Going back for seconds

The first time in Sapporo was wonderful. Partly because I had just finished the first semester of the summer program, and partly because it was also the first chance to get out of Hakodate and explore around Hokkaido a bit. Unfortunately the time in Sapporo was so short I missed getting to visit a good friend named Junko. A little background - Junko is a friend of my brother's, and I met her when my family went to visit my brother in Tokyo about 8 years ago. I got to spend quite a bit of time with Junko during that visit, and we became good friends. Ever since that time we've had communication in spurts, but have managed to keep up with how each other's lives are unfolding. Now Junko is living in Sapporo in her parent's Buddhist temple. Working and living in a temple combined with the chanting and meditating that come along with that arrangement, has created an even softer and calmer color to Junko's being than I remembered 8 years ago. Those reading this that have had the opportunity to spend time around meditation practitioners can attest to this - and lately evidence of the positive effects meditation has on the human brain has been qualitatively documented in an scientific/academic setting. That research is quite exciting - and was even featured in an issue of Time magazine about 2 or 3 years ago. For an introductory article that provides a few sources for further reading, click here.

There is something in travelling alone that creates a condition of openness that I find promotes interesting encounters with interesting people. Sitting next to me on the train to Sapporo was this man. After a short nap, he saw me studying Japanese and we began speaking. After telling me about the beautiful places I should visit someday in Hokkaido, he explained he worked as an engineer in a safety consulting firm. His work focused on the reactor wall's interior shielding and the relative strengths of different materials used to prevent radation from leaking. I learned that there are three nuclear reactors clustered to the north west of Sapporo that are used almost entirely to supply Sapporo's energy. Despite Nuclear Energy's defficiencies, I would prefer to see Nuclear Energy as an energy source over the use of fossil fuels. It's interesting to me how strongly people react to the threats of nuclear energy. It seems to me that the risk perception of nuclear energy is highly inflated - most likely due to a few key incidents - whereas the risk perception for fossil fuels is misunderstood. There is a feeling of safety that comes along with tradition, and the tradition of using fossil fuels I think forces an acceptance of their use. Aside from the carbon dioxide and pollution issues that come along with the burning of fossil fuels are a myriad of other issues related to their extraction, their transport, their storage and the stability of the infrastructure needed to maintain a fossil fuel economy. If you pay attention to the newspaper, you are bound to read a story about leaking natural gas wells in the backyards of homes, or leaking gasoline storage tanks. Both of these are very serious problems that threaten ground water to an extent that harms more people over a longer span of time than any nuclear accident has.



The weekend I visited Sapporo was a bit busy for Junko, but it was the last chance I had to come. Junko was working in a symposium on American political science hosted by Hokkaido University. So, during the days while Junko was at work I would walk around the streets. I spent a good amount of time just relaxing in the big park that defines Sapporo's city center. Because this weekend also coincided with festivals in Sapporo, I was not alone in sitting in the park with a bag of food from a combini for lunch, and a large can of Sapporo beer. Really, when it gets right down to it, it's hard to imagine a finer time anywhere, than sitting in the shade of a large line of trees, with an endless passing parade of new sights and sounds, some amazingly cheap and tasty food and a cold beer. I can think only of one addition to that occassion that could enhance its feel, to sit side by side a lover or an old friend and make remarks about the past or the clouds, or just sit and enjoy together the feeling of being.

There were alot of interesting little scenes. For some reason I wasn't feeling the photography calling that day, but here are a few pictures from various parts of the parades going through the city.











I decided to check out the view of Sapporo from the Sapporo's TV tower (the red tower in the background). When I reached the top there was an interesting fortune telling machine with a miniature Shinto priest doll that said a prayer for me to a Buddhist statue, then a small fortune popped out of the bottom of the machine. I couldn't really understand the fortune though. The view of Sapporo from the TV tower was incredible, but a little later, you can see a picture of Sapporo from Mt. Moiwa, which is a little easier to get a sense of the scale of the city. Because this was a festival weekend there were many people dressed in Yukatas, or summer Kimonos. Men and women both were dressed up, mostly the older generation, but quite a few younger people were dressed in Yukatas too. It was a nice experience to see and feel such a large city celebrating together, and to watch the little children playing in fountains, or eating icecream. It's something so simple, but still amazing.





Later that night I happened to be in Susukino, where a night festival with lots of street vendors and a small parade was going on. I sat down next to the grill, and shared a table with a few passing groups of people. One group was this guy, who works as a host. Most people have probably heard about hostess bars in Japan, usually where businessmen go after work and pay for the company of an attractive young girl. There is a female equivalent of this too, where women can go and be entertained by men. The job seems pretty tough - your job doesn't really end when you leave the club. Your favorite customers can call you, and ask you to meet them at a restaurant or coffee shop, and it's in your best interest to do so if you want them to keep coming back to your bar. This guy was fun to talk to because he was very open about what he did, and the woman he was with didn't seem to mind too much that he was talking to me more than he was talking to her. I asked him what he planned to do after he quit working as a host, and he said he wanted to be a sushi chef.

The next few pictures are of Junko's family at her parent's temple. Her niece and nephew, and her mother. Junko's mother was this jolly, intense woman that makes you feel comfortable immediately. She was also having fun saying what English she could. I also really enjoyed their dog, who seemed to be just as moody as a human. Sentience and moodiness go hand in hand I guess.







Junko and I took the Mt. Moiwa ropeway and went to the top of Mt. Moiwa, which offers a view overlooking Sapporo city. The view reminds me a little of the view from The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku, because all you can see are buildings and concrete stretching off towards the horizon. The main difference between Sapporo and Tokyo is of course size, and with that Sapporo is surrounded by green mountains and lots of forest. Compared to Tokyo's scenery, it's a refreshing mix.




I have to send a big thank you to Junko for meeting me despite the busy schedule, and for inviting me to her parent's temple. It was one of the best weekends I had throughout the summer, and the experiences walking around by myself and meeting and talking with Japanese people also showed me that I was actually learning alot of Japanese. It's always nice to see progress, you know.
Like the picture in an earlier post - I am definately lucky I had the chance to visit this place.

It already feels so far away

This has been the fastest and the longest two months I've ever lived. The end of the program came surprisingly fast, and the last test was a satisfying experience. Probably most satisfying was the oral interview portion that helped me see how much I had learned over the past two months and just how much my Japanese had improved. At least the oral interview felt very comfortable as if I was just having a conversation with a friend.

Saying goodbye to the host family was harder than I expected, but I think they were ready for me to leave. I know I was ready to leave. But the hardest person to say goodbye to was Sam. We had become really close friends throughout the two months, spending nearly everyday together riding the trains to and from school, walking through the city, asking each other questions about our homework, eating almost every meal together, etc...I feel fortunate to have made a friend like Sam and experience this time with him.

I'm going to provide a description of some of my experiences now, and post pictures and stories from the experience while I'm in the US. I leave again for Japan August 30. I'll be going to Nagoya city's Nanzan University for a year language program. As Nagoya is Japan's fourth largest city, and is fairly close to Osaka, Kyoto, Nara and a number of historic old villages, I'm hoping to get to explore as much as I can of central Honshu. The intensity of the program should be slightly easier than the summer program. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a slightly less demanding daily work load to have more free time to do things like blog, and hang out with the host family more.

Well, every year Hakodate has a number of large festivals, and there is a string of four days in which every night is a different festival in a different part of Hakodate. The city feels absolutely lovely as tourists, locals and businesses all combine to put on spectacular street shows, fireworks, parades and dances. Unfortunately this year's festival week happened to fall during the same time we had to present our research projects, so I only saw one night. While I'm happy the project presentation went well, I can say I'm a bit sad for missing the other days of the festival.

There was an interesting experience that happened while Sam and I were waiting for the fireworks. Everyone had gathered around the bay, alongside the boat docks just behind the morning market. People were sitting together on the ground, and in most areas the people were scrunched together so that trying to walk through was impossible. Still, some people tried, including a young boy who tried running through the area Sam and I were sitting in. As he passed us, his foot happened to catch Sam's cup of beer sitting next to him, causing it to spill and splash an old woman's leg next to us. The boy first looked surprised, then saw Sam and I were foreigners, and looked even more uncomfortable. The old woman just stared at Sam, as if Sam was to blame for her having what she said now was "stinky pants." The reason I include this story is to highlight that there are some people in Japan that tend to blame foreigners for problems in Japan. Having read English translations of Japanese newspapers consistently for the past year and a half, I have come across a handful of news stories, not editorials, in which the reporter presents the opinion that various ills befalling Japan are largely due to foreigners. There have been some tragic murder cases in the past year involving foreigners, but less than the number of similar cases involving Japanese nationals. This phenomenon is no different than attitudes in the US and racism or prejudice some groups of people here have towards Muslims. I'll leave the conclusion up to you.

That night, the sky had a thick fog. The larger fireworks that were shot high into the air were almost impossible to see, except for the end trails of the sparks. It was rather beautiful in its own way, as if watching the ghosts of fireworks. We would see a ball shoot up, into the fog, hear the bang, and wait until the sparks fell low enough to see the light through the fog.

The remaining pictures are individual shots of my classmates and teacher.

札幌も一回 (Sapporo one more time)

More to come ~