最高のペット -- The best pet

久しぶり… Sorry it's been a while, I tend to do that (as you've probably noticed). I'll update more trips and pictures when I get a chance, but I can't resist sharing my new pet!

A while back, a friend posted this on her tumblr. Marimo, aka moss balls. Obviously, being on the same island and decently close to Lake Akan, I immediately wanted one! Not to mention they're so easy to take care of and for some reason, ridiculously exciting. (Is it just me? Oh well.)

With another friend, I'd made passing comments how about we'd need to go visit/hike Lake Akan once the snow melts, etc, but today... Today I went to the airport, not to leave, but for shopping. How Japanese of me, I know. I don't know if people do that in Haneda or Narita (somehow I doubt it), but here in Chitose, they do that! It's a pretty awesome airport, full of shops and restaurants, next to an outlet mall... You get the picture.

So I was there, all excited to have taken a silly picture with a giant sheep advertising for ジェンギスカン (genghis khan a Hokkaido specialty, you grill lamb at your table and it's delicious), when lo and behold! What are those ugly green plushies/stuffed animals? A marimo character!? Ew. (Seriously, google/wikipedia it, it's not cute.) But wait a second, those couldn't be-- are they--?? Why yes, BINGO!!

After all those weeks, I finally acquired my new pet! Tada~!

And I get a plastic クリオネ (sea clione) as bonus!

Seriously, so excited!

Now I have to buy them water, because I lack a filter, and make sure they get light but not from the sun... Gosh, they kind of sound like vampires. Oh well, they're cool! I'll just have to a) find a way to take them on the plane with me, and b) remember to put them in the fridge if temperatures go over 30℃...

Don't you want one now? ;)

ね、知ってる？-- Did you know?

Happy New Year, February... Ok, that's a month fail. I didn't realize I forgot to include that in my last post!

In an attempt to take a break (who am I kidding) from posting about various trips mostly because I can't access my pictures on my work computer, I decided this should be a post of its own.

The fun facts below are randomly assembled from my everyday life and experiences, when I remembered to jot them down, and although some of them can be applied to most of Japan, I'll just add a quick disclaimer: most of these might only apply to Hokkaido and/or the Sorachi prefecture, or possibly just my town.

Did you know that police cars always flash their lights?

ただいま～！ -- I'm back!

Can I just say I have more legit excuses reasons this time for being MIA?

Honestly, my weekends have been booked since September and on the rare chance I'm home relaxing (recuperating, really), I forget to update because I'm making 61 bracelets for my graduating 3rd years. Ok that last one is kind of a lie... I already have 45 of them done (in one day, might I add).

Anyway, after a few intense days of TEFL-ing (yes, I make everything verbs, it's English, whatever) and feeling quite proud of myself, I now find myself struggling to finish the last question of Unit 7 (only 13 more to go... D: ) and what better way to get rid of struggles than procrastinating!

In attempt to confuse you at a least a little, here's a brief summary of how summer came about:

The latter half of June felt like spring, with a week or two of rain, humidity and a brief typhoon (hello raging winds). Suddenly, temperatures jumped from maybe around 20℃ to 27℃, basically in two days. Ouch. Oh and by the way, I joked about it all winter, then continuously forgot to take pictures, but yes there is still snow in June!

To be fair, this was one of the dump sites, which seriously evolved to a massive mountain. (I'll add a picture once I find it...)

Continuing, backwards in time (confused yet?), I'm going to skip graduation (mostly because I don't have much in pictures) and go straight to my second visit to Otaru in March. But I will include pictures of both times I went there, so you can "compare and contrast." (But no essay required, really.)

In brief: Otaru is a port city northwest of Sapporo, apparently a 25 mn drive. It's a lovely little town, full of tourists and famous for its fresh seafood (sea urchin in particular), glass blowing, crystal jewelry and music boxes. The #1 picturesque spot is probably the Otaru canal, which is gorgeous in the fall, check out the pictures! (The first batch being from October 2011.)

Said canal, at the end of October.

If I add any captions, blogger will turn me into a hellfire-spitting-flame-monster (AGAIN!), so I think it's safer to omit captions, or include them somewhere else. However, as I've already lost twice the time it took me to write, organize, prep this update, I give up. Give yourself a medal blogger, you make blogging near impossible. (I now officially blame blogger for 60% of my lack of updating.)

 My dad came to visit in March, so I booked us a bus tour for a day. We visited a wine shop, a glass and music box museum, a sake factory and Mount Tenguyama.

5 months later, the same canal, different feeling.

 

As ranted above (blogger = ARG!), here are my condensed captions: the one by the sea is where we ate lunch, somewhere next to the sea in a hotel (buffet lunch). After that, we took the ropeway up Tenguyama (Mountain; it's really redundant since 山 yama means mountain) and you can see the beautiful view despite the clouds. The red face is the face of the tengu (long-nosed goblin), after which the mountain is named (I don't know why, no in-depth research done here). And to finish off a nice day spent in the cold, nothing like spicy soup curry to warm you up (my dad was sweating, serious spices!!).

There, Otaru in a nut-shell. Next up, Osaka!

アイヌ文化フェスティバル -- Ainu Cultural Festival

Anything you could say, I probably already thought of it. "I'm sorry" is just not appropriate anymore... ): (But sorry anyway!)

So I'll jump right to it! I totally glossed over the Ainu Cultural Festival I went to see in Asahikawa, back in December. You might be wondering 'what the hell is an Ainu?'

If that's the case, here's the short short answer:
The Ainu were indigenous people living in Ezo (present day Hokkaido), and the islands above and near it (Kuril islands and Sakhalin). Basically, when Japan was afraid Russia would come and annex/conquer Hokkaido, they colonized it first. No colonizing is complete without the required assimilation. Well, the Ainu were no exceptions, they had to become Japanese. They were forbidden to speak their language, Japanese was required. Ironically enough, the government now reversed the trend and is trying to preserve the Ainu language before it dies out.
Tl;dr: Google it.

I think the Ainu are fascinating, including their language(s) and religion (animism). Not to mention their wooden crafts and embroidery are so beautiful! Don't believe me? Judge for yourself:

 

 A random postcard I bought recently, and pictures of outfits and crafts from the festival. They're not the greatest, but it gives you an idea.


The festival was fun, it was free, and everyone got a packet with the program and-- a mukkuri. If you watch the video I made, you can see some of the traditional dances and hear the Ainu language, and the sound of a mukkuri. (I would embed it, but it's rather long...)

Here's mine:

I haven't tried yet, I think I'm afraid to try and fail...

Here are some earrings I bought in an Ainu crafts shop in Hakodate (yet another trip to blog about!):

I agonized over the shape and color, not to mention wanting a phone strap!

   If you knew nothing about the Ainu, I hope you learned a little, and maybe you're even interested to look for more!
   If you knew some things, I hope you enjoyed the video and seeing their traditions for yourself.

Stay tuned for the next delayed post!

札幌の雪祭り -- Sapporo's Snow Festival

Is an attempted apology even enough? I would try to blame it on the internet troubles I had for-- maybe two months? But truth is, I just need a kick in my chair to get me rolling. (Seriously, I have a ton of things to talk about!)

I promised a Snow Festival post. Here it is!

The Snow Festival, held in Sapporo, lasts a week (usually February), but you can go earlier and see the works being sculpted, I imagine that can be amusing or awe inspiring, or why not both? I remember a terrible traffic jam on the way to Sapporo that day, most likely due to bad weather up here (in the mountains). I was more than ready to jump out there with my brand new camera to take awesome pictures to show my friends, and you, of course.

My friends and I started off by watching some really really young skiers perform acrobatics. My jaw dropped a few times. ("Is he really 11!?") The day was quite cold as we set off to tour Oodori park, navigating in between the crowd. I gotta hand it to the weather though, it had been warm all week (of course it had to be), so if the sculptures seem a bit-- melted, it's probably because they were...

Here are some pictures:

There were a few stages, all amazing not only due to their sheer size, but also the amount of detail. I know they have help sculpting, but still, accomplishing this in a week or so astounds me. If you ever plan on going (I hope you can, one day), remember that sculptures and stage alike look much, much prettier at night.

Making our way down Oodori, we passed by some entertainment on stage. One had a game of some kind with children, another had Bingo, and another had a singer, who was pretty good - SHUN from Osaka (ironically in front of the ice replica of Osaka castle). Feel free to experience for yourself here. (I meant to embed the video here, but for some reason, it just wouldn't work. What the heck, blogger, what the heck?)

If you're interested, here's SHUN's website or youtube channel. (Be warned, it's all Japanese - mostly.)

Any One Piece fans? You'd probably have gawked at that stage, it seriously was huge! Sadly, that's when my camera decided it was too cold, and literally just about froze. I can't say I hadn't been warned, but I just shook my head, and smiled: "It'll be fine." Yeah, no. As soon as the sun disappears, especially in winter, the temperature drops. (Ask my hands, or my face.) I kind of freaked, mostly because it was brand new, the screen should turn itself off, not keep telling me to wait until the last picture is saved or whatever it actually says. Most terrifying was the lens, and its stubborn refusal to whirl back in coupled with my fear of scratching it in my pocket.

 

 

Making a long story short, warming up the camera took forever and obviously killed the battery, at least I'm warned for next year? (I'll have a spare, that's for sure.) The saddest part of the story? I missed some great shots, including professional sculptures entered in a contest, everything lighted up, and some hilarious "Engrish." (Pictures to come.)

 I found consolation in the form of roasted chestnuts. Having grown up eating these every year on the winter streets (especially Christmas markets), the least I could be was ecstatic or overjoyed! The snob in me I couldn't help but notice a slight difference in taste, but they were delicious regardless. After finishing the Oodori round, we thought it best to go check out the Susukino sculptures, as there are three sites for the Snow Festival (the last is by Sapporo Dome). Except-- we got distracted by the sparkling attractiveness of the ferris wheel on top of some building. And what the heck, we went on it. I was not even scared a little. No elevator music, or was there?

And that, is how my first Snow Festival ended, with a grandiose night view of Susukino. The next morning, I battled a blizzard to get home... But that is another story. Now I must debate what to post about next.

Dear readers:

Do you want me to talk about something specific? Did you notice I gave the blog a facelift? What do you think? What about my writing, is it too long? Boring? Rambling? I'd appreciate feedback! :)