Toya Day 77: A Temporary Farewell

Sakura Nursery is my favourite of the Nurseries, without a shadow of a doubt. Its kids are friendly, it’s staff are amazing and it’s set in a really nice place – surrounded by open fields!

So we went there this morning. We began by making Christmas wreaths. These were made of pinecones attached to some wrapped sticks, and then finished with glitter and pipe-cleaners of all sorts of colours. The ones the children did looked great, and it was a pretty fun activity with which to start the day!

Oh, Christmas…

After that it was time to once again head outside to play in the snow 🙂 Me and Brendan began with an attempt to make a Yukidaruma, but unfortunately the snow was too powdery to do so and after about 30 minutes of rolling around the same sized snowball, we gave up. So then, of course, the snowball fighting began 😉 The snowballs which contacted were intrinsically satisfying, especially the ones on the staff 😉

It then turned out that one of the kids was building an ice cave, so we decided to help him! This was pretty great – we cleared it out and made it into a nice little nursery-sized cubbyhole 🙂 However, it was not to last. This same kid then climbed on the roof and collapsed it in! Dreams = crushed 😉

After lunch and a bit of pretending I was going to eat them, we had what would be our last storytime at Sakura Nursery until April. Sakura closes for the first four months of the year for the simple reason that there is no need for it at that point – since the children are all the children of farmers, who have no work between late December and early April, the Nursery closes. Some will go to Toya Nursery, and some will never return to Sakura – we’ll see three of them in the Elementary School come the new school year, however 🙂

Because this is what happens when you put ‘Sayonara’ into Google 😉

The afternoon was taken up largely with lesson planning and travel planning. The Tokyo trip should be fully booked tomorrow with some luck 🙂 It was then time to head to the Gakkodo, where the place turned out to be unusually empty. There were only three children today, and one of them left after only twenty minutes. Of course, this was an opportunity that had presented itself – Kimura-sensei brought out the hotplate from the kitchen and we made pancakes 😀 Unfortunately my attempt at flipping didn’t go so well, but I did at least discover that butter and chocolate are a winning combination! They really are quite excellent together 🙂

After that, we cooked dinner – a nice chicken korma, and the first one to go properly well since I’ve been here. The issue was the bouillon, which is very different to the Oxo cubes of home. You have to use much less of it – so I used strictly 100ml instead of my usual amount which would usually just cover the chicken. So it went well, and it tasted great!

They say that Korma is the boring curry, but when it hits the spot… it really hits the spot!

Finally we rounded out the evening with Kendo. We practiced striking more and we even did a little blocking with shoulder strikes.

Bed beckoned at that point, as it had been a pretty exhausting day!

Toya Day 76: Christmas Shopping in Sapporo

Sapporo is a really nice city – I like it a lot. It’s open, it’s big, there’s lots to do and it’s got a very pleasant atmosphere. It lacks the grandeur of Tokyo, but it makes up for it by being just so much more laid back.

Anyway, we took the 9:49 bus to Sapporo from the Mizu no Eki, which takes roughly two hours to arrive. On the way, I got my first daytime look at Rusutsu Resort, which is the place where I’ll be going skiing at some point 🙂 It looks very fancy, and it looks like it’ll have a price tag to match! Nassfeld-Hermagor seems very far away!

We arrived in Sapporo at noon and, on Erica’s suggestion, went into Bic Camera. On the bottom floor, I sated my urge for some fried chicken, before heading upstairs to commence Christmas shopping!

Bic Camera Sapporo – albeit on a much warmer day than when we went!

Bic Camera is the stereotypical Japanese electronics and department store. I could spend days and millions of yen in there, given the time and money to do so! I like these kinds of places – the tech-lust that comes over you is amazing as stare into the highly-specced cameras, brushed-metal laptops and 72″ televisions! One day, I will be able to afford this!

The very top was the Toys and Gifts section, wherein I purchased gifts for my two lady-cousins. It was a very odd shop that sold some very odd things – Neon Genesis Evangelion character models in skimpy costumes, nurse uniforms, about a thousand types of plushie and even a shirt that said ‘I love Kareraisu’ on it! It was great!

After Bic Camera, we went down to the market to look for more gifts. Sapporo’s indoor market is very large – about two kilometres long from end to end, with shops all the way down and the road intersecting it several times. It has a huge variety of shops, too, from small curry bars and hobby shops to chains like GEO and MacDonalds, it sold almost anything you could ever ask for.

Sapporo’s main market street – it’s very long, perhaps 2 kilometers or so.

 

Of particular note was that hobby shop. It sold lots of unusual things – as well as the usual stuff like model kits and train sets, it sold weapons! Real katanas being the most immediately outstanding, as well as throwing stars and throwing knives. There was also a selection of military surplus gear, including some armbands and badges from Nazi Germany! It was a bit shocking to see, actually!

Regardless, the next place we went was the GEO. I did some more Christmas shopping, and I felt more than a little good about myself when I recognised not one but two of the songs playing on the radio! They sell some great stuff in that shop, I just wish I had money to afford the vast amounts of otaku memorabilia!

The final place we visited in Sapporo was the Official Shop for the Nippon Ham Fighters baseball team. If you’re wondering about the odd name, I can explain – the Nippon Ham company (which is a meat packing company), actually owns the team outright. It’d be a bit like calling a football team at home ‘Bernard Matthews United’, but such is the case in Japan!

The only thing left at this point was to catch the bus home (after the mandatory visit to Mister Donut, of course 🙂 It was a very full bus, and by chance I ended up sitting next to one of our third year students in the High School. I was just casually watching some Tales openings, and the kid noticed – he likes Tales too! This was cool, because we got chatting about videogames and that’s just awesome 😀

Because videogames are awesome 😀 Finally, I can discuss Tales with people in real life and not just over the internet!

He also knows the secret that I like K-ON. As Kamada would say: ‘Oh no’!

Toya Day 75: A Mayoral Lunch

This morning we’d be learning to make soba with Yako-san, in a small complex on the outskirts of town – actually an old water mill. Of course, this meant no lie-in as we were beginning at 9:00AM!

It was an unusually cold morning even for Hokkaido at -8°C, and this was made all the worse by the choice of location – the water mill was freezing! It had no heating and it was very poorly insulated, I think.

Anyway, Yako made the first batch of soba as we looked on – it’s an intricate and time-consuming process, but not an overly difficult one. It only actually uses two ingredients – buckwheat flour and water. You begin my slowly mixing in the water to the flour, bit by bit, until you’re left with crumbs a bit like those in a crumble. Then, you press it together thoroughly, kneading it, to form a dough. This is made into a perfect circle, which is then flattened by hand, and then by pin to a thin sheet. It then gets rolled and folded to get rid of imperfections and flatten it fully. Finally, you cut it with a very big knife, bit by bit! We, of course, tried this out – and we did well at the process until the cutting stage, where we with our fat Western hands cut Soba too big – still, it went reasonably well. The entire process takes about an hour and a half.

It’s an intricate process to make Soba, but damn it tastes good at the end!

And it was only after we’d made the Soba that we were told what its use would be – we were apparently having lunch with the Mayor! Now, the Mayor is a decent enough guy and when we met him last time he seemed nice enough, but having a chat and having a meal are two different things, and I wasn’t even wearing matching socks!

The meal consisted of the Soba and several other items. Also included were several pieces of Tempura, some pumpkin and bean soup, some kimpira, some cabbage, some brined daikon (which has a strange taste) and an umeboshi.

Let’s dwell on the umeboshi for a minute.

Japan… why?!?!?!?!?

Genuinely – and bearing in mind that most Japanese food is lovely- it was the worst thing I’ve ever tasted. It was more sour than any lemon and it made my face curl. An umeboshi is a bitter plum (an ume), which has been soaked in brine. I definitely don’t recommend!

The whole affair came and went, however, fairly quickly. We had a photograph, and then it was time to leave. I have no idea how me and Brendan get ourselves into these situations which are way out of our league – we’ve met a Colonel in the JGSDF, we’ve shaken hands with an Olympian-turned-politician and we’ve had lunch with Public Officials. We’re just lowly gap year students!

This is what me and Brendan feel like next to some of the people we meet!

The afternoon and evening? Well, they were mainly comprised of Brendan being asleep. I beat the Elite Four on Pokemon White 2, though, and I look forward to heading to the postgame! In the night we also went for a nice soak in the Onsen, so I’m still keeping up my unbroken Onsen record!

Toya Day 74: I Get Better

My voice had landed back in Chitose Airport, gotten over its jetlag and had a nice time in Hawaii. It had returned completely! The School Nurse was right, I think – it took a few days but I can now talk again!

Anyway, the Elementary School. We began the day with the 5th Grade class which we enjoy working with so much. They were basically reiterating the alphabet, so it was fairly simple to do. We were doing some puzzles wherein you had to join dots based on the letter called out to make a picture. It was simple, and the kids all breezed through it. At the end, however, we did a really odd version of the alphabet song –  it was even cheesier than Seven Steps! Well, maybe not, but it was very cheesy 😉

Next up was some good, old-fashioned physical education again. This time we began with the whole school, in a rather odd event somewhat like an egg and spoon race. But, of course, this being Japan, they used a ladle and a golf ball instead :S Oh, and our team came 5/6, but that’s besides the point!

Good old golf ball and ladle 😉

With the Second Grade, we played football in what can only be described as a highly competitive game! It ended nil-nil, with some close shots but no actual winners. After that we played an odd sort of football version of baseball, which is almost exactly as it sounds. I scored a home run, though!

Then, we had the third and fourth grades, again for P.E. This time, it was rather more simple – they had several different ways to catch a ball (with different levels of difficulty) and they were basically boosting their hand-eye coordination.

As we went up the Fourth Grade classroom for lunch, I noticed something on the wall – Dragon Quest Characters! Each student had a level assigned to them, and the teacher said that they gained a level for every good piece of homework they did. This is frankly brilliant – it’s turning homework into an RPG!

I love the Yon-nen RPG! It genuinely is a great idea, though 🙂

After lunch and a brief bit of snowball fighting with our students ( 😉 ), we went to the sixth grade. Here, we reiterated shapes again, adding this time the new dimension of size (i.e, large square, small square and medium square). We also played bingo – I won a game and I lost a game – such is the way with Toya Shougakko!

As Toya Shougakko ended, we headed for the After School Club. There, nothing of much note happened beyond us looking at some photos of past volunteers. This was quite interesting, as the photos dated as far back as 2002 and Machiko could put a story to all of them. Apparently, Shiro even once went to Nakajima Island! It’s not exactly his scene, I think – there’s no Louis Vuitton there, after all! Dodgeball then ensued, and we educated the children in what Fruitella are 😉

Oh, Shiro… You really are an incredibly fasionable bloke, you know 😉

In short, they’re awesome.

The evening was a rather simple one ‑ there was no Yosakoi so it was a relaxing night of Onsenning and playing assorted videogames 🙂

Toya Day 73: Back to the Junior High

I really like Toya Junior High School. It’s kind of hard to describe – it just seems like a ‘perfect’ school – the students are fantastically behaved and motivated, the staff are warm and friendly, and some of the ways in which the school is run are brilliant in both concept and execution. But I’m waffling.

We arrived in the Junior High on time at 9:00AM and we were informed that Nishita-sensei would be coming in late, so we got to reading through our lesson plans and then reading the books we’d brought with us. For me, it was Around the World in 80 Days – one of my favourite books and a really great travel and adventure story.

When Nishita-sensei arrived, we departed for the first class. We did ‘Which is this, whose is that?’ which was actually fairly simple to teach. It boiled down to pointing at random objects and asking who it belonged to. The lesson wasn’t so much about the sentence structure or the vocabulary, it was more about which words to replace when forming sentences, and in that regard it was successful.

For the second class, we covered hopes and dreams for the future, for which Brendan and I had each written a paragraph about our own. In mine, I basically told the truth – I want to be an English teacher here in Japan, and I’m essentially after Nishita-sensei’s job! Junior High level the place I think I’d most like to work, too – the reason being that it offers a great compromise between the serious nature of the High School and the free-spiritedness of the Elementary School.

After that, it was lunchtime, and it was amazing to see how the Junior High was served – once again – actual, edible food designed for human consumption! The food in the High School, with all of Kamada’s jibes at it, is at best bland and at worst unedible. But the food in the Junior High isn’t only edible – it’s actually tasty! We had cream stew and a bread roll, and it was genuinely enjoyable.

Mmmmmmm, cream stew 🙂

The third class was on shopping, and we did a similar lesson to the one with the High School class a while ago – we did a shopping roleplay and skit, and then had students emulate it. They were also impressed, I think, with some of the stuff we’d brought in. One spent a good ten minutes just flicking through my British PlayStation magazine!

A bonus for our Junior High work was that my voice had, at least, started posting its luggage home. It was much better than the day before, at least, and it meant that I was actually able to do the work that Nishita-sensei wanted us to do. Thank god for that!

Well, Junior High work over, it was time for a momentous event which I’ve been badgered into over several weeks of Skype-nagging 😉

It was time for a haircut.

Japan: The only place where this hair is possible.

Erica had translated our requests for what we wanted, and so we headed down to the same salon she uses (she always has great hair, so we felt we could trust it). The lady in there was really nice, and she did a great job of both our hair. We had a chat – a chat actually mostly in Japanese! – and she runs a lovely establishment. It cost ¥3700, but you can’t put a price on looking fabulous!

A strange thing then happened. There was an old lady on the pavement which I’d crossed to. By this point, Brendan had headed home already so I was on my own. As soon as I said my customary ‘Konnichiwa’ to this old lady, she immediately moved off the pavement and walked down the middle of the road! I asked if she was alright, but I was met with silence. Somewhat creeped out, I went into the Mizu no Eki for a bit to wait for her to pass.

It was odd.

Not quite this creepy, but still…

The evening brought with it Kendo and we continued to work on the Kotei strike – this time with Taka’s help – and by the end we had somewhat worked out the technique. The difficult part is succeeding it with a Men strike in quick-time. Still, we had made progress on it by the end.

It was then time for our usual Thursday Onsen session – and although we were surprised by the lack of Matsubara (the guy is big into Onsenning) it was a nice soak after what had been a long day and, for me at least, a long week!

Toya Day 72: FFVII:AC – Final Fantasy VII: Adult Class

Yes, the title is a bit odd, and I’ll explain why in a bit. But first, I’ll tell you about the rest of the day.

We were finally back in Sakura Nursery! This was a positive thing – I think it’s my favourite of the Nurseries – and it was good to return after our two-week absence. The kids were as energetic as ever, and as if they had to catch up on two week’s worth of absolute violence, they jumped on us immediately 😉

Of course, we expected this from the outset, so we didn’t mind at all. After the usual nursery warm up exercises, we then went outside for yet more snowballing! The kids at Sakura are better at dodging than Toya Nursery and since there are fewer of them, it’s harder to land hits. Still, the Nursery Assistant made for a fine target, even if she did think the same as me 😉

So, here’s me playing artiste and using a black and white image!

 

There was also somewhat of an element of me pretending that I was going to eat some of them 😀

After the work at Sakura Nursery was done, we returned to the Sogo Center, where, it must be said, that nothing much of note really happened other than our Japanese Christmas Shopping!

We settled on several gifts which I think the people who receive them will enjoy. We ordered gifts for Kamada-sensei, Jeremie, Taka and Matsubara – the latter two got a jazz CD and a Chopin CD respectively, but Kamada-sensei’s and Jeremie’s will be revealed only on a request basis (unless said requests are from Kamada-sensei and Jeremie 😉 ). From abroad, a rather large order was put in for chocolates and whiskey – because who doesn’t love those things?

Chocolate and whiskey – is there any better combination?

The great thing about all of this so far is that I didn’t really need to use my still-dead voice much. However, that was about to change. We were planning for the Junior High (tomorrow), where Nishita-sensei’s activities all require us to talk extensively. I could only pray.

And, of course, Wednesday Night is the Adult Class. Erica had given me the chance to back out, but I didn’t want to for several reasons – firstly, it was very short notice. Secondly, I wasn’t actually sick and  thought I could manage through the board. That sort of turned out to be true.

My original lesson plan, before my voice decided to go on holiday, was to do, of all things, intonation. Then, I remembered the sage words of advice I’d been given by a Mr. Alfie Wickers – ‘Teachers have followed an ancient code since the beginning of time – if you’re out of your depth, put on a video’.

Sage words, indeed, although I only had access to two movies in English which I’d actually seen myself – the English dub of My Neighbour Totoro and Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. I chose the latter for two reasons – I’ve never seen the dubbed Totoro so I don’t know how the quality of it is, and I wanted them to watch something they’d likely know nothing about and that was more likely with Advent Children.

As it turns out, not a particularly great teaching resource…

Let’s just say it wasn’t the greatest lesson ever.

A technical hiccup about ten minutes into the film made me waste another ten by having to essentially set everything up again. It was soul-destroying. I couldn’t even apologise with my lack of voice.

Once it resumed, things improved, but when we stopped to look at vocabulary and intonation, it became clear how difficult teaching is when you can’t speak.

All in all it was a poor lesson, and I hate leaving with that feeling. I’m just glad they were so understanding about the whole matter, and if nothing else I suppose it gave them a chance to practice their English a bit.

Hopefully the voice will get sick of Hawaii soon and fly home.

Toya Day 71: A Trip to the School Nurse

So, we’d be working in the High School today, as is the case with every Tuesday, but there was something of an issue with this which I’ll come on to in a minute.

Unusually, we only had one class today, which would turn out to be a godsend in light of my ‘circumstances’. My voice had completely betrayed me – left, presumably enjoying Wakkanai over the weekend it had gone there again, leaving me almost completely unable to speak. I’m not exaggerating – I genuinely couldn’t talk. Not good when you’re supposed to be an ALT!

So, yes, we entered the Second-Year High School Class, and antics ensued. Kamada, with his understanding nature, excused me the embarrassment of trying to help with the vocab exercises, and after assessing the student’s reading ability, we moved on to our activity.

Not being much other use, I was essentially Brendan’s scribe. Kamada wanted us to teach them some sentence structure for their Winter assignment – what they want to do over the Winter holiday. It was simple stuff – ‘I want to visit…’, ‘I want to see…’ et cetera, and they all got it pretty easily. Thankfully, after Kamada explained what was wrong with me, the students were all understanding of my ailment and didn’t laugh at and take advantage as I’m sure my compatriots in the West would have done had an ALT been in a similar awkward position 😉

It was at this point – at the end of the lesson – that Kamada remembered to give me the throat lozenges that Erica had left for me…

Not my photograph, but the same type I had. They tasted fairly decent, actually.

Another …interesting… High School lunch later, Kamada said that we could leave early because there were no more classes. We headed back to the Sogo Centre, where one of the more unexpected events of my time here occurred – a major power cut! The Office became abuzz with activity as everyone tried to clarify the situation. People were dispatched to the local schools, and the phones were ringing off the hooks as people tried to find out what was happening.

In Toya, it’s not as simple as losing your television and your kettle if the power is out. The real issue is keeping people warm. I should probably note at this point the cause of the power outage – the enormous blizzard that had been blowing all day. It had set five inches of snow in a single morning, and while it thinned out towards the end of the afternoon, the final snowfall depth was about eight inches.

This doesn’t seem to be an option, either. The only place that sells candles is the Aeon supermarket in Date, and even then they’re expensive.

Toya, thankfully, had its power restored in only a few hours. But I pity the people in Noboribetsu and Muroran who have been hit even harder and are spending the night without warmth.

My throat, sadly, did not improve with the power supply. Erica took me back to the High School to see the Nurse, who examined it. It’s nothing major – it’s not even a cold – it’s just some swelling, although I don’t know the cause. She gave me some painkillers and Erica also gave me some medicine. She also prescribed the Onsen, so I was more than happy to go!

It was a bit like this 😉

Yosakoi was off tonight, anyway, so there was no harm in an Onsen visit. Matsubara-sensei was also there, and I tried my best in spite of my voice to have a chat with him. Apparently, the blizzard had been seriously damaging – the road to Sobetsu was closed, and a trip to Date took 90 minutes by car (it normally doesn’t even take half of that).

If Japan was this bad in a blizzard, I can only imagine the ensuing disaster had it come to Britain!

Toya Day 70: When One Becomes Literally Speechless ;)

I arose from my slumber for jam on toast, and my voice was rather raspy. This was only the cornerstone of my speechlessness!

We went to Toya Nursery, and we proceeded to engage in the modelling putty again. The kids were making ‘food’ out of it, so naturally I joined in as well – I made some damn fine modelling putty sushi! Even one of the assistants complimented by artistry – I may not be able to draw, paint or pursue any other form of artistry, but damn it, I can mould modelling putty!

After this, it was time for some good old-fashioned Nursery warm-up exercises. However, you could tell that everyone was itching to get out into the snow – the younger kids were already there, the male instructor was throwing snowballs around, and it just looked awesome!

It was practice – really it was!

We joined them fairly quickly, and more Yukigassen ‘Practice’ began! It became a protracted battle between three sides – us, the other staff, and about five of the Nursery girls. And I’d like to say we won – we certainly obliterated the male teacher with an awesome double-team, but those girls were damn persistent!

Things continued, and eventually, we went for lunch and then left the Nursery for the day.

After the Nursery, we went to the Sogo Centre where, again, very little actually happened. I’m sorry about the rather dull nature of this blog post! That is, except, for me beginning to go into a steady, disheartening spiral of voice loss. By the late afternoon, my voice was very hoarse, and I couldn’t form a coherent sentence with my voice. I think it was the dry air of the room that worsened it, but I can’t be sure.

Creepy, yes. But also the best visual metaphor I can find for losing my voice!

Regardless, we ploughed on through the day. Dinner came and went, and then we went to Kendo. Things got a little different this time – we started learning the Kotei strike, which is a strike to the wrist. It seems in principal similar to the Men strike but with the swing ending much lower – at hip level rather than shoulder level as with the Men strike. Progress! It was a private, Matsubara-only lesson today – no Taka, so communication was difficult and we therefore weren’t very good at the Kotei strike 😉 Of course, we’ll probably improve over time.

Kendo in general is very different to my experience of Taekwondo. Taekwondo required you to learn a lot of different techniques including kicks, punches and elbow strikes. It also required many different stances and blocks. Kendo doesn’t – it only has one stance and five strikes, and thus the minutiae become much more important – those strikes have to be done to perfection. The timing of the strike, the fumikomi and the shout at once is the most difficult part, I think. And then you need to remember it has to be done fast, and to a certain level of power, with the shinai lifted to a certain height above your head, with your arm at shoulder level when the strike is over. Individually, these aren’t difficult to do – it’s doing them all at once and at speed which is the hard part.

These are the Kotei which you’d hit in a Kotei strike.

Still, we’re improving. We’re certainly better than we were just a few weeks ago, and hopefully that Sho-dan exam is within our reach 🙂

Maybe I should end by saying something really cheesy like ‘This Blog is my voice!’

Toya Day 69: When Toya seems like Okinawa

Despite the extreme cold, we were sad to bid farewell to Wakkanai. It’s a very nice city and I’d love to go back one day. We didn’t even get a chance to savour our final hours in the city because we were up at the crack of dawn to catch the 7:10AM train!

The trains they use on the Soya Main Line really are a far cry from the Shinkansen seen on the other Islands in Japan (Hokkaido is the only one of the four main islands lacking one) – it’s an older train, presumably designed around safety and durability rather than raw speed, but it’s pleasant enough – large, spacious seats and a good level of warmth. Apparently they’re building a Shinkansen to Hakodate in a few year’s time, and by 2020 they’ll have eventually extended it to Sapporo. Maybe Wakkanai will get one eventually 🙂

The current train running on the Soya Main Line – the JR Super Hokuto Limited Express! It may look more like an Armoured Train than a passenger one, but it’s actually rather nice inside!

Anyway, the train was much busier on the return journey. Indeed, by Asahikawa which is roughly 2/3 of the way down the line, there were standees on the train. I was lucky enough to have a seat all the way, having boarded at the terminus, but a significant portion of people weren’t. I think that when we go to Nosappu-misaki in February we’ll get seat reservations just in case!

It was just past midday when we arrived in Sapporo, which is the largest city in Hokkaido, and the reason we’d taken the early train was so that we could explore Sapporo a bit. After some minor frustrations with coin lockers which we eventually resolved, we headed out of JR Sapporo Station!

Sapporo is a beautiful city – reminding me more of an American city than Tokyo. I mentioned to Brendan how the city’s look reminded me of Dallas in Texas, although of course the temperature was lower! We had no real objectives and we just roaming around the station area, but we eventually came across a large, red-brick building.

The ‘Akarenga’ – which literally means ‘Red Brick’ is also one of the oldest buildings in Hokkaido.

It was called the ‘Akarenga’ and it used to be the Headquarters of the Governor of Hokkaido. Built in the 19th Century to a European design, which was really quite grandiose, it was an impressive sight. It was also open to the public, so we had a look inside, visiting the old Governor’s Office and the Exhibit Room. This room had letters in from the G8 Summit, signed by Gordon and Sarah Brown, President Bush and others, thanking the Governor of Hokkaido for his hospitality during the summit.

Following that, we headed once again into the streets of Sapporo. Thankfully, they’re organised quite logically in an American-style gridblock pattern. We eventually found our way to Sapporo’s somewhat famous clock tower, which is a bit like a smaller version of Tokyo Tower.

Still, it gives a rather impressive view of Sapporo from the top! Sapporo really is a major city – in Japan, cities can be quite small with as few as 30,000 people, so to see a ‘real’ one was quite refreshing. The business and entertainment area is hemmed in on either side by mountains, and the city stretches out into the valley ahead. A pleasant change from Toya and Date!

Sapporo City is quite large, and it has a real city feel compared to Date, Muroran or Wakkanai.

After a brief sighting of some more nationalists (which, again, the general public are quite happy to ignore!), we headed into an Excelsior Cafe, recalling our early days in Tokyo. I had some Royal Milk Tea – very strong tea made with what I can only assume is gold-top milk – and a chocolate mousse dessert, which was delicious. I was sorely tempted by the old mystery cake, but the chocolate prevailed 😉

The final place we’d visit in Sapporo would be a GEO Store, which is the same chain as the video store in Date. However, this was a big, multi-story department store with lots of sections and different things to buy. After a brief perusal of the game section (where we saw the blingiest PS3 ever!), we went into the ‘Toy’ department. Odd things happen in Japanese Toy Departments. I’ll end the public part of this with the purchase of a Gundam Model Kit – for the full sordid details of this place, you’ll have to private message me!

Ground-level Sapporo is very wide and open, and very pleasant to roam around. I look forward to coming back!

As we returned to JR Sapporo Station, we realised how huge it was. JR Tower alone, which we think are the offices for JR Hokkaido, is one of the tallest buildings in Hokkaido, hosting a multiplex cinema, a shopping centre and several restaurants within it. And then on the other side was another Department Store – Daimaru, which is a very upmarket clothes and perfume shop not dissimilar to Harvey Nichol’s in Leeds.

So, we caught the bus home, and thus ended our first real adventure in Japan. The return journey to Toya seemed relatively short after the trip to Wakkanai at only about an hour and forty minutes, and the bus took us straight to Toyamura instead of Abuta where we’d have needed to switch buses anyway.

We immediately noticed as we stepped off the bus just how warm Toya is. Oh, the snow is still on the ground, and you wouldn’t exactly sunbathe on the shores of Lake Toya at the moment – but this place genuinely is like Okinawa after the cold of Soyamisaki!

Toya Day 68: The Northernmost Point in Japan

This was it. Wakkanai. The place we’d been anticipating for so long, and it had now all come to fruition. The place we’d come to see – the Northernmost point at Cape Soya – was only hours off.

The day was a cold one – quite in line with the weather reports from the internet. We headed to JR Wakkanai Station, where the bus terminal to Cape Soya is located, and we ate breakfast in the bakery in the station – some very nice varieties of bread and some wonderful coffee – nice, heavy food for the cold of the day!

The completely frozen road just outside our hotel!

The bus to Cape Soya arrived, and we boarded it with anticipation. The bus goes along the coast of the very cold-looking Sea of Okhotsk, and past several beaches that you really wouldn’t want to sunbathe on! It was a long, forty-minute wait to reach the Cape, but it was exciting.

Still better than Blackpool, though, I think 😉

We arrived just past midday. The bus stop is just next to the northernmost point monument, so we headed over immediately.

It was a very satisfying feeling. At 12:25PM Japan Standard Time on the 24th of November 2012, I was the Northernmost person in Japan.

Me and Brendan as the Northernmost people in Japan, stood on the Cape Soya Monument in Soyamisaki!

One could even see the Sakhalin Islands from the Cape – these are disputed territory between Japan and Russia, and the weather needs to be clear to see them. It was good to be able to do so, especially as the weather took a rapid turn for the worse! The snow picked up along with the wind, and the temperature according to a gauge on the souvenir shop was -11°! It was very cold in Soyamisaki.

The distant, disputed Sakhalins.

We began searching for a cafe, but to no avail. Much of Soyamisaki was closed for whatever reason, with only the gift shop being open. So we headed in and loaded up on Northernmost souvenirs 😉

The main street in Soyamisaki – a very bleak place!

We then headed up the hill to the observation point, from where you could see the entire town as well as the Monument to Peace – commemorating a Korean Airlines Plane which was accidentally shot down over disputed Soviet Airspace – essentially 300 people killed for political stupidity.

The view over the town from the Observation Point – Soyamisaki is a fishing port, and as such has a large dock.

Anyway, the bus back to Wakkanai wasn’t due for a while, so we flicked through the visitor books in the bus shelter – not many foreigners seem to come here, with perhaps five or six entries in English. We wrote our own messages, of course, mine wishing luck to those that had come in November. It really was very cold!

The Monument to Peace.

On our return to Wakkanai we headed into a department store for some quick shopping and a bite to eat, and then we headed to our next Wakkanai Adventure – getting lost on the Russo-Japanese Industrial Docks!

We were trying to find something called the Riyu Harbour Onsen, and our instructions said to follow straight down the docks. So we did. Literally. We ended up on a dark, kilometer-long wharf which, no joking, was the kind of place that hostage exchanges take place 😉 The Onsen was visible on the other side of the harbour, and it was literally less than 50 meters away, but we couldn’t reach it! We had to walk all the way back around the dark, bleak docks to get to it.

It was worth it though. It was a truly wonderful Onsen – one of the best I’ve been to. The water was slightly yellow in colour and had a slight oily texture to it. The baths were spacious and luxurious, and outdoor baths in the snow are so fantastic it’s untrue. It also gave me my first taste of a coldwater bath – two attempts to enter failed me, but the third, with Brendan’s encouragement, gave me an intensely wonderful Onsen experience. The coldwater bath is made all the better by heading to a hot Onsen afterwards, where a tingling sensation erupts across your body as your pores expand. I used ‘Shiro-tastic’ to describe the Yakiniku place yesterday – that sums up this as well.

Our final act in Wakkanai was to get dinner. We went to a small Iizakaya specialising in seafood which was recommended on Wikitravel. Of course, the menu was all in Japanese, and there were no pictures to speak of! A kind man from the next table offered a little help – recommending clams and fried tofu – both of which were delicious, and then we made a game out of the rest of the meal 🙂

Basically, I ran my finger across the menu, and Brendan said when to stop. It actually worked out rather well – we ended up with some lovely cracker-esque things, some fried chicken, some rolled omelettes, and – best of all – a whole fried squid! All of it was quite delicious, and it was a very enjoyable adventure of a meal. I also got a lemon sorbet after simply asking for ‘dessert’, which was also tasty!

Wakkanai had been great, but we had an early train in the morning, so we then headed back to our hotel and, in an odd moment of being sensible, headed to bed 🙂