Hakodate

[Taylor]

Julie likes surprises.  This year for our anniversary I decided to surprise her with a trip to Hakodate, a city located on the Northern island of Hokkaido.

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Believe it or not, there is a train you can catch in Noheji that will take you to Hakodate.  How is this possible?  The Seikan Tunnel that links Honshu and Hokkaido underneath the Tsugaru Strait.  At 53.85 km, it’s the longest undersea tunnel in the world.

We arrived at the station at around 8:00 on Friday night, ate some tempura for a late dinner, and then went back to our guesthouse.  Here’s the view from our room:

We spent most of Saturday walking around the city.

Russian Orthodox Church. One of several old churches (including Roman Catholic and Episcopalian) in the same area. These vestiges of Western culture and architecture stem from the Kanagawa Treaty which opened up Hakodate to trade with the U.S. in 1854.

Eastern harbor

For lunch we decided to find some fresh sushi down by the harbor. It was probably the best we’ve had since our trip to Otaru (also in Hokkaido).

From left to right: squid, king salmon, and scallops. The squid sushi was easily the best we've ever had.

View from the Goryokaku Tower overlooking the star-shaped Goryokaku Fort.

Goryokaku Fort/Park. In spring this place is bursting with cherry blossoms.

Squid boats on the Western shore. The lanterns are used at night to lure squid closer to the surface. The owner of the guesthouse said we'd find many cats in this section of the city and we did. In fact, we probably found more cats than people in the neighborhood.

Raise the squid lantern.

In the evening we feasted on a Hokkaido specialty: soup curry.

Hakodate is famous for having one of the best night views in Japan. The owner of the guesthouse was nice enough to drive us up with mountain to see it. He also took this picture.

All in all, a lovely anniversary weekend.

Anniversary Dinner

[Taylor]

On Tuesday Julie and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary.  Rather than go out to eat, we decided to try some new recipes.

Miso soup with daikon and green beans.

Tofu appetizer with ginger, green onion, bonito flakes, and shiso leaves.

Homemade sushi: Cucumber, scallop, and tuna.

Julie did a much better job of rolling her sushi.  My rolls were more like burritos.

We’re also celebrating this weekend by going on a trip.  I’m keeping the location a surprise for Julie though so we’ll have to tell you about it when we get back.

Trivia Weekend

[Taylor]

Last weekend we ventured South to the Oirase Gorge to participate in the annual Aomori trivia contest.  Fun was had before, during, and after the actual contest.  Here are some pictures of us exploring famous Lake Towada before the competition on Saturday afternoon.

Swan and pink dinosaur paddle boats.

Our friends opted for the swan boat.

Oh, and our team tied for third.

Mountain Road

[Taylor]

Last week I drove back from a conference in Aomori City with my friend Bryan.  We decided to take what we believed at the time to be a shortcut over a mountain rather than the somewhat congested main highway along the coast.  Neither of us had taken this road before and weren’t quite sure what to expect.

The road turned out to mostly be a narrow, serpentine lane of gravel, dirt, and boulders surrounded by a dense, lush, green forest.  The last time I remember traveling in a car on such a road, I was living in rural Alaska.

Our journey through took a few surreal turns.  As the road narrowed and Bryan’s car jostled through an increasingly steep and side-winding terrain, we remarked that we appeared to be in the movie Jurassic Park.  A few minutes later Bryan’s iPod, on shuffle, played the theme song from the aforementioned film.  Laughter ensued.

When we reached the summit of the mountain road we drove through a cloud and began our descent.  The road widened a bit and eventually we reached pavement again.  Then, out of nowhere, we saw an enormous building.  It’s green, aesthetic metal roof and concrete building blocks were completely out of place.  As we crawled past we noticed other buildings (much smaller), a few pagodas, and shrines and no people.  Clearly we had left Jurassic Park and entered Spirited Away.

Naturally, we hopped out of the car to explore.  Despite all the infrastructure, the place was completely silent.

Out of place

Desolate

A few minutes after I took that last photo, we saw a single human being walking across the parking lot in the far distance.  We decided to head back to the car and drove away, relieved that we did not find and eat delicious food that turned us into pigs.

So what was it?  An abandoned village?  An ornate but low security prison?  A secret hotel?  Or did the cloud that we drove earlier transport us to a post-apocalyptic future?  We asked a friend who lives in the area about it and he explained that it’s an ascetic religious community.  A while back somebody founded a religion that blended Shinto and Buddhist teachings and set up headquarters along that particular mountain road in Aomori.  The followers live and work in the mountains and they even have a private school on the premises for the kids in the community.

The whole thing makes me wonder what else is lurking in the woods of Aomori.  Julie and I have done our fair share of traveling around the prefecture, but I’m sure there are plenty more roads along the farms and fields worth exploring.

Superstitions

[Taylor]

During one of my recent lessons, I had my students make superstition manga (comic books).  I basically gave them three panels to tell a story and encouraged them to use as much English as possible.  It was one of those fun intercultural lessons I get to do every once in a while.  I taught them about some superstitions from North America and Western Europe and they explained some of the local superstitions in their comics.  They include:

• seeing a white snake is good luck
• whistling at night (especially at midnight) invites ghosts and snakes
• if you cut your fingernails at night, one of your parents will die
• if you find a tea stem in your cup of tea, it’s good luck
• touching a crow wing is unlucky
• having crows live in your chimney is also unlucky
• a four-leaf clover is lucky but a five-leaf clover is a harbinger of lost love
• stepping on an earthworm means it will rain soon
• if you don’t finish your rice, you’ll go blind
• when you hear thunder, hide your navel
• if you count the moles on your face, more moles will appear
• if you treat your parents badly, you’ll get a toothache
• drinking milk will give you long legs
• drinking vinegar will make you more flexible/soft
• a pillow that faces North is bad luck

Pretty interesting, eh?  Keep in mind these are superstitions.  I’m sure if my students don’t cut their nails at night it’s not because they think it’ll kill their parents, they’re probably just being polite.

A teacher I worked with said that a few of the superstitions listed above only pertain to Aomori.  Superstitions in Japan, just like every thing else it seems, vary from region to region.  In some places whistling at night invites mice and in other places thieves.  In Aomori you get ghosts or snakes.

Update on our bicycling friend

[Taylor]

I just finished reading an update on our friend’s website.  As you may recall we had a visitor stop by a few weeks ago who is riding her bike across the world.  Her journey through Northern Japan, including stopping by our place in Noheji before venturing North to Hokkaido, can be found by clicking here.

Despite some nasty weather, she appears to be doing well!  Also, I still can’t believe this, she will be in Valdez, Alaska!  Our hometown!   She’s taking a ferry from British Columbia to Whittier to Valdez later this summer.

Small world, indeed.

Lawn Mowing

[Taylor]

Although it’s not quite summer, the grass is green and growing in Aomori.  How do people mow their lawns here?  I’ve seen people do it three ways.  People who have a large territory to cover seem to prefer riding lawn mowers.  I’ve also seen a couple people with a small amount of grass to trim use simple push mowers.

The most popular method, however, seems to be Japan’s version of the weed wacker.  Most weed wackers that I’ve used in the United States cut plants by whirling a hard plastic wire around in a circle at a high velocity.  There is also a safety guard preventing grass, twigs, and other debris from flying into your face.

All the weed wackers I’ve seen in Japan are basically buzzsaws on a stick.  There is a safety guard, but it’s much smaller and affixed halfway up the pole rather than directly atop the cutting mechanism.  Japan’s weed wacker is essentially a terrifying, circular metal blade at the end of a pole that loudly spins around with the push of a button.  It doesn’t look very safe.  Sometimes when I’m at my desk at work I can hear the metal screech loudly against the ground or a the edge of a building or sidewalk.  I know our grounds crew are trained professionals who know exactly what they’re doing, but that sound is still cringe-inducing and makes me nervous.

It’s also not uncommon for people to let the grass and other plants, flowers, and weeds grow tall before cutting them down.  Often the debris is left in the field (like in the picture above) rather than raked up, collected, and disposed.  I suspect all the caterpillars we’ve seen lately appreciate this.

Well, congratulations for making it through this post.  I know it’s not particularly illuminating or interesting, but we’re trying to update more regularly.  We had to start somewhere.

Rainy Season

[Taylor]

Spring is over. We’ve been experiencing the rainy season of Japan for at least the past two weeks, if not longer. Here in Northern Honshu the weather is cool but humid, the landscape green and gray. Although it’s the middle of June, it doesn’t feel like summer at all. We’ll have to wait until the end of July for that.

In the meantime, with all the extra humidity, we’ve had to step up our mold prevention effort. This weekend we swapped out all the moisture absorption packets in our closets and drawers.

Over 48 packets replaced.

Rainy season is also, apparently, caterpillar season. We’ve seen them everywhere we go. Most of them tend to look something like this.

Slightly smaller than my index finger.

Weekend Stuff

On Friday we had a wonderful time hanging out at a yakiniku (grilled meat) restaurant with friends. The following morning Julie helped out at a local nursery.   She met many kids under the age of five and, for most of them, it was their first time meeting a foreigner. In the afternoon I played Go at the community center.

On Sunday, I went hunting.

By “hunting” I mean watching animals in the woods with my friend Bryan without weapons (though to be fair Bryan surprised me by brandishing a fake pistol that he hilariously explained would be used for self-defense). We ended up in a moist forest on the outskirts of Shichinohe and at times I felt like I was back in Oregon.

Bryan thumbing through a guide book of birds in Japan.

So did we find anything? Yes. Just when we had given up hope of spotting large, interesting creatures, a Japanese serow (wild goat-antelope) came trotting across a ridge about twenty feet away from us. It was, understandably, surprised to see us and stared us down for a few moments before venturing deeper into the woods. Success.

Looking ahead to this week, we’ll both be pretty busy with school visits. However on Thursday afternoon I’ll be participating in a teacher softball match. On the weekend we’ll be heading to the Oirase Gorge for a night of trivia, charity fundraising, and fun with friends.

Weekend Update

[Taylor]

We had another eventful weekend in Noheji. On Saturday morning, Julie began a language exchange with a friend of ours who helps Julie at one of the local elementary schools. She teaches English privately and wanted Julie to help her brush up on a few things. They spent about 40 minutes going over English and another 40 minutes after that going over Japanese. It was a practical lesson for both of them and they’ll be able to use their newly acquired knowledge at work this week.

After the lesson we drove to the town of Rokunohe to visit some other friends. Julie works with a person who plays classical guitar. We sometimes meet up with him and his wife for conversation, food, and music. When we visit Julie brings her flute and we watch her and the husband perform duets after lunch. It was a lovely afternoon. This time we also got to meet the family’s daughter who was visiting from Tokyo. She’s awesome and, as it turns out, the same age as Julie.

On Sunday morning we went to the local church in Noheji. The previous week it was revealed that one of the members found out I liked to play Go and was interested in challenging me to a game. I brought my board and stones in my backpack and we played a game during coffee hour. While we were playing, Julie set up another language exchange with a different friend who also goes to the church. With this person’s help, she also figured out most of the names of the people in the congregation (an arduous, but obviously very rewarding task).

In the afternoon I went to Go Club and had some decent matches. The stronger players in the club seem more willing to play me now. The third game I played was particularly memorable. I ended up losing by 6 points but had a huge comeback in the middle of the game. I managed to cut off my opponents stones in the middle and forced a KO battle that nearly saved a group of my stones on the left that I initially thought were all but captured. Of all the games of Go I’ve played here, that one was probably the most fun.

All in all, a great weekend. We again seemed to find a nice balance of activity and relaxation.

Weekend Update

[Taylor]

This weekend we seemed to find the right combination of relaxation and activity.  We found time for friends, Go, cleaning, Skyping with family, and even watched a little TV on Sunday afternoon.  The highlight, however, was meeting an unexpected visitor.

On Friday the pastor from a church we’ve been going to (about a block away from our house) rode his bike over to our apartment and said there was a visitor at the church who had been riding her bike around Japan.  He went on to say that her name is Astrid, she came all the way from England, and that if we wanted to meet her we could come down the church and visit.  So we did!

Astrid has been riding her bike around the world for a little over a year and two months.  She told us about her travels, emphasizing the warm hospitality she’s received just about everywhere along the way.  Her next destination is Hokkaido, Japan’s Northernmost island.  After that it’s off to Alaska (!) and Western Canada.  As you can imagine, we talked at length about Alaska (where we grew up) and the pros and cons of the Alaska-Canada Highway.

After visiting for a little bit, we introduced Astrid to the wonderful world of kaiten sushi.  We dropped her off at the church shortly afterwards but invited her over for breakfast the next morning.  On Saturday Julie and I cooked up some pancakes and bacon that we washed down with orange juice and coffee.  Then Julie went with her back to the church where the pastor and his wife helped them plan Astrid’s route to Aomori City.  They also pointed out hotels along the way so she wouldn’t have to camp in the rain.

Astrid’s visit was unexpected, refreshing, and inspiring.  It was an honor to meet such a spirited individual and we wish her well.  If you’re reading this Astrid, ganbatte kudasai!

If you’d like to read more about Astrid’s adventure, please check out her website.