STUDY ABROAD: WEEK 23

FEBRUARY 2

Generations Volume 2, a break dance battle event, held at the University of Nagoya. Members from BPM, as well as from Shirakawa Park were going to dance today, so I went to support them. The event opened at 11am, so I made sure to arrive at Sakurayama Station by 10:30am to wait for the others to arrive. Humito arrived first, soon followed by Sato, Yusei, and Bayashi.

When I first arrived at the station, I assumed that the large University right next to the station was the correct location. However, after snooping around and looking for a sign of dancers, I quickly came to realize that it could not be the venue. In fact, it was the university hospital, in other words, the medical campus. The campus where the event was being held was a few blocks down the road. It was sometime after 11 when we arrived, but the place was already filled with dancers warming up. Several members of BPM, as well as a couple other faces that I recognized, were there too. Before the event started, there was a segment of DJ time. Ken kept pressing me to go out there and dance, and I wanted to, but I hung back. I’ve challenged so many things in the past few months, but even I can’t understand why I don’t just go out there and dance freely like everyone else. It’s something that I have to keep challenging.

After noon the battles finally began. There was a total of 68 teams, all two versus two. BPM and the Park members all made it into the second round, but by the 3rd round nearly everyone I knew was eliminated. There were also kid teams, really talented kids. I couldn’t imagine having to face them.

Ken and the others left early to prepare for a nabe party back at Ken’s house. Humito and I hung back to watch the showcase and then we soon headed for Ken’s house as well. Zawarun and Sato picked us up at the station and drove us the rest of the way. The food was nowhere near ready, in fact, they hadn’t even bought groceries. Bayashi was working on his laptop in the video editing program Premiere. We talked about how I was an art major, and then of course I had to explain my current study abroad situation.

As the night went on, and the nabe was finally prepared, we had a delicious meal together. The other members seem to enjoy teasing Sato, maybe a little too much. Once that fun was over we started playing card games until it was time to catch the last train home.

FEBRUARY 3

I went to school today to see if I could use the studio to practice one last time before we head to Hokkaido for 10 days! I had to wait until 4:30, so I inked a few pages to kill time. Then, since no one else could come, I practiced by myself for a couple hours. Even if it’s just me, I still can’t dance fluidly. A move here, a step there, maybe I’m thinking too much. I just need to listen to the music.

FEBRUARY 4

Heading to Hokkaido today!!! In part to see the snow festival, but mostly because it’s Hokkaido.

Usually I pack for a trip well in advance. I don’t know why, but I didn’t actually pack for Hokkaido until this morning. Maybe it’s because I’m not looking forward to the cold trip, or maybe it’s because I have no idea what I’m supposed to pack. I have left most of the planning up to Joy, so in many ways I’m going on this trip blind.

On top of that, we all got an e-mail from Mr. Yoshida to meet him in campus at 10am. From there we were going to head straight to the station to get to the airport before our 4pm flight. I just threw warm clothes in my large orange duffel bag (the new blue one I bought at Donki would not suffice) and headed for campus. It was good news. We all received the JASSO scholarship for the next semester; that’s $800 a month we had not accounted for. All it requires is a few pieces of paperwork and a report once the study abroad program is over.

After that meeting, I actually started to feel excited about Hokkaido. Our flight was only an hour long, and when we arrived in Hokkaido it was dark and snowy. From the Chintose Airport, we had another hour long commute by train into Sapporo city. The snow was piling up, not just on the streets, but on us as well as we walked towards our hotel. Tobias, one of the German exchange students, had also flown into Sapporo around the same time as us, so we met him for dinner before actually stopping at our hotel. We already needed a break from the snow and cold.

When we were ready to brave the cold again, we trudged through the fresh snow down the main street for several blocks until we reached our hotel. Our lovely accommodation was a single room, to be shared by the three of us. It was a budget move. We ended up lying sideways across the bed, with towels as pillows and our feet propped on our luggage.

FEBRUARY 5

 Our highlight of the day was eating Ramen in the famous Sapporo Ramen Yokocho, ramen alley. I suppose it’s called that because the narrow little alleyway has nothing but tiny ramen restaurants, side to side, all lined up with their own special deals. I was able to find some ramen without pork for 800 yen. The warm soup and noodles were a comfort against the cold.

But, it couldn’t last for long, as new customers came to eat the ramen. We gave up our warm seats and headed on into the cold once again. North of the ramen road was the world renowned snow festival, spread across several blocks and lined with dozens upon dozens of snow sculptures. There was also a snowboard and ski tournament going on over the next few days at the east end of the snow festival, just before the TV tower. We spent the rest of the day wandering up and down the road

looking at the sculptures and simply getting to know the area.

((Above) Ice Sculptures near Susukino; (below) Massive snow sculpture) 

Once it got dark, the temperature dropped again, so we headed back to our warm hotel room. It was tiny, but it was better than wandering aimlessly in the cold. We bought dinner from the nearby convenient store and stayed up for a few hours just talking before calling it an early night.

FEBRUARY 6

This morning we took the bus out to the Maruyama Zoo; my first trip to a zoo in Japan, and my first trip to one since August. I forgot how much I enjoyed visiting zoos, there’s something peaceful about observing all different kinds of animal life. The Maruyama Zoo did not disappoint. Despite the cold, the animals were out and about, or at least visible. We had a lot of fun navigating around the massive snow piles that mounted up on the sides of the trails. They also had impressive polar bear and wolf exhibits, which I suppose should have been expected since those animals are native to the environment.

(Six geese… and a duck: someone has identity issues.)

We returned to Sapporo from the Zoo in the late afternoon, only to run into Marie, one of the French girls, and her boyfriend. It was completely by chance but we made a plan to eat dinner that night with them and her boyfriend’s friend. At the same time, a couple of the girls from China and Taiwan were also in Sapporo to see the snow festival, so we invited them as well. Sometime after 6pm we all regrouped at the Sapporo station and went to a nearby restaurant to eat soba. Marie’s boyfriend’s friend and I ended up sitting next to each other, so we talked through dinner, mostly about sports and food. However, when dinner was over, he, along with the Chinese girls, had to go home early, leaving the five of us to wander around the closing Pokemon Center. I always want to buy something, but I can never decide because there are too many new Pokemon that I don’t recognize.

As I said, the stores were closing, so soon we had to leave the building. We still wanted to hang out a little more, but since we couldn’t find a karaoke place, we settled for an all-you-can-drink deal for the rest of the night. It was past 11pm when we all went home. In the cold, dark night, there was something attractive about Sapporo that I didn’t notice in the bright daylight. I think it was the lack of people flooding the streets, the lack of tourism. That’s one of the reasons I like seeing the cities at night: you can really feel the city as a place, not just a business or tourist location. Nagoya, Sapporo, and it was the same in 2011 in Tokyo. The cities at night are quiet and peaceful. Maybe that’s why I like the countryside too?

FEBRUARY 7

The simplest way to describe today’s events is ‘too much’. We joined Tobias on an adventure out to a place called Moerenuma Park. Only it wasn’t a simple bus ride out to a nice little park. The bus took us out to the middle of nowhere. It literally dropped us off at a bus stop surrounded by nothing but snow. I wanted to believe we got off at the wrong stop, but we didn’t. Our destination was down the road, a good long walk through piles of snow. The snow was literally piled up to our heads on either side of the shoveled sidewalks. Joy and Tobias enjoyed taking pictures of the open expanse, but I was just ready to get to the park and head back to Sapporo. We made plans to visit the Sapporo Beer Garden tonight and eat Genghis Khan, fresh lamb meat; that was the only thing that kept me going through all that snow.

Once we reached the park, it was still another long walk to anything. In particular, there was a small mountain and a Glass Pyramid. The Glass Pyramid was called “Hidamari”, or “sunny spot”. We came upon the small mountain first. A few people were sledding down the hill, so it looked like it was safe to climb up. They were only halfway up the mountain though. Joy and Tobias wanted to climb up a bit of the way to see the view. I went with them out of some warped idea and determination that I could climb to the top of the mountain. Why only go halfway up, right?

The mountain was of course packed with snow, but it was an easier climb than I thought. I was grateful I bought my boots—they were getting their money’s worth today. It wasn’t long before I reached the mountain’s summit, an empty, frozen, ice covered summit, with a wide-open view of the surrounding lands. It was a refreshing view, but that impression only lasted long enough for my fingers to freeze trying to take pictures.

(Panoramic view from atop the mountain; we are cleary in the middle of nowhere.)

 Back down the mountain, half-sliding, half-running, now with an all new drive to get into the warm shelter that lied at the bottom. Rachael was already waiting there for us, down in front of the Glass Pyramid. Finally, we were able to find some warmth and some sustenance from the vending machines.

There was little else to do in the Glass Pyramid other than enjoy the warmth and explore the three empty floors.

Tobias and Joy had their fill with taking pictures all over the Glass Pyramid, and when we were all warm again it was back outside to find our way back to the isolated bus stop. The walk back wasn’t nearly as bad, but we had to wait for some time for the bus to arrive once we reached the bus stop. At the same there was a high school girl waiting at the bus stop as well. Joy and Rachael were having a snowball fight, of all things. But, I guess they don’t have snow in Hawaii, so it’s a rare experience for them. I had made a comment, which started up a conversation with the high school girl. Despite the frigid temperatures, she was wearing a short skirt, without warm leggings. I asked her why, and she said that her leggings were in the laundry. To which I replied, ‘Then why don’t you have more leggings? Aren’t you cold?’ She laughed. ‘Yeah, it’s cold. I guess I’m used to it.’

Just looking at her made me colder. She had been waiting before us, and her bus would come after ours. I wished her luck as we boarded the bus back to Sapporo. It was back in Sapporo that we got a little lost trying to find our way to the Sapporo Beer Garden. We walked around an unknown part of the city until we finally stumbled upon the right path. We were so close to warmth and delicious lamb meat. So close, but we still had to walk through part of the Beer Garden to reach the restaurant.

Patience came through: we finally sat down to enjoy all-you-can-eat Genghis Khan that you fry on your own to perfection.  The whole building smelled of meat, as the scent of grilled meat drafted up to the high ceilings. They even provided plastic bags to store your jackets or belongings in so they wouldn’t be drenched in the scent. We didn’t care.

After that day, with too much snow, too much cold, too much walking… I’m not ashamed to say we had about eight rounds of that meat between the four of us. It was well worth the 4000yen.

FEBRUARY 8

Today we wandered aimlessly about the city. We discovered the underground shopping area which connects Sapporo Station to the station closest to our hotel. That means we no longer have to walk outside in the cold, at least when it’s really cold. We checked out the souvenir stores, the Disney store and other stores around the station before deciding to have a fancy parfait for lunch. Dinner was another first in Japan, KFC; it was a taste of home in a place that now feels like it is home. By that I mean, it can get pretty cold in winter. This year in particular the cold and snow back in Toledo is ridiculous. It’s actually colder than where we are in Hokkaido right now. I’m glad I’m in Japan.

For the record, parfaits are extremely popular in Japan. This store in particular not only had dozens of options, but also group sizes as well.