanese won the 70m jump".

To commemorate this victory, forever, the Sapporo Winter Sports Museum holds the actual ski jump used in that Olympic game! There's a chairlift that takes you to the top, but for some reason it wasn't running today. Despite the chairs not working, I had a pretty good view of Sapporo from up there and more importantly a shot of the actual jump used in the 1972 Olympics!

We parked down below in a small parking lot and rode a long escalator up to the jump. The actual museum wasn't exactly "wow" material, because most of it you could find via the internet. However, looking at ski jump was awesome! It's huge; for things this size it’s hard to grasp the size of this thing until you stand in front of it... Hopefully my picture will help. If you get a chance to come to Hokkaido, Sapporo tries to take a trip to this place!

The second place we went to was the Hokkaido Jingu (北海道神宮）. The Lonely Planet guide describes this place:

Hokkaido Jingu is nestled in a forest (Maruyama-koen) so dense it's easy to forget that the shrine is just beyond the city. The place is carefully labeled so that you don't have to ask what that plant is. There's a shop that serves green tea for free.

That's about it for this temple. Well I think Lonely Planet could have written a bit more so here's my review.

First, this place was a shrine (not a temple) meaning that it was Shinto. While we were there, the 七五三 or Shichi-go-san (7-5-3) event was taking place. Shichi-Go-San is an event in which parents celebrate their children's growth. Typically in the fall months of October and November, 3 and 5-year-old boys, and 3 and 7-year-old girls
are taken to Shinto shrines, where their parents pray for their future. Boys often wear haori, or half-coat, and hakama, or divided skirt, and girls wear a kimono. The practice is supposed to date back to the years in which young kids often didn't survive long and so these ages were landmarks for children. The tradition stuck and now (most) Japanese families who are somewhat religious take their children at these ages to get prayed for. It is a sight to see! The kids were running around in their kimonos and hakama, and parents and grand parents running around taking their pictures. It's really no different then dressing up young American kids and taking them to baptism or something. It was all very cute.

Now as you enter the Shrine grounds you have to pass through the front gate called a Torii (left). This particular torii was huge and worth noting as you pass through. As you walk down the path towards the main entrance there's stone lanterns the line the path on either side. As you approach the shrine, there is a basin with running water for purifying yourself. The water is very pure and I saw people drinking from it. After the water basin is a large gate that you pass under (gate 2). In the back of the site is the shrine where the kids were getting prayed for. In front of it is the worship area where you pray. There is not a secret to praying (no secret handshake or set prayer) for commoners and there isn’t some bouncer (usher) that asks for a Shinto membership card. Anyone can pray and pray for anything. After praying my host mom (Na-chan) took me over to the oracle box. For 100 yen you could grab a fortune and then read it and then put it on a communal prayer stand to pray for it to come true. So I tossed my 100 yen and grabbed a fortune from the “foreigner’s box” and read my fortune “Luck fortune.” I can’t recall what all it said, because I tied it to the prayer stand after I read it. I’m chalking it up as experience that I will ask for forgiveness for… later.

The Shrine's grounds are very pretty to walk around in. We spent a good amount of time walking around the park there where I took a couple of shots of the scenery. I find that Shrines and Temples usually have the best spots for scenery shots. Walking in and around them isn't a problem either. The routine is pretty much like walking into a big catholic cathedral... Taking pictures and stuff is allowed and most of the time there's a little gift shop nearby. I tried my hand at photography again and came up with some “ok” shots.

When we were finished with the Shrine we went to a Kisaten or Coffee shop. The place we went to was called Lloyd’s Coffee or something and it was pretty small and quiet. I liked it a lot while we were there. I noticed that in many coffee shops the general music is classical. It really is all about the atmosphere in places like these, because the coffee is the same everywhere and usually costs 400 yen a cup. In spite of the price, I come to relax at these places. It was a good ending to a great tour. I really appreciated seeing Sapporo beyond the Subway and Bus restricted areas.

Ok so if y’all have a chance… put the temple and the museum on your “check this out” list, Ok?

~J out

Good times good times

It's been pretty busy around here lately. I've been keeping up at school, as well as, planning for a big after Semester trip. Today I bought the Lonely Planet Guide to Japan (EN) and started making out a rough Itinerary for the trip.

Yesterday I had kendo where we practiced the "Kata" kendo form. Kata is not exactly "beat the man down" form of kendo. It's more of the ritualistic form or the 道 (do) of 剣道 (kendo) ("do" meaning the way of ~). A better description can be found on wikipedia:

Kata

There are 10 nihon kendo kata (Japanese kendo forms). Performed with wooden swords (bokken/bokuto), the kata include fundamental techniques of attacking and counter-attacking, and have useful practical application in general kendo. Occasionally, real swords or swords with a blunt edge, called kata-yo or habiki, may be used for a display of kata.

Kata 1–7 are performed with both partners using a bokken (long sword) of around 102 cm. Kata 8–10 are performed with one partner using a bokken and the other using a kodachi (short sword) of around 55cm.

During kata practice, the participants take the roles of either uchidachi (teacher) or shidachi (student). The uchidachi makes the first move or attack in each kata. As this is a teaching role, the uchidachi is always the 'losing' side, thus allowing the shidachi or student to learn and gain confidence.

Nihon kendo kata were drawn from representative kenjutsu schools and tend to be quite deep and advanced. In some areas the regular training curriculum does not include nihon kendo kata.

In 2003, the introduction of Bokuto Ni Yoru Kendo Kihon-waza Keiko-ho, a set of basic exercises using a (bokken/bokuto), attempted to bridge this gap. Bokuto Ni Yoru Kendo Kihon-waza Keiko-ho is intended primarily for kendoka up to 2-dan, but is useful for all kendo students.

So we have practiced the first 3 forms of Kata, hopefully we'll get to practice the other forms later.

~J out

The Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters Won!

The Nippon Ham Fighters Take the Japanese Championship!
It's been 44 years since the Fighters last victory in 1962.

With a score of 4 to 1 against the Chunichi Dragons, the Nippon Ham Fighters won their 5th and final game to take the Japan league Championship. "I can't believe it," said Trey Hillman (American coach for the Fighters). "It's a blessing to have an opportunity to work for this organization and to manage this group of men."

It was the second straight year that an American manager has led his team to victory in the Japan Series. The fighters held the Dragons to one run on eight hits while striking out six as the Fighters won their first Japan Series title since 1962!, when they were known as the "Toei Flyers." The game was non-stop action and with out a doubt it big news for Sapporo's die hard fans.

I'm sure they'll be a party downtown this weekend!

Good Job Nippon Ham Fighters! We knew you could do it!

~J out

Fall has fell in Sapporo, Japan

On a lazy Wednesday I awoke to the cold and peered out my window to gaze at the plethora of fall colors and golden leaves.


Fall has reached Sapporo and is slowly transforming the landscape into a sea of fiery reds, oranges, and yellows. Japanese for Fall is “Aki” but the kanji for fall is this: 秋 the second radical 火 means fire. Perhaps they called this season the fire season because it seemed like all the leaves were on fire. Never the less, the trees looked beautiful. I had an idea to try and take pictures of this season as it developed; I just had to find a place that really showed a full range of fall’s beautiful colors.

It was this idea and a brochure from the subway station that inspired me to take a trip to Hokkaido University (北海道大学) one of Sapporo’s famous college campuses. What makes it famous is it's age and splendor. The College is similar to Portland State University or the University of Washington, in that it is more then a college; it is a symbol of it's respective city. I wanted to visit this place, because I heard somewhere that as Fall rolls in, Hokkaido University transforms into a beautiful array of colors.

Hokkaido University is a walk away from Sapporo Station. I jumped on the JR Train to Sapporo Station and walked to the campus (about 10min). The first place I walked into was Hokkaido’s “Elm Forest.” The Campus was huge from this view. Across from where I was standing was a creek running through the forest (Sakushukotoni Rv.). I followed the creek up to a small waterfall that glistened as split into two streams. From a distance, it looked like an old man with a long mustache. I watched the leaves as they floated along. The park was quiet and pleasant; people from all directions were carrying their cameras to catch a glimpse of falls blazing colors. The temperature was cold, but not biting cold like the other days, but I wore a hooded-sweater and a heavy jean jacket, with my gloves and beanie.

I moseyed out of the elm woods and drifted towards the main road where I met a statue of Doctor William S. Clark who used to be the President of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, as well as, the first Vice President of Hokkaido University in July of 1876, back when Mass. Amherst was named Massachusetts Agricultural College and Hokkaido University was named, (The) Sapporo Agricultural College (1876-1907). According to Wikipedia, he was a professor of chemistry at Amherst, but in 1861 went into the military, where he became a Colonel. Afterwards, he became a member of the Massachusetts Legislature, as well as, a member of the ex officio. He moved to Japan for one year from 1876-1877, where “he taught his students not only academic lectures but also Christian principles.

Although it was a short stay, he influenced many students, leading them to Christian conversions. Some of them later played important roles in the field of Christianity, Education, and International Relations in the beginning of Modern Japan. Alumni such as Uchimura Kanzō (Christian thinker and evangelist) and Nitobe Inazo (Quaker) are still well known nationwide in Japan.” ~Wikipedia

According to the University and Wikipedia: “On the day of his departure, April 16th, 1877, Clark is supposed to have said to the around ten students that came to see him off Boys, be ambitious! and a few variations on that theme. One of those students was apparently so moved that he memorized the phrase and later used it in a lecture, making it the famous phrase it is in Japan today.” ~Wikipedia

Past Dr. Clark’s statue is a small rock formation where I tried my hand at a little photography (Click for Full Ver.). I don’t have the best camera, but the one have does make pretty good pictures at times. The model I use is a FinePix A360. I know there are others here, but don’t get the idea that electronics like digital cameras and ipods are super cheap here… because they’re not. If electronics was cheap I’d probably buy a better camera. The editing software I used was Picasa2 from google.com. It's totally free to download and really easy to use.

Walking around the campus, I found lots of people on bikes that stopped occasionally to take a picture here or there. I spent a lot of time just looking at the old and new buildings and walking in to see what they all were about. I think that Hokkaido University is also a graduate college only because I found higher education buildings around. I’d be interested sometime in finding out Hokkaido Universities Majors (not that I’m planning for my Masters).

At the end of the main road was a sign, “Model Barn.” It was one of those things that were weird enough to warrant a side trip to check it out. I’ll be honest that I don’t understand why it is really there, but I can assume that because Hokkaido used to be an all Agricultural College; this model barn(s) was there to perhaps represent what the campus used to be, or what barns in Hokkaido looked liked. This is only speculation though.

Finally, I found a campus map at the model barn site and I noticed an avenue of trees that I’ve seen all around Sapporo. It’s some famous avenue called “Gingko Avenue.” It was a distance from the barn, but now with a map in hand I oriented myself and walked to the avenue while gazing at the cool buildings and stuff. A couple of minutes later I was there. The avenue had that kind of Sleepy Hollow look with Ichabod Crane types walking about. It looked like one of those classic scenes you’d find in some college entrance magazines advertising their impressive demographics and professor profiles.

While standing At Gingko Ave. I took my 1000^th picture (left) with my camera. It was a straight shot of Gingko Avenue… I’ll admit to sprucing it up a little bit, but it’s a pretty good picture for being my 1000^th.

It was a cool place overall. I wouldn’t mind coming back another time when the campus fades into an even deeper shade of red and yellow.

~J

Cold Weather...

They told me that Hokkaido gets cold in the Fall and the Winter months. Perhaps I wasn't listening or perhaps I didn't believe that cold meant cold. This morning the temperature hovered at around 2.7-2.9 degrees Celsius (about 37 F). Now that was pretty cold to walk in, but the commute, on my bike, today was bone chilling! My feet were so cold that they didn't thaw until 12:00pm today. I was wearing two fleece jackets, a beanie, fleece gloves, jeans, and a pair of Doc Martin boots. Somehow I make it to school, but man is it cold here!

And... it seems like it's not going to get any much better in the days to come according to the weather report.

currently it's: 34 degrees F

Current conditions as of 8:30 pm JST October 24, 2006

Partly Cloudy

Feels Like: 34°

Barometer: 30.39 in and steady

Humidity: 81%

Visibility: 6.21 mi

Dewpoint: 28°

Wind: Calm

Sunrise: 5:58 am

Sunset: 4:39 pm

~J out

New layout

For new readers who wanna read older posts, I changed that archive format so you can click on the month (on the right hand bar) and the title of the post comes up. Just click on the title and the blog post should come up.

~J

back from camp

Well it wasn't what you'd call a "camp." It was a two day excursion of southern Hokkaido. It was like the bus tour where they tried to cram too much in too little time. It could of been planned better in my opinion. For starters, the school had us show up late on Saturday (12:30 am) and then the first place we went was to the Ainu Museum where we were whisked around, by the school staff, to different exhibits (in Japanese), but we really didn't get enough time to really "explore" much less try to understand what the Ainu people were telling us. I really wished that we would have left earlier to check out the museum more. There was a lot of places we didn't go too and the building we did go to didn't show a whole lot. They tried to get us to make headbands at the Ainu place, like hand stitching, but again we only had about 45 min or less to do it.... lame.

The school whisked us, via bus, to this hotel which was pretty nice with an onsen and everything; I got at least an hour or so to enjoy the onsen. I think that was the most memorable only because you could relax (for a bit). Dinner that night was served buffet style, because there was about 30+ of us and another group "EASCON" who participated. For 2 hours, in the dark of night, a small group of us went and checked out the town. We saw the "hell valley" and it did look like hell… Creepy. The rest of the night was a blur so... don't ask ; - ) cool volcano though!

The next day they tried to wake us up at 7am for breakfast, but that didn't happen... heh heh. At 9am they shoveled us into the bus and took us to this Edo Wonderland. Now, this "Edo Wonderland" was kinda like enchanted forest and an old western town like Calico put into one. However, the shows were so-so and while the buildings and stuff were cool.. it felt dead. I can't even describe the little buildings they had. For example, I walked into this "ninja house" which ended up being one of those really dumb house of mirrors and slanted floors to trip you out, but I had a (ahem) headache from the other night so some of that dizziness came back... ya know? Not fun.. not much fun at all.

You see they were trying to replicate a (kids) version of Japan before 1868's "samurai age." But they were trying too hard and some of it didn't make since. They had this building that they called the Yoshiwara (read: sex district) that had a "geisha show", but it was no show. They had a ninja program, but it was totally staged and it had the ninja/samurai exhibits had little to no educational value.

I'd say if you wanted a cheap thrills, then find a happening bar and save your money then to go to "Edo Wonderland." Sorry.. it just didn't turn me on. But I did manage to remember to buy my host family a box of bean cakes which they liked.

That was it for that day.. 9:30-1:00pm and then we went home to Sapporo (yeh!). When we got back, I had a coffee with my buddy Nick and then went home... Slightly disappointed. I was only disappointed because they rushed us through the cool educational places like the Ainu museum and Norboribetsu town which had A FREAKING LIVE VOLCANO! and then dumped us in a very boring and un-educational theme park that just wasn't suited for college age students.

Well... I'd still like to go back to Norboribetsu sometime and really explore that town. They have a bear zoo! Why on earth didn't the school take us there? Oh well... Back to home work...

~J out

Preparing for the International Camp.

I told y'all that i'd be going on a big trip this weekend and so I thought I would clue you all in as to where I was going.

We're going to Norboribetsu City (登別市), it's a mostly a tourist trap for Japanese and Gaijin alike. The city is famous for some geological sites like: Jigokudani (Hell Vally), Hiyoriyama (Mt. Hiyori), Oyunoyu (Oyu Swamp), and Kuttarako (lake Kuttarako).

Also the town has the Kuma bokujo or the "bear park" as well as a historical town like the old coyboy western towns (only Japanese samurai style). The other famous thing about Norboriebetsu is thier onsens... oh yeah.

If you want to read more about Norboribetsu (before I post about it) you can visit the website (in English) @

http://www.noboribetsu-spa.jp/en/index.htm (flash ver.)

http://www.noboribetsu-spa.jp/en/index_nonflash.htm (non-flash ver)


PS.
btw... injured my foot durring kendo last night, but I took a salt tablet and walked it off. Hey, ya know, if you don't feel pain, you're not trying right?! Right.

Samurai Josh

The other day I got myself new duds for kendo practice. The First is a jacket or "Keigoki" that is made of a real thick fabric and the second piece of clothing is the pants called "hakama". There are rules and procedures to putting this clothing on:

For the Keigoki, you must put it on and tie the strings in a bow. The bow must face horizontally.

For the Hakama, you must first wrap the forward straps around your waist 1 1/2 times and then tie it in a bow behind your back. Then you must put this doggle from behind into your back strap and then tie the back straps forward in a square knot.

This is the way of the clothes. I feel that as I put it on, I feel focused and charged about doing kendo. Like when a president of some big company puts on a red "power" tie. It's cool, it looks cool, and feels great.

About the color... most all kendo outfits are indiglo. There really is no distinguishing marks between levels (Kyu) and Ranks (Dan). The ranks and level are better explained in the wikipedia version of Kendo (google "kendo").

So here you go, Samurai Josh!

What's coming next is a "tare" or short name skirt that goes in front on the hakama. The Tare is usually personalized with peoples names in Kanji. My friend Nic's last name is Stone or Ishi which translates ok, but Wheeler translates to "multiple wheels" or something with car and tires. So I picked my own kanji... "Akaryuu" or "Red Dragon" plus the school name and my last name in Katakana. here's what it'll look like:

北星大
ウィラー
赤

龍

Yep pretty cool 'eh? I'll edit this post when I get it.

~J out

UNSC and N.Korea Opinion

Seeing as my Major in College is East Asian Studies International Relations (EASIR), I want to briefly comment on the UN Security Council’s recent resolution (Resolution 1718) concerning North Korea (DPRK) and their WMDs. This is a big deal, internationally, for a couple of reasons.

1. First, the U.S. and Japan are the most aggressive players, calling for heavy sanctions against North Korea. (Huh? Japan holding an aggressive position? Japan debating a military response? Interesting)
2. Second, China voted for Res. 1718 which binds them to some serious sanctions against North Korea (normally China veto’s sanctions against anyone even Iran or Iraq).
3. Third, North Korea’s actions indicate that they do not care. (the display made my the DPRK walking out shows arrogance and a general disregard for international diplomacy system)
4. And forth, no one knows how far this is going to play-out, so precautions are already taking place in case of the worst.

Some things that are significant (in my opinion) in the actual resolution is that:

· It demands the DPRK to not test/fire another missile

· It demands DPRK is disband every WMD they own

· It calls on all UN States (China, ROK, Japan incl.) to not send direct or indirect supply, sale or transfer military goods or otherwise including luxury goods (something that the DPRK elite often import) (See Paragraph 8)

Other things that are important are that, China is bound by the resolution to carry out what it requires of them. Perhaps this little stunt by the DPRK will convince China of their rogue-state behavior?

I might be wrong, but I also think that the reason the U.S. is cracking down on North Korea is because they want to send a clear message to Iran, basically saying if you go ahead with WMDs, the US will thrown down on you.

Here in Japan, it’s on the news all the time. It’s on people’s minds here, the general opinion is that the North Korean People are good people; it’s just that their leader is not. I’ll simply say that there’s years of history between Japan and the Pacific Rim Asian nations. If you want to see diplomacy at work, I find this N.Korea situation to be the ultimate example of international diplomacy at work... for all of us little people.

More to come later…

~J out

The sleepy town of Otaru

*beware big post*

Yesterday I visited the sleepy ocean town of Otaru with my friends Nic (20’s) and Robert (30’s).

The day started out with all of us meeting at Sapporo JR Station where we would catch a JR train to Otaru. To get to Sapporo I rode my bike to the Oasa Station and rode the local train to Sapporo. I told Robert to meet me at the West Gates, but when I got there I couldn’t find him anywhere. The meeting time was 9am, but my train showed up at 9:13 so I stood waiting. I didn’t realize however that Robert was standing behind me about 15 feet away facing the other direction! We both spun around at the sound of a train whistle and found each other. Crazy… Nic said he’d be late so Robert and I went to “Mr. Doughnut” for a coffee and some “pan” or doughnuts. So as we snacked on coffee and bread, Robert told me that he’d been there for an hour waiting and wasn’t sure when and where the meeting place was… communication is golden I guess. Nic finally showed up and we rolled out at around 9:30am.

Purchasing tickets is pretty straight forward in Japan. Basically, there’s a panel with a bunch of station names, “Oasa, Ebetsu, Sapporo, Shin Sapporo, etc” and below the station’s name is a price (local stops are about 260 yen, far away stops are in a 3000-4000 range sometimes like Hakodate). Otaru is relatively close so a one way to Otaru was 620 yen. So once you find your desired destination you tap on it and it gives you a cost. From there you just insert the money and the machine spits out a small one way ticket.

Once all three of us had our ticket we went through the gates and stared at the huge time table of departures and arrivals. We found three trains going 10 minutes apart to Otaru, but they we’re all local. In Sapporo, there are 4 types of trains: Local, Semi Rapid, Rapid, and Air Port Rapid. The difference between all of them is amount of stops each train makes. The Local had 14 stops while the Air Port rapid had only 4 or 5 total. This may all sound trivial, but once you’ve been riding trains for awhile, all of this really DOES make a difference. Well actually truth be told, this was trivial to my friends who had never rode a train before. They didn’t mind the extra stops, so local train it was. We boarded at 9:40 and left exactly at 9:44am. The train trip was 40mins into the countryside. When we arrived we got off and entered the sleepy town that is Otaru. We had a craving for coffee so we visited a coffee shop (ki-sa-ten) in Otaru’s little mall walk.

The coffee shop was really old salty dog kind of place. Like one of those old Sea Captain places with ship’s wheels and ship’s lanterns and stuff. It had an old feeling about it and Nic (who is English) liked the whole aesthetic claiming that there are plenty of ones like this one in Kent, England where he’s from. We must have spent an hour chatting about stuff and Robert found a notebook in the shop where customers wrote little experiences and stories in. I decided to add my own entry, using my best cursive which neither Rob nor Nic could read.

We left feeling spry and ready for the day. We strolled along the covered walkway plaza looking at stores and shops. At the end of the mall we made a turn left and began to walk. Like any adventure with three guys the itinerary was show up early, leave late that’s it. So basically we navigated Otaru by observation, “Hey what’s that? Let’s check it out!” “Oh, hey, that looks weird! Cool! Let’s check that out..!” And the hardest thing was finding food. Not that there’s enough restaurants, there’s plenty with all sorts of food, it’s just finding one that fits all our needs (and wallets). So… exploring was the game. We found a map of the town, but with in the hour we we’re off the map. It was the best a couple of guys can do.

The first landmark we found was a small ramen ally. It was designed after the old Japanese style with old roofs and fish on the roof. Without a doubt it was cool. Each one of the shops served something a little different. One was a yakiniku (beef on a stick) which looked really good with all of its different styles. One of the shops was serving really good smelling ramen (Hokkaido Ramen) that is “the best.” Another shop carried a beef and rice dish that is cooked on your table with a dome shaped grill.

The building was just as awesome as the shops in it. Like I said the aesthetic resembled the old Japanese style roofs with the tower at the center. Each shop had sliding doors and that square wood and light tan color that is so common to Japanese architecture. You see a lot of this style everywhere, except that most of these places mix new appliances and modern lighting with the old building style. In this case you knew it was a touristy spot, but the whole Japanese building style was a flash back to Japanese art class at LC.

Across from the little ramen ally/ village was the Otaru Canal that spans all through the city to the Japanese sea. It reminded Robert of Amsterdam (when he was in the Air Force) with the cobble stone walkway and bridges. Along the walkway were rickshaws running about taking people on trips while others were offering to take people anywhere in Otaru they wanted. While tempted, all of us decided it’d be better to walk. Next time we might take him up on the offer. Each intersection between the canal and the street were plaza’s where people performed music or sold artsy wares. It was all pleasant to watch, there was no one begging us to buy or anything. It was fun to just walk and watch and enjoy the whole environment. In some places along the canal, you really felt the age of the place.

On the other side of the canal was a little Market street. This place really reminded me of Seaside, Oregon with crafts from the ocean and plenty of candies and seafood for sell. The real difference though, was that Otaru felt real, like a real old town that still operates like it did a hundred years ago. I say that because, Seaside and Astoria, Oregon is more tourists oriented while Otaru still operates a thriving fishing industry. In fact, a large amount of Sapporo’s fish comes from Otaru, so… while Otaru has tourism; tourism is only one part of its overall economy.

As we walked along this Market place, there was a mask shop. I walked in and found a shop specializing in ornate New Orleans style Masks. What was a store like doing here? Why New Orleans Masks? Was this Japan or somewhere else? It was fun just to see something totally different.

At 1pm we were hungry again so we went back on the prowl for food. We found a groovy place that was old and dark with Kerosene lamps and had an old smell about it. The food of choice was a bowl of udon soup, fries, and some sweet bread. We all ordered coffee and took pictures of the place even though there were signs everywhere saying to not take pictures. Again that “I’m a foreigner and I don’t understand” trick allowed us to get away with it. They played classical music in the big hall and people just we’re chilling enjoying the ambiance of the place. I tried to take long exposure shots of the place, but the best I could get was this kind of golden shot.

We left shortly after finishing our coffee and headed towards some more shops selling over priced nic-nacks. Otaru apparently is known for music boxes. We found some really cool ones that played tunes like yesterday by The Beatles as well as Mozart. I have to admit to you all, that however cool it was, a big store full of music boxes is like being in a clock shop at 12pm… kinda loud and obnoxious. We headed out and started going towards the sea.

After touring all the sights and sounds of Otaru’s tourist business we headed out towards a park Robert Saw and it was around 4pm. It was a small park dedicated to some big anchor and bobber thing. We weren’t really sure what it was doing there, but it had a rope guard around it so we figured we would clime it. Yep. Big rusty anchor bobble thing was just too temping! We had to clime it. According to the informational plaque, it was 12 ton’s we think but the Kanji could have said anything. We sat on this big giant rust ball for about an hour looking at the Japanese Sea.

One of us spotted a giant Ferris wheel and, like the whole trip thus far, we said, “Hey look at that… that’s cool you want to ride it? Yeah!” So rode it, we did. 400 yen a piece was all. We saw all of Otaru and the trains rolling in and out and the ocean it was all very cool. In fact it was so cool that we asked the staff guy if we could take it for one more revolution which he allowed for free (Arigatoo dude). It was a good end to a good day in Otaru.

After we got off the train I remembered that my host Dad birthday was the other day so I picked up a big bottle of Otaru microbrew (about 1 liter). I told the clerk that it was a present and so she wrapped it up all pretty like for me in gift wrap which is the custom here. Yep dudes, to all guys, “listen up.” In Japan, it’s typical for the store to wrap gift presents up all pretty and ornate for free. This saves on headaches, getting it to look nice.

Ok so for the last leg of our trip, we went and got ice cream and waited for the next train (which was an Airport Rapid Train 25 min!). Before our train showed up we spotted this sign in the smoking part of the platform.

We can cross Otaru off the list now; next weekend is a big trip to Noboribetsu and Edo wonderland! Stay tuned!

~J Out

PS… June-chan really liked the present!

The Weekend!

Well I made it to the weekend! It's not like it was some big feat, but I did make it. Weekend in Japanese is "Shuu-matsu" and often you get asked on friday what you're doing..

Today a couple of friends and I are going to the sleepy town of Otaru which borders the Japanese Sea. This is the same town that I went to when my host dad took me fishing. There's more to Otaru then what meets the eye I guess. Old buildings and sleepy coffee shops line the town's streets.

We're going to try to get there by train today... I figure it's going to be in the 1000 yen range, but that's ok. Otaru is a short distance away so getting there and back shouldn't be a prob.

Yesterday (friday the 13th) was my host father's birthday. Because it was on a friday, we're going to celebrate it today, however, my host mom (na-chan) doesn't know what time it'll start, but she'll call me when she knows... I'm not going let that ruin my Otaru trip though..

So next post I'll take you to the old sleepy town of Otaru.

~J

False Alarm

Some of you might of heard that an Earthquake hit Japan yesterday. I'm here to tell you that everything is ok. From the reports it seemed like it came off the east coast of Honshu not Hokkaido. According to the Japanese Meteorological Society and U.S. Geological Survey it was registered as a moderate earthquake of 5.8 magnitude, shortly before 10 a.m.

Sapporo was protected and didn't feel anything... At least I didn't and I was at home awake.

So.. no worries~

~J

Summary of the last post

Ok, perhaps the last post was long so I'll quickly jot down what's important and what to watch out for:

1. China, Japan, and S.Korea told N.Korea to not test a nuke or else.
2. Everyone is 90% sure North Korea tested a nuke, so N.Korea choose "else."
3. "Else" is being debated in the UN Security Council right now.
4. Japan wants to throw down on the North.
5. China is agreeing to some sanctions against the North, THIS ONE IS BIG!
   
6. South Korea-Japan and China-Japan are talking again after 5 years of bad blood.
7. Shinzo Abe (JP) is pushing to punish N.Korea and the U.S. is backing Japan.

Ok that's it... That's what's important...

Today we got lighting, thunder, and rain... cool 'eh?
oh and I bought and am listening to Ellegarden's Album: Riot on the Grill~

~J out.

The Domino effect: North Korea vs. Asia

Big News…

If you all aren't keeping up on news and, I don't mean the war in Iraq, you should know that tensions are running high, really high, over North Korea's Missile Test today. My last news report was about Abe's new post as Prime Minister. Since then, a series of non-stop actions have been taking place since Abe took office. From various sources I'll try to give you a time line. These series of events plague the Japanese news and are pretty remarkable to experience.

Here is what has been going on thus far…

Tuesday October 3rd:
On Tuesday, Abe heatedly denied Japanese Communist Party leader Kazuo Shii's (right) remark [that during a Diet session in 1997, Abe demanded "a modification" to the apology to wartime sex slaves who were forced to serve Japanese soldiers] that he was trying to change the pacifist Constitution to permit the Self-Defense Forces to go to war.

"Criticism that (our) purpose for revising the Constitution is to create a country that will engage in war overseas is completely off the target," Abe said, raising his voice.

But he failed to give any details about how he intended to revise the charter's Article 9, which prohibits collective defense and limits Japan's use of force only to self-defense.

North Korea says it plans nuclear test
North Korea's statement Tuesday that it will conduct a nuclear test "in the future" threatens to intensify the international standoff over its missile and atomic weapons programs and upset the already fragile balance in the region, according to analysts... A test would have "a significant impact" on public opinion in Japan and South Korea, perhaps fueling the nascent debate in Japan over whether it should develop nuclear weapons of its own.

Such an event would likely harden the U.S. position on the nuclear issue, as well as public opinion in Japan as well as in South Korea, and spark worries in China about its neighbors building up their militaries in response to a nuclear North Korea, analysts say.

"At the moment, North Korea is only saying that it has nuclear weapons. But if a nuclear test is carried out, there would no longer be any doubt as to whether North Korea is a nuclear power," a Western diplomat in Beijing said.

"It would become a completely different ballgame."

Wednesday October 4th:
Abe noncommittal on war stance
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe acknowledged Japan's wartime aggression but avoided giving his own opinion on the issue while speaking Tuesday at a Lower House plenary session. "I believe that politicians should be humble about speaking about war or history . . . because a politician's statements hold political and diplomatic meaning," Abe said during the Diet session.

U.S. hails summits
The United States on Monday welcomed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's plans to visit China and South Korea in an effort to mend strained ties. "This is really a matter for those countries to work out and to discuss on their own," State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said. "We definitely want to see Japan have positive relations with all its neighbors, including (South) Korea and China." Noting that China, South Korea and Japan cooperated with the U.S. in having the U.N. Security Council adopt a resolution condemning North Korea's July missile launches.

Sunday October 8th:

China, Japan oppose N Korea nuke test
Japan and China agreed on Sunday that a North Korean nuclear test "cannot be tolerated." [Prime Minister Shinzo] Abe also urged the North [Koreans] to heed the joint message. The common ground emerged as a South Korean politician said a North Korean nuclear test was not imminent and that the North was ready to drop its plans if Washington engaged in direct talks.

Abe, whose country has felt increasingly threatened by North Korea's missile and nuclear programs, promised to put the nuclear-test threat at the top of his agenda in summit meetings in China. He meets with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun in Seoul on Monday.

Nuke test unacceptable

The Japanese leader said he and Chinese President Hu Jintao found the prospect of a North Korean nuclear test unacceptable. "We need to prevent a nuclear North Korea," Abe told reporters after meeting with Hu. "We saw eye-to-eye that North Korea's announcement of a nuclear test cannot be tolerated because it is a great threat to East Asia and the international community."

Abe suggested that North Korea should pay attention to the agreement, coming as it did in a summit between two often estranged countries, one of which, China, is an ally of
North Korea.

"China, I must assume, has major influence," Abe said.

Monday October 9th:

Abe, Hu agree to push 'strategic' ties
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (left) agreed Sunday with Chinese President Hu Jintao (right) that the two nations will push forward a "strategic" partnership, breaking the ice in a diplomatic relationship that in recent years has grown increasingly cold.

Their meeting was the first summit between the two Asian powers in more than a year. They shared common ground on the North Korean nuclear crisis. A joint statement released after the summit stated that "both sides expressed deep concern about recent situations over the Korean Peninsula, including the issue of nuclear tests."

"President Hu and I agreed that a North Korean nuclear test would be a threat to East Asia as well as the rest of the world and that we cannot accept it," Abe said at a post summit news conference. "This agreement sends a strong message to North Korea."

Monday at around 10:36 a.m.:

North Korea Conducts 'Historic' Nuclear Test

North Korea carried out their first-ever nuclear test on Monday at around 10:36 a.m. (9:36 p.m. EDT on Sunday), putting to rest any doubt that the country has been working to back up its claims of working towards nuclear capabilities.

According to the communist regime's official news agency, the test was executed safely with no harmful effects, saying that it "was carried out under a scientific consideration and careful calculation.” The North Korean news agency said that the "historic event" would "contribute to defending the peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the area around it." President's Roh Moo-hyun's spokesperson, Yoon Tae-young, said that "Related countries are in consultations on the issue," and that Roh had called an emergency meeting to talk about responses to the news.

Shinzo Abe, Japan's new prime minister, arrived in Seoul on Monday in order to talk with President Roh about the damaged relations between the two respective nations as well as the recent nuclear threat North Korea made last Tuesday.

Japan's U.N. ambassador Kenzo Oshima, who leads the Security Council this month, said that "Should North Korea ignore calls of the international community, the Security Council will act consistent with its responsibility under the Charter of the United Nations." The Security Council is expected to discuss measures to be taken.

North Korea has shown that they are not to be underestimated or scoffed at. Though their missile tests proved to be "unsuccessful," and though they are not believed to possess the capability of reaching the U.S. with nuclear arms, it seems that the U.S. and the U.N. can no longer afford to rely on doubt to further delay significant action against North Korea.

------------------------------------------------------------------

It seems that the ball is rolling towards something intense. North Korea is acting against everything its neighbors are demanding. How this pans out is up to China's Leader Hu and Japan's New Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (who has been on the job a total of 15 days).

Out of this bazaar series of events comes here is some questions to think about:

1st: What is Korea's intentions? Is it power, money, or prestige?

2nd: For a over 5 years relations between Japan-China and Japan-S.Korea have been poor. However, in order to send a united message to N.Korea Japan, China, and S.Korea all need to work together. Will N.Korea's missile test bring the three North Asian Power players back to the table?

3rd: Will Shinzo Abe push to revise the charter's Article 9, which prohibits collective defense and limits Japan's use of force only to self-defense?

4th: Can Abe and his conservative party (The LDP) rally U.S.-Japan Support for an offensive position against N.Korea.

5th: How is this going to effect, nationally, political views of North Korea and will Tokyo make drastic changes in national security (like the U.S. has with the patriot act, FAA, etc.)?

I know first hand that it's on the news and has my host family worried. It's big news and it's on everyone's mind. My dad asked me earlier how Japan feels about Iraq and the war over there； it's not in the news here, the issue is Korea and their recent aggressive behaviors. In President Bush's first term two planes hit the World Trade Center in New York and it changed everything... Now Korea threatens to test Nuclear Missiles in Shinzo Abe's first term, there's a chance that such an event could change Japan as 9/11 changed the U.S.

to be continued...

~J out.

Hokusei Gakuen University's Matsuri

On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday I helped out in our club's (Hi-C) Matsuri festival stand. Matsuri is different for everyone. About a week earlier the local shinto shrine had it's matsuri. Basically matsuri is just a festival event when clubs sell all different goods and host games for people to play and have fun.

Hi-C's plan was to make crepes, lots of crepes, and then sell them at their matsuri stand. Friday night they planned on making the crepe base and then all durring the next day they made them and sold them. In a weird series of events I got involved in making those crepes friday night. The atmosphere was pleasant and the people friendly. We make crepe bases till roughly 11:00pm that night in college apartments "Kirari."

The next day (Saturday); The weather was bad with wind and rain howling and the temp around 11 degrees celcius (i.e. cold). The club made all different types from chocolate to banana to you name it. The price was set at 200 yen- 300 yen. In the beginning they sold pretty good, but as the day rolled on the sales dropped slowly. Even though the sales were slow, I learned about Japanese marketing/selling stuff proceedure. So here's a crash course in selling to Japanese people.

To get people to come to your stand: You say, "Irashiemase." (en: please come in)
To get people to look and buy your wares you say: "Iraga desu ka?" (en: would you look/buy)
When they buy you bow (jap style) and say "Arigatoo Gozaimasu."

I did that all day until I decided to roll at around 4:30pm.

Now... from what I hear, the club didn't clean up good enough when they left at 6:00pm so the school banned the selling of crepes the next day. So, when I came back to check the stand on Sunday no one was there exept for a few people standing around. The plan changed from hanging out selling crepes to going karaoking in a karaoke hall in Odori. Shortly after, we left to go shopping for a minute or two where I found a cool traditional Japanese store.

After shopping we headed towards an awesome hole in the wall restraunt that opened up below into a really happening place. Through out the night we were fed Japanese dish after Japanese dish. It was a real great time to end the weekend.... KOMPAI! (en: cheers!)

~J

BUNRAKU (or NINGYO JORURI)

Edit: Pics are up now! Enjoy!


Ok So here's the Puppet Show Post!

Last Thursday I was given the opportunity to go to a Bunraku or Traditional Japanese Puppet Show. The show was one stop past Odori park in Sapporo's Old Town. The cost for one person I heard was roughly $50 usd for each ticket, however the school picked up the tab. (Thanks!) There is a bit of humor to all of this, due to the fact that when I was trying to tell my host family I'd be going to a Bunraku performance; they didn't know what on earth Bunraku was. They had never been to bunraku, kabuki, or a noh performance before and they're Japanese! Not to worry, I'm sure there's something I haven't done in America before... ... ...but I can't think of it yet.
We went by subway. We started in Oyachi and got off at the station after Odori (the name I forget). The theater was located in a giant park. As we headed in, we were all given tickets with our seat number (ex. 2ね8) and we're seated accordingly. The "ne" in 2ne8 is just the order we were seated in according to the Japanese hiragana alphabet (あ、か、さ、た、なーね). After being seated we waited for the play to begin. No one really knew what was about to happen, because no one in our group (Japanese included) had ever been to one.

If you don't know officially what Bunraku is... here's a great description from the Japan Art Council :

Bunraku is the traditional puppet theatre of Japan, a high-level stage art of which Japan is very proud of. “Bunraku” was originally the name of the theatre in which this puppet drama was performed, but gradually it came to be used as the name of the art itself and is today used as the official name of the puppet theatre. The art only came to be known as "Bunraku" around the end of the Meiji era (1868-1912); up until that time, the art was known as ayatsuri joruri shibai ("puppet joruri plays") or ningyo joruri, or "puppet narrative drama." Now,joruri is a type of shamisen music, and the name reflects that the puppet plays were performed to a joruri accompaniment. Bunraku's world renown stems not only from its high-quality artistic technique, but also from the high level of its joruri music and the unique nature of manipulating the puppets―each puppet requires three puppeteers to bring it to life. Throughout the world there are a number of types of puppet theatre, and they all treat with simple stories such as myths and legends. There is no other art that requires a whole day for its long, serious drama to unfold. Furthermore, in most of the world's puppet theatres, great pains have been taken to hide the manipulation of the puppeteers from the audience. There are several methods of achieving this: suspending the puppet from strings attached to the ceiling, as with marionettes; placing a hand within the puppet and moving it with the fingers, as with guignol puppets; and casting shadows upon a screen, as with the wayan kulit shadow puppets. But in Bunraku, the manipulators appear openly, in full view of the audience. These two characteristics, which make it completely different from the other puppet theatre traditions around the world, can be said to be the reason that Bunraku is called the most highly developed puppet theatre art in the world.

I don't know if this is what we actually experienced, but it was a highly sophisticated puppet show. The show began with a man walking to the stage and giving us a history lession on bunraku. This informational was of course in Japanese, in fact it was all in Japanese. He basically said where it was started and the elements of Bunraku and such and then he left. The next guy that showed up was the narrator who gave a speech on the elements of narrorating both the guy and gal's voices. In bunraku, there is no women at all so the narrator has to do both man and women's voices. The skill involved is intense and is taught the same way as the age old Master to Apprentice.

The next guy to enter the stage was the shaminsen guy who gave examples of playing and beats and assisting the narrator. He showed the audience all the parts of the Shaminsen and how he learned how to play the 3 stringed instrument. A note on Shaminsen is that it uses friction pegs so sometimes it goes out of tune, but honestly I wouldn't know if it was out of tune or in tune.

The Last guy came out with two other assistances who helped him with a large female puppet. This was the Puppeteer who demonstrated the skills of making a puppet come to life. The examples he showed the audience were facinating to say the least. The way he moved it made it come to life, not like puppets on Mr. Rodgers. This was just awesome how it made it bend and turn and bow like we do. The whole performance was performed in this masterful way that at times made you forget about the puppeteer and just imagine the puppets as people. Culturally, the main Puppeteer wears a white robe with a black robe over it. His head is exposed and he often makes the expressions his puppet makes in order to consume himself and the audience with realism. The other assistances however wear black robes with face masks so that only the puppet and the puppeteer is exposed. It's like any staff person at a show, concert, or public hall wears a black outfit to "disapear" so to speak.

When he left the performance began and the curtin went up. It was 1pm and we didn't get outta there until 4:30pm. The performance was awesome, I'm sure it'd be better if I knew what was going on, but I didn't. Not sure what I was seeing, I liked the outfits and the characters and shaminsens and stuff. My friend and I went and took some snap shots of the play, although I heard afterwards that pictures may not of been allowed. "Oh well" I say... sometimes it's easier to appologize then to ask permission, right? Plus, it's not about me anyway... it's about you all!

To review the entire performance would be crazy! I'll say it was equally cool as it was boring. Most of us might of dozed off for the slow scenes, but woke up to the cool scenes. I'll admit I was bored so instead of dozing, I took pictures... lots and lots of pictures (about 101 pics and short movies). Overall it was a good experience and a look at what Japan has to offer.

~J out