TOYOHIRA SUMMER FIREWORKS FESTIVAL

 

OWARI DE WA NAKU...

Spring semester is officially over - which is a relief to those of us from America who have been in class since mid-January.

Our final Monday class with Tsubakihara-sensei involved 3-4 minute speeches on any topic of our choosing. Some spoke about their experiences here in Sapporo, some about traditions in their hometowns (like rugby in England and mythology in Italy), and I spoke about the differences in environmentalism between Americans and the Japanese. Maureen stole the show, however, when she spoke about the influence Sailor Moon has had on her childhood, even drawing her on the board for us in less than 45 seconds.

Our final Wednesday class with Watanabe-sensei also involved an activity to push us to use all the grammar, vocabulary and idioms we have learned so far: a debate. Not only a debate, but one about whether it's more advantageous to have a son or a daughter first. And I was drafted to argue on the pro-men side with Jack and Regi. My debating skills are awful in English, let alone Japanese, but it was amusing to see how we could express our opinions with what we know.
Now it's time for a class-less month and a half of summer vacation!

Watanabe with her beloved Level 2 students from Australia, England, New Zealand, Italy and America


BLOG SOUNDTRACK: 小池徹平「キミダケ」

小池徹平のコンサート/ TEPPEI KOIKE CONCERT

Ash and I just returned home from the Teppei concert in Odori Park. My mood now = :).

More than 3,000 people showed up, and with my 11th row aisle seat I was close enough to see the details of his face and guitar without my glasses. I sat alone in my row because Ash bought a 16th row seat, and I could tell the Japanese fangirls around me were surprised to see me, a Western girl, at a Teppei concert.

My voice gave out earlier this week, and when I woke up this morning no sound came out when I tried saying "Ohayou!" to Jess. So instead of screaming my lungs out in high-pitched calls of "TEPPEI! We love you!" like the other girls, I just clapped my hands hard enough to hurt. It compensated a little for my raspy throat, at least.




holding the program booklet in front of the flower arrangement dedicated to the singer

Tomomi's Crazy Love Life

Thursdays usually mean fun kanji lessons and reading passages with Ichikawa-sensei. Maybe it was because this is the second-to-last week of classes for spring term, or maybe it was because today was Jess and Kellie's final class before they leave for Tokyo (and eventually Indiana), but Ichikawa-sensei saved the best passage for today.

Lesson 22 in Genki Book II is about "Tomomi's Diary," a look inside the horrible love drama in which protagonist Tomomi is engulfed. Her boyfriend, Kenichi, lives in Tokyo while she lives in Osaka, so they can only meet once a month. She plans to introduce her friend Natsuko to Kenichi's colleague, Kuroki, and asks her boyfriend to officially bring the two together. Suddenly, her best friend doesn't talk much around her and Kenichi doesn't answer her phone calls.

Finally, the cowardly Kenichi writes Tomomi a letter 10 days later, explaining that he "couldn't forget Natsuko even after he had left" and had lied to Tomomi about not being able to visit her in Osaka.

To better understand this dilemma, Ichikawa-sensei drew a chart on the board:



We were also prompted to explain what we would do if we were the characters. My answer is directly left of Sensei's infamous drawing, and it basically reads: If I were Kenichi or Natsuko, I would definitely apologize to Tomomi. If I were Tomomi, I would no longer speak to either of them.


Then we ate donuts from Mister Donut, a "Goodbye, Kellie and Jess" treat from Sensei.


Jess, Kellie, me and Jordan with Ichikawa-sensei. We're laughing and pointing at Kellie's Mandarin orange juice bottle (mikan juice) because it reflects her nickname, Mikan-chan.


We also had our farewell, end-of-semester photo for the Japanese culture class Wednesday morning. Forgive the angle; it was shot on top of one of the classroom lab computers using self-timer. Obviously, people weren't ready. :P

BLOG SOUNDTRACK: KAT-TUN "Rescue"

お好み焼き/ OKONOMIYAKI

When my English camp freshmen asked me what Japanese food I liked best, I answered okonomiyaki.

Apparently they remembered this, because Ken, Asato and Takumi invited the three of us over for an okonomiyaki cooking party.

Explanation: Okonomiyaki, which literally means "grilled whatever-you-like," is like a pancake made from eggs, flour, shredded cabbage and other ingredients that is topped with special okonomiyaki sauce and mayonnaise.


The boys, who were the most gracious hosts, prepared the batter for us and taught us how to cook the pancakes ourselves.


In addition to learning the basic steps of cooking okonomiyaki, you might enjoy watching how the TV changes in the next few photos. First it's a map of Africa...


Asato preparing to flip the pancake


...And it's done!

Kellie attempting to flip it again (while "Chibi Maruko-chan" ends on the TV)

After cooling, spread okonomiyaki sauce (the brown sauce) on the pancake and drizzle mayonnaise on top of that.

できた！Just in time for "Sazae-san" to come on TV...

Time to eat! (The yellow bottle on Ken's desk behind Jess is the typical okonomiyaki-geared mayonnaise bottle.)

BLOG SOUNDTRACK: 浜崎あゆみ 「RAINBOW」

JOURNEY TO OTARU, a.k.a. VENICE #2

We finally cleared enough space on our schedules to spend a day in Otaru, one of the port cities close to Sapporo. No school festivals, no English camps, no birthday or farewell parties for our friends...

If you go to the Sapporo train station, you can buy a roundtrip ticket to Otaru for about $12.50. The ride itself takes about 45 minutes, but if you sit closest to the right side of the train you can glimpse gorgeous views of the water.



Jess passed the time by reading the first book in the "Hana Kimi" series...

...while Kellie listened to Mihimaru GT on her iTouch...

...and I stared out the windows.

See the train tracks? That's how close we were to the water. 

Beautiful views!

Otaru itself is a very westernized town, modeled after Venice (down to the man-made canals and Murano glass factories). Having been to Venice last summer as part of an Honors College colloquium, I had to admit this area stayed true to its muse as I walked past the street artists. If you want a true Japanese city, go to Kyoto. 

The two things Otaru offers that the real Venice doesn't are: 1) a five-layer ice cream cone that includes a Ramune-flavored layer and 2) Kaimeiro, a music box shop where you can decorate your own music boxes and choose Japanese pop songs or internationally known American ones to place inside them.

Jess with her five-layer ice cream cone: (from top) Ramune, strawberry, melon, milk and lavender flavors

Kellie decorating her music box at Kaimeiro

Decorating my first music box (with Remioromen's "Konayuki") - I also bought a second one with Ai Otsuka's "Planetarium"

Jess's red love-themed music box with Arashi's "Love So Sweet"

We left Kaimeiro and looked at a few of the small shops selling Murano glass figurines before heading out closer to the water.

The water at sunset was worth staying past dusk to see. (If you zoom in on the above photo, you can also see the Japan Coast Guard boat.)

Afraid to miss the last train and be stuck in Otaru for the night, we hurried back to the train station along the now lantern-lit streets. I'd like to come back here and spend more peaceful time along the water.

BLOG SOUNDTRACK: KAT-TUN 「PRECIOUS ONE」

ROSES, FOG AND FERRIS WHEELS

Today Yuki, a former BSU exchange student and soon-to-be grad student, accompanied us to Mt. Moiwa (one of the bigger mountains across the Toyohira River past the downtown area). Our plans included visiting Chizaki Rose Garden, about a 15-minute walk away from the Mt. Moiwa skylift entrance, then riding the skylift up to see the city during daylight and back down again once it became dark. 

We took a cable car to a stop close to the base of the mountain and followed Yuki up a suburban hill to the rose garden. It wasn't too steep of a hill, but apparently we Americans were completely out of shape because a track team ran past us three times in 10 minutes. Hopefully Yuki wasn't too embarrassed by us. 

View of the city behind us as we walked up the hill

Chizaki Rose Garden costs about $5 for admission. The garden holds countless types of roses from not only Japan but Germany, Australia, France, England and America and provides benches, trellises and statues for photo backgrounds.




The "Empress Michiko" rose





We also peeked in Cafe Rose, a combination gift shop and ice cream parlor, and picked up some rose-flavored soft serve ice cream cones. Verdict: Cookies and cream is still my favorite, but the flavor was refreshing. I was disappointed the ice cream didn't smell like roses, though.


After finishing our ice cream cones, we boarded the skylift (1000円 for a roundtrip ticket) even though the employees warned us of incoming fog clouds.



As we went higher, the fog clouds we had been warned about came full force, and by the time we reached the top, we could see nothing. As in, I couldn't see Yuki and Jess more than five feet away. There was no point in looking at the skyline from the observatory balcony, so we bought souvenirs from the gift shop instead. Sapporo is an attraction for more Japanese than foreigners, and the souvenirs were geared toward native Japanese tourists. I did buy a card game involving Hokkaido-ben, Hokkaido's dialect of Japanese, and some candy from Shiroi Koibito, Sapporo's famous chocolate factory.
We waited until after dusk to ride the skylift back, and luckily we were able to see the city lit up about halfway down.


Disappointed and with empty stomachs, Yuki suggested a restaurant in Susukino (I forget the name right now) which specializes in soup curry, one of Sapporo's local cuisines. Verdict: Delicious. Very.



Not wanting to leave for home yet, we rode the Ferris wheel above one of Susukino's karaoke and restaurant centers - yes, this Ferris wheel is literally on top of a skyscraper! - and saw a better night skyline than we could from the foggy mountaintop.





NOTE: My camera's battery died halfway through the trip, so many of the above photos are courtesy of Jessica, yet again.

BLOG SOUNDTRACK: Aqua Timez, "Niji"