next adventure: language study in Sapporo, Japan

Everything is set for my next trip. This one will be a bit different: instead of moving from place to place, taking in different sights, I will be staying in one city for most of the trip. I will stay 4 weeks in Sapporo which is in Hokkaido, the northern most island of Japan, to attend the Hokkaido Japanese Language School. I've been studying Japanese off and on for a couple of years now. I took a few courses before my last trip to Japan in 2014, and I've recently been taking more courses and participating in language exchanges such as the Japanese Cafe meetup. I'm basically at a high beginner level of Japanese, and I'm hoping this study in Japan will boost my Japanese to the next level. While at the school, during the week I'll have classes every day, and in addition I'll have private tutoring every other day. The school also organizes activities local trips, so I think it will be a lot of fun.

Another interesting aspect of the stay in Sapporo will be my accommodation. On the application form for the school I selected 'share house' which is a popular accommodation for young people in Japan because it is more affordable. 

I've always wanted to go to Hokkaido. I think it is the fact that Hokkiado is one of the more remote places in Japan that attracts me, with lots of natural spaces. The weather in the summer is supposed to be similar to Vancouver, which is better than the heat and humidity in much of the rest of Japan in summer. During the time at the school, I hope to participate in many of the day trips or weekend trips to places near Sapporo. Then, after the 4 weeks in Sapporo I will spend a few days at a hot spring in Daisetsuzan National Park.

Yokohama

Woke up today to pouring rain, and didn't feel like doing too much. Also I feel like I've seen the parts of Tokyo I wanted to.
After some deliberation I took the train to Yokohama, about an hour from the center of Tokyo. When you arrive at Yokohama station, finding your way around by foot at first was very confusing - kind of an urban planning nightmare. However, once I got close to the waterfront it was quite nice, with a path to follow all the way along. Yokohama is a port town, and being by the harbour, with the smell of the ocean, and in the pouring rain - I couldn't help but think this was preparing me for my return to Vancouver....

Right by the harbour is a large amusement park - I think its kind of the icon of Yokohama.

The park along the port is very pleasant. There was an event going on in the old warehouse area. However because of the rain there werent many people.

Next I turned into town and walked through the fairly large Chinatown district before going to a train station and heading back to Tokyo and the hotel to dry off.

Well, thats it. This evening is just taking it easy and backing my bags for the plane. I head to the airport right after checking out tomorrow morning.

Its been a great trip, in that Ive seen and done so much that it feels like Ive been travelling for longer than I have - a really good break.

more Tokyo

On the way back from the Ghibli Museum I stopped at Shinjuku, a major skyscraper area. Whats interesting, though, is an old looking warren of dark, narrow passageways just east of the station. They are filled with tiny restaurants that seat only about half a dozen people.

The next day I went to Asakusa. This seems like the most touristy part of Tokyo, and it centers around the market streets leading up to Sensoji temple. It was very busy and I heard a lot of different languages around me. Still a lot of Japanese come to worship at the temple as well.

The grounds around the temple, while not extensive, are quite beautiful and are a lot quieter.

About a 20 minute walk across the river from Asakusa is the Tokyo Skytree. Of course, its not hard to find.

The first observation deck is 350 high, and the top one is 450 m. The view is like looking from a plane as it lands.
In an earlier post Id taken a picture from an observation deck in Roppongi, from which you could see the Skytree. Roppongi is not far from the Tokyo Tower, so I found the Tokyo tower from the observation deck on the Skytree and took a picture looking the other way.

Unfortunately it was cloudy that day. On a clear day you can see Mt. Fuji from there.
At the base of the Skytree is a big shopping mall and a plaza. In the plaza there was a beer garden happening, with booths selling beer and food from different countries.

Ghibli museum

Today was the day Id booked for the visit to the Ghibli museum. The ticket had to be purchased in advance outside of Japan, which I did at the JTB travel office in downtown Vancouver.

Studio Ghibli makes the anime films of Hayao Miyazaki, such as Spirited Away, Howls Moving Castle, and the recent one The Wind Rises. There are many others that did not make it the theatres in North America, but I have a DVD set of them and they are just great.

The museum is in Mitaka, a suburb town about a half hour train ride from the center of Tokyo. It doesnt open until 10am, so I took my time in the morning and got there before noon. I walked straight into the museum, but if Id got there and hour later I would have been waiting in line.

One of the first displays on the ground floor is a really cool 3D animation using strobe lights. It looks like the statue beside you is running, when it is actually a series of statues spinning in a circle synchronized to the strobe light.

There are several educational-type displays on the optics of movie projection and animation.

The most interesting part for me was the set of displays on the artwork of the animation. There were drawing on clear plastic sheets laid on top of  a watercolor background, to show the concept of layering in animation. A typical artist studio had books on gardening, for the illustration of plants and garden settings, old photographs of cityscapes, even frames of a movie film, to show how to draw the animation of something running, for example. There were books of sketches of the characters for the different anime movies.

There was a short anime film that you got a ticket for upon entry, in Japanese. I was a bit surprised at the shortage of English signage, given the international audience. There are a couple of shops. One sells story books and books of the art of a movie. Another sells trinkets, stuffed anime figures, T-shirts, and soundtrack CDs.

On the roof was a garden with a statue from the movie Laputa.

Tokyo

Tokyo - the last stop of my journey.....

Well, I knew Tokyo would be a big, crowded, busy city, but I was still in for a shock. You have to remember, Id spent the last three days at a mountain resort town, and the week before that at a zen temple. What surprised me most, however, was just how different it is. Tokyo is a world in itself that is different from the rest of Japan, I believe. The jostling, super-sized city life has left behind the reserved, careful friendly mannerisms I'd seen elsewhere, and replaced them with a rougher expressiveness. At first it feels more like a North American city in some ways, but then it has that urban quirkiness that is still uniquely Japanese, and there are a lot of fascinating things to see.

I spent a large part of my first day in Akihabara. Its called the electronics area, but its much more than that. There are plenty of small shops on the side streets selling specific electronic parts and tools for the hobbyist, plenty of gadgets for smart phones, etc, and computers. Along the major streets there are large department stores selling everything from cameras to kitchen appliances. I got most of my gift shopping done.

There are also shops for manga comics and DVDs, and the area originally catered to the "geek" culture.
And of course, maid cafes.

I went into a maid cafe, and its really more of a performance than anything. The kind of goofy place you take someone to celebrate a birthday, for example. The girls put on an exaggerated, anime-inspired, giggling cuteness. When you enter, someone shouts a greeting and everybody already there applauds. The customers were of all ages, men and women. Everything was in Japanese, but I saw a few other tourists. The girls call you "master". You are seated and then on "one-two-three" you say something in Japanese with some hand motions, that I really didn't understand. The food consists of things like an omelette with an anime character drawn on it. I ordered the curry rice which was done up to look like a cute bear. There were a couple of groups celebrating a birthday, and everyone sang "Happy Birthday". At one point one of the girls did a little dance to a J-pop song. Every customer gets a picture taken with one of the girls, accompanied by laughter and applause. 

OK, been there, done that.

From Akihabara I went back to the hotel for a bit, and in the evening when to the Roppongi area. I first got out of the station  at the new Roppongi Hills development, which has residences, theaters, an art museum, a park, and lots of shops and restaurants. The 52nd floor of one of towers has an observation deck where you can get a view of the city. In the background of this picture you can see the relatively new Tokyo Skytree, one of the tallest structures in the world, I think.

From Roppongi Hills I went through the station to the other end, and came to the Roppongi area which is a major street filled with restaurants and bars. It is one of the main night-life areas in Tokyo. You sees lots of tourists and ex-pats, and Japanese all dressed up for the night out. I found a great little pub that has really good craft beers from Japan, and the people were very friendly.

There is a bit of a seedy edge to Roppongi, however. As you walk by, large foreign guys call to you to come into their bar or "gentlemens club". If you try to ignore them, they go "hey, I'm talking to you" and actually grab you by the arm. This is the only place in Japan I didn't feel totally safe.

The next day, I went to Harajuku. This is a major shopping area. And Takeshita street caters to the pre-teen and teen crowd. This was Sunday, and it was literally wall-to-wall people.

I had hoped to see more of "cosplay", or young people dressed up in costumes like superheroes for example. However I only saw a few people in the crowd, dressed in a very goth-like style.

Beside Harajuku is the Meiji shrine, dedicated to emperor Meiji who presided over the modernization of Japan in the 1800s. He still seems to be highly revered. I walked through the park to the shrine, and back.

From there I went one more train stop to the Shibuya area, another shopping and restaurant district. Again, the sheer density of people is unbelievable.

Well, after a bit of a late night the night before, and after making my way through crowds all day, I am exhausted. Im surprised I lasted as long as I did, but Tokyo seems to have an energy of its own that carries you along.

Nagano

On the way from Yudanaka to Tokyo, I decided to stop at Nagano for part of the day. I found a place to change money, and an internet cafe to catch up on the blog.

The main tourist site in Nagano is the Zenkoji temple. It has a street of shops leading up to it, and large grounds. It seems to be a very active and important temple, as well as a major tourist attraction. While I was there, some kind of procession was taking place.

 On the inside of the main temple building is a large worship hall and altar. Also there is an underground passageway that is completely dark and you have to make your way by feeling along the side.

Overall Nagano has a nice feel to it. There are large pedestrian areas. There also seems to be local specialties such as fabrics, and foods like a kind of hot bun stuffed with vegetable, and soba crepes with fruit and whipped cream. It would be worth a longer visit.

Yudanaka

After leaving the temple I caught the train to Yudanaka,  a little hotspring town at the end of the train line outside Nagano. It is in the mountains, called the Japan Alps, and the surrounding peaks are almost 3000 m high. The cherry trees are still in full bloom here.

 I booked a charming little "ryokan" or Japanese inn. I have a cute little Japanese room with tatami mats, and the inn has its own hotspring or "onsen".

In winter the area is a major skiing destination, and it the summer it is popular for hiking. Currently however the snow had started to melt so there is no more skiing, but there is still too much snow for hiking, and so it is low season and the place is very slow. Most restaurants are closed.

Another main attraction for tourists from all over the world is the Monkey Park. The Japanese macqau lives further north than any other primate and so is the only one to live in snow. These are the monkeys famous for going into hotspring water to keep warm. The park has over a hundred monkeys. They sleep in the trees and come down to the water during the day. There is food sprinkled around for them to entice them into the area, and they have absolutely no fear of people. It is also breeding season so there were several babies. I got there very early in the morning but soon the place was filled with tourists.

I had two full days in Yudanaka, so one day I took a bus up the mountain to where the ski hills are. Still tons of snow.

There was no walking on the trails, so I walked back down the road, where there were great views of the mountains. There are monkeys up here as well by the side of the road.