雪国
Beware. The following entry is long and the cuts are image heavy.
My report on my trip to Hokkaido (北海道) at last... It's been almost a month now since then. Looking at all the snow on the pictures on the screen and trees in full blossom out of the window actually make it seem like a trip I did months ago. I'm so glad I went! Thanks to global warming, this winter has been really mild in Japan as well, so if it wasn't for that trip I would'nt have get to see any snow this year. To be honest, there where times (for instance when I was struggling through waist-deep snow in Toya during a nice little snowstorm) when I was really fed with snow as well.
By the way. When I'm talking about "we" I'm referring to Marie (the Finnish girl I went with) and me.
2007年2月11日 札幌雪祭り
The first day. Getting up in the middle of the night to get from here to Yokohama and then to Haneda Airport. With luggage. Filled with winterclothes and hence heavy luggage. On Japan's public transport system. NO GOOD! I actually wonder how mothers with prams or people in wheelchairs manage their daily life. Japanese trains and stations are not barrier free. Not at all. Sometimes (in case you're lucky) there are elevators at the outmost places of a stations, but most of the times there's nothing but stairs.
Well, somehow we made it to Haneda. Nice, shiny, huge Haneda Airport. The flight was about 2 hours and went very smoothly. By the way, flying to Hokkaido is much cheaper than gong by train. Would've loved to see the landscape out of the train window, though ;A;
When we arrived at Sapporo (札幌) I instantly switched to hyperactive mode: Snow! Snow! Snow! My beloved shiny, fluffy, cold and pretty snow! Sapporo Main Station also is quite impressive, huge with loads of shopping facilities (well, most bigger Japanese stations are like this). Kind of like a maze, though. I was lucky to go there with Marie, who went to Sapporo last summer and therefore knew where to go.
After a brief stop at the youth hostel we went for our goal: The Sapporo Snow Festival (札幌雪祭 - Sapporo Yuki Matsuri). Annually held at Odori Park (大通公園) in the heart of the city, it attracts many tourist from Japan and other countries as well. Some of the snow statues were really huge and all of them were so pretty! I also love the city itself. As for it is fairly young (the official "bithday" is set in 1868) most of the buildings are western style. So, together with all the snow it made me feel like being back home in Germany again X3
I was lucky and got a seat at the window side. What you can see is Tokyo Bay and the neverending skyline of Tokyo. Quite frightening actually, I wouldn't want to live in a city that basically has no borders...
Our youth hostel. I forgot to take pictures of our rooms. Well, nothing special anyway.
The former Hokkaido government office building (北海道庁旧本庁舎). It was really close to our youth hostel and had a beautiful garden with a small pond.
No, this sculpture was not part of the Festival XD These two are to remind us to stick to traffic regulations. So cute. And so Japanese. Have you ever seen a mascot bunny promoting seatbelts anywhere else?
Set up buy the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, this gigantic sculpture displays a whale shark and several other marine creatures. The person standing right in front of it (some singer) might help you to imagine the enormous size of these sculptures.
This snow sculpture was entitled "Welcome to the Kingdom of Dreams and Magic!" (ようこそ！夢と魔法の王国へ), featuring Stitch (who actually is quite popular as a character in Japan).
Spongebob! *fangirls* Man, how I miss that Sponge!
This is propably one of the cutest shots I took. I have no idea who set this up, it was kind of hidden behind a stall. In case you can't read what it says on the note:"♪ Singing in the rain or "snow"? ♪" Teh lurv.
As one of the traditions of this festival, every year another country will find a snow replica of one of its famous buildings at the festival. As for 2007 apparently is the year to celebrate the 120th anniversary of Japanese-Thai friendship, it was a sculpture of the Chakri Maha Prasat Grand Palace.
A sculpture of Hikone Castle (彦根城), a national treasure. Noticed the cute mascot on the right side?
The Antarctic. On the left side you can see the Japanese Antarctic expedition ship Souya (宗谷). I case you're wondering about the puppies: Apparently their huskies.
2007年2月12日 すすきの氷の祭典
It was a very exciting yet tiring and cold day, all the more I was looking forward to a warm and comfy bed at the youth hostel. Ha! We were twelve people in one room. Which wouldn't have been a problem if it wasn't for the fact that someone decided to put on the heater to full power (hellooo?!?) in the middle of the night. On top of that, the only window (let's rather call it a glass covered hole in the wall) was facing towards the railway, where a sirene would inform you about a train arriving. Every two minutes. So, no. I didn't get to sleep well. I was still slightly sick from the cold I caught some days before, so when I woke up somwhen around 3am feeling absolutely dehydrated and went to catch some fresh air, I actually fainted in the hallway. Twice. I still don't know how long I passed out, but I assume it must've been 30 minutes. Fine. You can imagine how I was feeling the next day. First thing for me to do was asking to get another room (with a window facing the other side for that sirene was only making my headache even worse). Which we got. A room for six people (it was only us and two Japanese though). With a real window, much more space to put your luggage and even a TV set. Jackpot. So, basically I spent the second day lying in bed half-dead watching television.
However, I desperately needed more fresh air. Plus, I didn't go all the way to Hokkaido to watch TV. So, later that evening, we went for the Susukino Ice Festival (すすきの氷の祭典), a festival much smaller than the Snow Festival, but still very pretty. Unfortunately it was snowing really hard that day and most of the sculptures were already covered with a thick layer of snow, so you sometimes couldn't even tell it's original shape.
I told you it was snowing hard, didn't I? This is just some random pic to illustrate what I meant. Can you still see the sculpture?
Apparently the Ice sculptures were illuminated at night and there were some special events. However, since I was pretty comatose that day I didn't have the energy to come back at night. But I've seen pictures of it. Beautiful. ;A;
I so hope these animals were already dead when they froze the water. We're talking about Japanese here - these people are crazy, so you never know *.*
When we went to Tully's later that day we got a hot strawberry milk shake with this warm greeting. For free. BTW: That one guy from the waiting staff was so handsome and nice!
A funny discovery on our way back to the Youth Hostel. Someone would surely have a cold surprise the next morning :P
2007年2月13日 札幌
Finally having been blessed with a quiet sleep we started into a sunny 3rd day in Sapporo. The Snow Festival was already over and so most of the guests had already left the youth hostel when we went to explore the city. By the way: In Sapporo most of the streets are properly named (for it is a new and western-style city). No, regretfully that is not to be taken for granted in Japan. The more I was highly grateful for that.
Our goals for that day: The Sapporo Television Tower (さっぽろテレビ塔), the Clock Tower (時計台) Sapporo University. Apparently, it's kind of famous for its agricultural faculty. The campus is quite small (compared to Tokai University), yet absolutely beautiful for its big park, pretty western-style houses and a peaceful atmosphere.
Sapporo Television Tower. Nearly as pretty as Tokyo Tower. Nearly. BUT: The Sapporo TV Tower has a cuter mascot: It's called Terebitousan (テレビ父さん). A world play, using the character for "Father", which is pronounced the same as the character for "Tower". You can see it in the top left corner X3
I didn't enter the tower, though, because the entrance fee was quite expensive. I preferred to take loads of pictures instead and spam you ;P
Just as the former Hokkaido government office building, the Clock Tower belongs to Japan's national cultural heritage and one of Sapporo's landmarks. Inside is a clock musuem (duh..), I didn't enter though. I know, the picture sucks, it should've been taken from a more distant point, but I didn't really feal like standing on the street taking pictures, sorry X/
Sapporo Station (JR札幌駅). It may not look like this on that picture, but there's a huge shopping mall below. And many nice restaurants ♥
By the way, I recently came across the handy photo stitch feauture on my camera, that allows me to take 360° panorama shots. I tried it the first time in Sapporo and somehow became addicted. So beware, there are more picture like that one above to come.
Guess what that is. Guess again. That's what's left of the 58th Sapporo Yuki Matsuri. Yep. They started demolishing the sculptures right after the festival was over. ;A;
As a matter of fact most streets in Sapporo are heated. But not all. I don't really get the system, but I think the picture above needs no further explanation. Fully-heated and therefore snow-free pavement next to 50 cm snow on the street. (Yeah, below the snow there apparently is a street...) Made it really difficult to walk sometimes.
No comment needed, right?
Sapporo University. The picture shows another piece of Japan's national cultural heritage, the Furukawa Memorial Hall (古河記念講堂), former auditorium for agricultural faculty.
2007年2月14日 洞爺湖
On the 4th day (Wednesday btw) I went to Lake Touya (洞爺湖) , a mountain lake famous for all the hot springs around it. When I booked the trip (it takes 2 hours by bus from Sapporo) I was really looking forward to it. I've seen so many pretty photos in the ads. Since it would be very unlikely for me to come back to Hokkaido during my stay in Japan, thought this would be my only chance to get there. Nevertheless I should've checked the weather forecast before... -''-
The weather that day can easily described as blizzard-like and worsened the closer I got to the lake. I the end I'm not quite sure whether to regret spending so much money on the transportation fare or be happy about at least having been there once.
Anyway, when I arrived at the Lake Touya bus station I got a minor shock. There was nothing. NOTHING. And even more scary: No one. In Japan! I was getting serious doubt about whether I'd really get back to Sapporo from there. My original plan was to Shouwashinzan (昭和新山), a volcano close to the lake, but when I checked the bus time table I realized that if I went there I wouldn't make it in time for my bus back to Sapporo. There was nothing else for me to do than to spent 4 hours in the bitter cold at Touya. First, I found a small café and a souvenir shop (WTF?) , where I had a nice cup of cocoa and a very delicious, big (and cheap!) piece of chocolate cake. Then I took a walk on the shore of the lake - maybe "taking a walk" might be disleading, actually I was really struggling to fight my way through the snow...
3 and a half hours later, when my limbs were getting numb, I got back to the station, where I actually found some people. Then slept on the ride back. When I arrived at Sapporo, however, I decided not to return to the youth hostel immediately but to take another walk through the illuminated night-time Sapporo.
The only advantage of the long ride: I got to see the native beauty of Hokkaido's countryside.
That's all I could see of the lake. Actually you'd be supposed to see a small island in the middle of the lake ... if it wasn't for the wheather that day.
Despite the cold, I kind of enjoyed the wheather. It was rough, but the air was fresh and clean.
Just for reference: This is what I was expecting to see ;A;
Back at Sapporo. Illuminations at Oodori Park at the TV Tower.
The TV Tower once more, this time taken without flash so you wouldn't see all the snow.
2007年2月15日 出発
The last day had come. We took another last walk through Sapporo and bought some souvenirs. Plus, now that my appetite had finally come back, I got to eat the famous Sapporo Ramen. No pictures this time. I would've loved to take some pictures of Mt. Fuji in the red light of the setting sun as I could see it from the window in the plane, but unfortunately I didn't get a window seat this time ;A; When we finally arrived at our dorm around 10 pm, I just took a shower, went to bed and slept 13 hours...
It was a very tiring trip, but nevertheless I highly recommend going to Hokkaido to every one who considers staying in Japan for some time. For it's landscapes and climate it feels very European, so it's also a good countereasure in case you got homesick ^.~
One more picture to make the longest post I've ever written even longer. Lately I'm kind of hooked on online shopping and after my trip to Kyoto (report following next week) I also decided to study Kansai dialect, so I made some orders at Amazon.co.jp. They arrived yesterday: My KAT-TUN photobook calender (comes with a box and a postcard set), two books on Toufu-chan (yeah, even toufu has it's own mascot - and it speaks Kansai dialect! XD) and one book on Kansai dialect. X3
Absurdities in daily life Japan
Found this device in Sapporo several times:
Yeah, it's grit. The roads in Sapporo are well gritted (if not even heated), but in case you feel the urge to grit them even more, you can get some sand for free in these thingies. I consider it a waste of material, but well... It's Japan.
My report on my trip to Hokkaido (北海道) at last... It's been almost a month now since then. Looking at all the snow on the pictures on the screen and trees in full blossom out of the window actually make it seem like a trip I did months ago. I'm so glad I went! Thanks to global warming, this winter has been really mild in Japan as well, so if it wasn't for that trip I would'nt have get to see any snow this year. To be honest, there where times (for instance when I was struggling through waist-deep snow in Toya during a nice little snowstorm) when I was really fed with snow as well.
By the way. When I'm talking about "we" I'm referring to Marie (the Finnish girl I went with) and me.
2007年2月11日 札幌雪祭り
The first day. Getting up in the middle of the night to get from here to Yokohama and then to Haneda Airport. With luggage. Filled with winterclothes and hence heavy luggage. On Japan's public transport system. NO GOOD! I actually wonder how mothers with prams or people in wheelchairs manage their daily life. Japanese trains and stations are not barrier free. Not at all. Sometimes (in case you're lucky) there are elevators at the outmost places of a stations, but most of the times there's nothing but stairs.
Well, somehow we made it to Haneda. Nice, shiny, huge Haneda Airport. The flight was about 2 hours and went very smoothly. By the way, flying to Hokkaido is much cheaper than gong by train. Would've loved to see the landscape out of the train window, though ;A;
When we arrived at Sapporo (札幌) I instantly switched to hyperactive mode: Snow! Snow! Snow! My beloved shiny, fluffy, cold and pretty snow! Sapporo Main Station also is quite impressive, huge with loads of shopping facilities (well, most bigger Japanese stations are like this). Kind of like a maze, though. I was lucky to go there with Marie, who went to Sapporo last summer and therefore knew where to go.
After a brief stop at the youth hostel we went for our goal: The Sapporo Snow Festival (札幌雪祭 - Sapporo Yuki Matsuri). Annually held at Odori Park (大通公園) in the heart of the city, it attracts many tourist from Japan and other countries as well. Some of the snow statues were really huge and all of them were so pretty! I also love the city itself. As for it is fairly young (the official "bithday" is set in 1868) most of the buildings are western style. So, together with all the snow it made me feel like being back home in Germany again X3
I was lucky and got a seat at the window side. What you can see is Tokyo Bay and the neverending skyline of Tokyo. Quite frightening actually, I wouldn't want to live in a city that basically has no borders...
Our youth hostel. I forgot to take pictures of our rooms. Well, nothing special anyway.
The former Hokkaido government office building (北海道庁旧本庁舎). It was really close to our youth hostel and had a beautiful garden with a small pond.
No, this sculpture was not part of the Festival XD These two are to remind us to stick to traffic regulations. So cute. And so Japanese. Have you ever seen a mascot bunny promoting seatbelts anywhere else?
Set up buy the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, this gigantic sculpture displays a whale shark and several other marine creatures. The person standing right in front of it (some singer) might help you to imagine the enormous size of these sculptures.
This snow sculpture was entitled "Welcome to the Kingdom of Dreams and Magic!" (ようこそ！夢と魔法の王国へ), featuring Stitch (who actually is quite popular as a character in Japan).
Spongebob! *fangirls* Man, how I miss that Sponge!
This is propably one of the cutest shots I took. I have no idea who set this up, it was kind of hidden behind a stall. In case you can't read what it says on the note:"♪ Singing in the rain or "snow"? ♪" Teh lurv.
As one of the traditions of this festival, every year another country will find a snow replica of one of its famous buildings at the festival. As for 2007 apparently is the year to celebrate the 120th anniversary of Japanese-Thai friendship, it was a sculpture of the Chakri Maha Prasat Grand Palace.
A sculpture of Hikone Castle (彦根城), a national treasure. Noticed the cute mascot on the right side?
The Antarctic. On the left side you can see the Japanese Antarctic expedition ship Souya (宗谷). I case you're wondering about the puppies: Apparently their huskies.
2007年2月12日 すすきの氷の祭典
It was a very exciting yet tiring and cold day, all the more I was looking forward to a warm and comfy bed at the youth hostel. Ha! We were twelve people in one room. Which wouldn't have been a problem if it wasn't for the fact that someone decided to put on the heater to full power (hellooo?!?) in the middle of the night. On top of that, the only window (let's rather call it a glass covered hole in the wall) was facing towards the railway, where a sirene would inform you about a train arriving. Every two minutes. So, no. I didn't get to sleep well. I was still slightly sick from the cold I caught some days before, so when I woke up somwhen around 3am feeling absolutely dehydrated and went to catch some fresh air, I actually fainted in the hallway. Twice. I still don't know how long I passed out, but I assume it must've been 30 minutes. Fine. You can imagine how I was feeling the next day. First thing for me to do was asking to get another room (with a window facing the other side for that sirene was only making my headache even worse). Which we got. A room for six people (it was only us and two Japanese though). With a real window, much more space to put your luggage and even a TV set. Jackpot. So, basically I spent the second day lying in bed half-dead watching television.
However, I desperately needed more fresh air. Plus, I didn't go all the way to Hokkaido to watch TV. So, later that evening, we went for the Susukino Ice Festival (すすきの氷の祭典), a festival much smaller than the Snow Festival, but still very pretty. Unfortunately it was snowing really hard that day and most of the sculptures were already covered with a thick layer of snow, so you sometimes couldn't even tell it's original shape.
I told you it was snowing hard, didn't I? This is just some random pic to illustrate what I meant. Can you still see the sculpture?
Apparently the Ice sculptures were illuminated at night and there were some special events. However, since I was pretty comatose that day I didn't have the energy to come back at night. But I've seen pictures of it. Beautiful. ;A;
I so hope these animals were already dead when they froze the water. We're talking about Japanese here - these people are crazy, so you never know *.*
When we went to Tully's later that day we got a hot strawberry milk shake with this warm greeting. For free. BTW: That one guy from the waiting staff was so handsome and nice!
A funny discovery on our way back to the Youth Hostel. Someone would surely have a cold surprise the next morning :P
2007年2月13日 札幌
Finally having been blessed with a quiet sleep we started into a sunny 3rd day in Sapporo. The Snow Festival was already over and so most of the guests had already left the youth hostel when we went to explore the city. By the way: In Sapporo most of the streets are properly named (for it is a new and western-style city). No, regretfully that is not to be taken for granted in Japan. The more I was highly grateful for that.
Our goals for that day: The Sapporo Television Tower (さっぽろテレビ塔), the Clock Tower (時計台) Sapporo University. Apparently, it's kind of famous for its agricultural faculty. The campus is quite small (compared to Tokai University), yet absolutely beautiful for its big park, pretty western-style houses and a peaceful atmosphere.
Sapporo Television Tower. Nearly as pretty as Tokyo Tower. Nearly. BUT: The Sapporo TV Tower has a cuter mascot: It's called Terebitousan (テレビ父さん). A world play, using the character for "Father", which is pronounced the same as the character for "Tower". You can see it in the top left corner X3
I didn't enter the tower, though, because the entrance fee was quite expensive. I preferred to take loads of pictures instead and spam you ;P
Just as the former Hokkaido government office building, the Clock Tower belongs to Japan's national cultural heritage and one of Sapporo's landmarks. Inside is a clock musuem (duh..), I didn't enter though. I know, the picture sucks, it should've been taken from a more distant point, but I didn't really feal like standing on the street taking pictures, sorry X/
Sapporo Station (JR札幌駅). It may not look like this on that picture, but there's a huge shopping mall below. And many nice restaurants ♥
By the way, I recently came across the handy photo stitch feauture on my camera, that allows me to take 360° panorama shots. I tried it the first time in Sapporo and somehow became addicted. So beware, there are more picture like that one above to come.
Guess what that is. Guess again. That's what's left of the 58th Sapporo Yuki Matsuri. Yep. They started demolishing the sculptures right after the festival was over. ;A;
As a matter of fact most streets in Sapporo are heated. But not all. I don't really get the system, but I think the picture above needs no further explanation. Fully-heated and therefore snow-free pavement next to 50 cm snow on the street. (Yeah, below the snow there apparently is a street...) Made it really difficult to walk sometimes.
No comment needed, right?
Sapporo University. The picture shows another piece of Japan's national cultural heritage, the Furukawa Memorial Hall (古河記念講堂), former auditorium for agricultural faculty.
2007年2月14日 洞爺湖
On the 4th day (Wednesday btw) I went to Lake Touya (洞爺湖) , a mountain lake famous for all the hot springs around it. When I booked the trip (it takes 2 hours by bus from Sapporo) I was really looking forward to it. I've seen so many pretty photos in the ads. Since it would be very unlikely for me to come back to Hokkaido during my stay in Japan, thought this would be my only chance to get there. Nevertheless I should've checked the weather forecast before... -''-
The weather that day can easily described as blizzard-like and worsened the closer I got to the lake. I the end I'm not quite sure whether to regret spending so much money on the transportation fare or be happy about at least having been there once.
Anyway, when I arrived at the Lake Touya bus station I got a minor shock. There was nothing. NOTHING. And even more scary: No one. In Japan! I was getting serious doubt about whether I'd really get back to Sapporo from there. My original plan was to Shouwashinzan (昭和新山), a volcano close to the lake, but when I checked the bus time table I realized that if I went there I wouldn't make it in time for my bus back to Sapporo. There was nothing else for me to do than to spent 4 hours in the bitter cold at Touya. First, I found a small café and a souvenir shop (WTF?) , where I had a nice cup of cocoa and a very delicious, big (and cheap!) piece of chocolate cake. Then I took a walk on the shore of the lake - maybe "taking a walk" might be disleading, actually I was really struggling to fight my way through the snow...
3 and a half hours later, when my limbs were getting numb, I got back to the station, where I actually found some people. Then slept on the ride back. When I arrived at Sapporo, however, I decided not to return to the youth hostel immediately but to take another walk through the illuminated night-time Sapporo.
The only advantage of the long ride: I got to see the native beauty of Hokkaido's countryside.
That's all I could see of the lake. Actually you'd be supposed to see a small island in the middle of the lake ... if it wasn't for the wheather that day.
Despite the cold, I kind of enjoyed the wheather. It was rough, but the air was fresh and clean.
Just for reference: This is what I was expecting to see ;A;
Back at Sapporo. Illuminations at Oodori Park at the TV Tower.
The TV Tower once more, this time taken without flash so you wouldn't see all the snow.
2007年2月15日 出発
The last day had come. We took another last walk through Sapporo and bought some souvenirs. Plus, now that my appetite had finally come back, I got to eat the famous Sapporo Ramen. No pictures this time. I would've loved to take some pictures of Mt. Fuji in the red light of the setting sun as I could see it from the window in the plane, but unfortunately I didn't get a window seat this time ;A; When we finally arrived at our dorm around 10 pm, I just took a shower, went to bed and slept 13 hours...
It was a very tiring trip, but nevertheless I highly recommend going to Hokkaido to every one who considers staying in Japan for some time. For it's landscapes and climate it feels very European, so it's also a good countereasure in case you got homesick ^.~
One more picture to make the longest post I've ever written even longer. Lately I'm kind of hooked on online shopping and after my trip to Kyoto (report following next week) I also decided to study Kansai dialect, so I made some orders at Amazon.co.jp. They arrived yesterday: My KAT-TUN photobook calender (comes with a box and a postcard set), two books on Toufu-chan (yeah, even toufu has it's own mascot - and it speaks Kansai dialect! XD) and one book on Kansai dialect. X3
Absurdities in daily life Japan
Found this device in Sapporo several times:
Yeah, it's grit. The roads in Sapporo are well gritted (if not even heated), but in case you feel the urge to grit them even more, you can get some sand for free in these thingies. I consider it a waste of material, but well... It's Japan.