Beautiful View

Don and I went for a walk the other day because it was so nice out and we needed to get out of the house. Our walk down to the ocean is usually more beautiful than the ocean itself. In the distance you can see the mountains in Mashike, still covered with snow. They look like they're hovering like a spaceship to the right, because of the fog and clouds. To the left by the wind turbines are the yellow rapeseed fields of Reuke Farm. Beautiful!

Who Loves Nature?

We do! We do! Today we went to our first official meeting of the Rumoi Forest Support Club in the mountain park nearby. We took down fences around fruit shrubs and reset the logs for a mushroom-growing area. Luckily there were many shitake already growing on the logs so we picked a bunch, along with some other mountain vegetables (things you wouldn't think you could eat, like fern fiddleheads). After washing these off at home we made tempura - delicious! Oh, and the best part, in the leftover batter, we dunked some snickers bars and deep fried those too. It sounds disgusting, and it was, but it tasted really really good.

In the spirit of spring, after I digested the foods above, I made a sakura (cherry blossom) brooch. The cherry blossom season is just starting (late) here in Hokkaido. It looks a lot like the one I made for my mom, but for this I added some yellow beads for the stamens.

Stuff around here is finally looking less brown and more green. . .come on spring, I'm running out of patience!

Snow Cave

So when I woke up this morning, the room was much darker than usual, and when I opened the curtains I found out why. The snow on the ground is about half way up the window now, but that's not a new development. The snow sliding off our roof from the heat in the house has stopped falling and is now just curling under into this weird lip thing. Out of the bedroom window (top pics) there are about 4 inches left between the roof snow and the ground snow. In the living room (bottom pics) there is a little more space, but not much. It kind of feels like being inside the mouth of giant whale.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Or Antarctica! It's too bad the snow isn't really piling up. That's
probably because 40 mph winds aren't letting it land. Oh yeah, and I
can see my breath in the bathroom. Who wants to place bets on when
the toilet water freezes?

Holiday Time

I love the smell of pine around the holidays, and there's no better
way to experience it than by getting sap all over your hands. I went
hiking with a forest group here and collected some fallen branches and
flowers to make this. Let's see how long it withstands the wind!

More Pre-Winter Adventures

So, the following 3 slideshows are from Halloween, a few drives we took when there was nice weather, and our most recent trip to Lake Shikotsu.

Halloween was really fun because we hosted a party at our house. Everyone that came dressed up and we were pretty impressed with the costumes. Don and I were Mickey and Minnie Mouse, with the genders switched (to make it interesting), and I made the costumes. We also went a little nuts decorating the house to give our Japanese friends an authentic Halloween experience. To end the party with a bang, we got our first snow of the season.

Fall Driving was a product of our antsy-ness and was made plausible by our little Honda's excellent gas mileage. Pictures are from a viewpoint in Obira, a road through Mashike, and a strange park/rest-stop near Takikawa. By the time we got the rest stop it was getting dark but we absolutely had to investigate the sprawling playground that would never exist in the lawsuit-happy U.S. of A. It was a little creepy, but really fun, until Don discovered that he could go down the giant hill-slide really fast if he crouched on his feet. Don did go really really fast until he reached the bottom where a not-slippery patch of ground sent him flying face-first onto the concrete. Luckily he put his arm out in front of his face, but this move ended up warranting a shoulder x-ray in the Rumoi ER a few hours later.

Lake Shikotsu is a caldera, a giant hole left after a huge volcanic eruption. The lake is 360 meters deep, crystal clear, and surrounded by mountains and 2 active volcanoes. The volcanic activity also allows for some amazing hot springs and bath houses (onsen). We visited one that had rotemburo or outside baths and it was pretty awesome. You really haven't lived until you try this. We hiked to waterfall in the area, experienced a few amazing rainbows, and climbed one of the volcanoes. Beautiful Beautiful Beautiful, even though it rained most of the time. We ended this last-ditch effort for pre-snow adventure by exploring another wonderful place called Costco. You may have heard of it?

Whaling

So I tried to bring up this very controversial topic with one of my Japanese friends. There is a new documentary out, called The Cove, about dolphin hunters in Japan that is stirring up a lot of controversy here for those who actually know about it. Anyways here was our conversation:

me: "So I wonder if the dolphin hunting is actually bringing their population numbers down. I feel like whales are different because there are so few of them, but I'm not sure about dolphins."

friend: "Yes, whales are . . . eh . . . (looks in dictionary, I'm thinking, for a word like 'endangered' or something along those lines) . . . Whales are a delicious dish."

me: "I see. But isn't whaling illegal because they are so few of them?"

friend: "Yes, Japanese hunt whales for research and when research is finished meat goes to supermarket. In December, near New Year's, you can find whale in our supermarket."

me: "Wow. Many people in America and other countries think that it is very bad that Japanese hunt whales, even for research because they are endangered (I look up the translation for 'endangered' ). They even have a show where animal rights activists go on a boat and attack the Japanese whaling boats."

friend: "Yes I know. But whale meat is very tasty."

me: "Ok, so let's talk about something else!"

Fall

They say that we will get our first snowfall tomorrow so here are some memories of the fall. We tried to get out in nature as much as possible. Some shots are from a get together near an old orchard and abandoned school. One of our friends runs a bed a breakfast there.

Others are from a drive we took south down the coast. We saw some amazing sites from these fantastic observation areas.

A bunch are from our office olympics and a hiking trip we took with Jim and Dave in Obira, the town just north of ours. They office olympics were really fun. We won the championship and had a big party afterwards.

Some of the pictures are from a bike ride we took around our town.

Tomorrow brings the snow and our Halloween party. Chrissy is so nervous I don't think she is going to go to sleep. She made some great pumpkin pies and the house is going to look great with all of the decorations she bought.

You might want to click on the pics and view them on the Picasa site. Some of the captions are long and you can go at your own pace more easily there.

Chrissy vs. Spider

So I'm home alone, baking a pumpkin pie from scratch (like REALLY scratch, we're talking actual pumpkin), and as I close the oven and head to couch to do some knitting, I spot a giant brown blob scurrying across the couch. Ok, a 1-cm spider qualifies as giant in my book. As if it sees or hears me stifle a scream it halts, poised on top of my Mac power cord. I strategize quickly before the spider escapes or attacks me, I grab a hanger first but rethink that decision. I roll up a nearby magazine and gently pull the cord away from the spider (I don't want the cord to get spider guts on it) and take a good swat. The spider doesn't even flinch. I swat again, harder and when I lift the magazine, the spider is GONE! Nowhere to be found! Somehow, I simultaneously look at the magazine in my hand and throw it across the room. I quickly inspect every inch of my person, but still no spider. I'm now flinching at every spot on the wall or floor. Not cool. Why does this stuff happen to me? But the question I really should be asking is how is that a biology teacher is such a baby around bugs. Anyways, I get the vacuum and go to town, but just as I lean in really close to the scene of the crime, the power in the whole house goes. Now I'm standing in complete darkness, sure that the spider is on my face. But since running screaming from the house is out of the question, I find a flashlight and the fuse box and get the lights back on. As I put the vacuum away, I contemplate how long I can go without sitting on the couch, tricky. But then, as I bend down to pick up my knitting I see the carcass on the ground under the table. I blow to see if it moves, and it DOES, so I grab enough tissues to put about 1 inch of it between me and the crunch that's about to happen. Does anyone not shiver at the crunching exoskeleton of a squished bug? Success, finally. Mr. 8-legs is now on his way down the Rumoi sewer system, soon to swim into the Japan Sea, maybe to be eaten by a fish I'll buy at the market next week. Ew, but at least I win. Yes, I just wrote a looooong story about squishing a bug. Pathetic? Maybe.

I want to be a farmer. Stop laughing please.

Today we spent the day in Mashike, the town just south of Rumoi. We met up with Jim and Dave, and some people from the chat club, then headed to a nearby orchard. The owner showed us around and had us sample 5 different delicious types of prunes (plums?), several varieties of grapes right off of the vine, and of course, some apples. The grapes especially, put american grocery store varieties to shame. We also talked plant propagation and genetics (so you know I was happy). With gurgly stomachs, Don and I agreed that to have something like this ourselves would be amazing. Then we headed to a winery down the road that made apple wine, or hard cider. The owner of this operation explained the process to us. Also tempting and interesting. Even though both of these ventures clearly require huge amounts of hard work, I'm still fantasizing about my own farm/orchard. I also just finished Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, which is inspiring me (as if I needed it) to grow as much of our own produce as possible when Don and I finally settle into a house, in America, don't worry moms. The questions that remain are

1. How much of my time can we afford to devote to this agriculture adventure?

2. Will growing our own food save us enough money to be worth that time? I feel like it's worth it for our health alone, but mama's gotta pay bills. Thanks a lot NYU.

3. Are chickens out of the question? Sheep for wool? What about a horse? Ok, maybe we're not there yet.

Silver Week

We had another crazy weekend, followed up by an amazing nature-filled trip so this is going to be a loooooong one. Sorry for saving it all up!

Our weekend-o-adventure: Jim from Obira, and his girlfriend, Emily, came to stay with us on Saturday. We had snacks and some sake and the guys got haircuts. Then we had some curry at one of our favorite restaurants, Zion Curry. This place has some delicious spicy curry and great Rasta-inspired decor, along with a continuously-playing drumming video. Dave joined the four us and so the party began. As we payed for our meal we noticed a poster advertising a Reggae event at All Genres Bar (the one with the trance music). We laughed and asked the waitress more about it and she made a dancing motion. We were sold. Back at our place we did some more damage to the sake and strategized. Ping-pong was first on our list, so we got fired up with a little healthy competition. Once we started hitting each other with the ball more than the table, it was time to move on. Our next stop, before we lost our nerve was All Genre's Bar.

At the bar, we were greeted by half a dozen patrons and some loud reggae/hiphop music. We got our beers and took over the dance floor. Everyone in our group was cutting loose while the japanese patrons stared. A few of them were dancing too, so I took it upon myself to instigate a dance-off. Obviously I won, but it was a good battle that involved a lot of stepping, swaying, gyrating, thrashing, and a LOT of sweating. Since I burned most of the calories I ate that day and then some I called for food as we left the bar. We walked around the bar area looking for something open. A ramen shop looked closed but the lights were on so we stared into the windows until they gave us the OK sign and let us in. I don't really remember what happened after that except for a bowl of delicious pork ramen, a lot of laughing, and Jim falling asleep. Somehow we made it home and Don made us all take 3 Advil with some water before bed. The next day we woke up, made a breakfast feast, and then went to play park golf. Don got a hole-in-one, and Dave got a ball-in-ocean. Don't worry, the ball was saved.

Our nature-trip: So, this week we had a few days off and decided to head over to the largest national park in Japan, Daisetsuzan, and check out the tallest mountain in Hokkaido, Asahidake. Dave came with us and provided the necessary comic relief. We headed out east in our new-old Honda Civic (named Betty), from Rumoi very early Monday morning. After some successful navigating we found ourselves in the middle of beautiful mountains, lakes, and traffic. Evidently, everyone else in Hokkaido had our same idea, but we kept cool and eventually parked, bought gondola tickets, and carbo-loaded for our hike. Despite the number of people, everything ran really smoothly and I kept thinking to myself "if this was happening in New York . . ." So the gondola is is like a giant bubble that holds about 100 people and carries them silently up the beautiful mountain side. During the ride you can see for miles in either direction and the looming Mount Asahidake ahead. On the hillsides the leaves were changing and the bright white birch trunks stood out against the greens, reds, and oranges. Even though we like to be proud and say that we climbed this giant volcanic mountain, the gondola actually did most of the work. We got off, took one look at the giant mountain, and decided that come hell or high water we would make it to the top. The path was rocky and gravelly and there were vents a hundred feet away spewing sulfurous fumes. Somehow Dave was able to gallop upwards while Don and trudged. A few times I thought about abandoning ship, my back hurt, my legs hurt, breathing wasn't as satisfying as it normally is, but Don kept encouraging me and once we were more than halfway, I decided it was best to finish. I also felt like an giant wimp for even considering giving up when I saw 60 and 70-year-olds coming down from the top with smiles on their faces. At the top it was absolutely breathtaking and serene. The Earth actually looked round and the effect of being taller than everything else was dizzying. Mount Asahidake is an active volcano that at 2,300 meters is the tallest peak in all of Hokkaido. It was amazing and humbling and terrifying. Unfortunately we had to go all the way back down so we ate our prize for finishing (some dried fruit) and headed back down. Walking strenuously downhill might not be hard on your muscles but it does a number on your knees and feet. Again Dave, who I'm thinking might be part mountain goat, zoomed and skipped downward and ended up waiting about half an hour for us. I tried his running approach for about 5 seconds until I fell and slid on my butt. I contemplated just sliding the whole way (but there were giant boulders in the way) using Don as a sherpa, or calling for a helicopter. This sounds silly, but anyone who has hiked a steep downhill area for over an hour knows what I'm talking about. Eventually we made it back down and Don rung some bell to announce it and we walked a little trail on our way back to gondola. We spotted some wild foxes, smelled some berries, bought hot tea in a can, used toilets with bacteria that digest the human waste, and headed back down to our car and hopefully a clean warm hotel room. We stayed in a ryokan, a traditional guesthouse, and it was crowded so we didn't get the okay to use the bath and shower until very late but we were already half-asleep in bed. The next day we had to explore Asahikawa, second biggest city in Hokkaido.

The most famous attraction here is the zoo. It was made popular by a Japanese movie, but I don't know the name of it. We got suckered into paying for parking 100 yards away from the free parking lot. Oh well. Since this is the holiday week, there were lines to see certain things. Yes, lines. At the zoo. It was pretty typical as zoos go. A couple of cool things: an all glass tunnel that goes through the penguin pool, a giant outdoor open-air trapeze for an orangutan that ended up throwing a ball into the crowd and hitting a little girl on the head while we watched, a few bubble-dome things that popped up in the polar bear and wolf habitats so that you could get a prey's view of the animal. Many of the large animals seemed sleepy and bored, and I don't want to get into the reason I don't normally ever go to zoos, but a little excitement came when a lion that was chilllaxing in the grass let out a roar that gave me goosebumps and shivers. If I was in the jungle and heard that I would definitely need new underwear.

After the zoo we did some exploring and shopping and commenting on the large number of gambling joints. There were some cool shops and a giant used-goods store with everything from musical instruments to tires to snowboards to clothes. We ended the night with some very-bad-for-you fast food and headed home. Definitely a city we will go back to. As so ends this long post. Hope you enjoyed reading it and hope you enjoy the slideshow. There are some really funny videos. I promise not to write so much next time!

Back from Sapporo

So we just spent the past few days in Sapporo, the fifth biggest city in Japan, and the biggest city in Hokkaido. Don mostly had meetings and I mostly went shopping and sightseeing. We had one late night out on the town that started with all you can drink at a beer garden, led to karaoke, and ended with green ice cream all over my shirt, chocolate ice cream on my pillow, and Don being lost for about 30 minutes. There are a few more galleries to look at. There are some pictures of the city itself, some of the botanic garden. I know, shocking, I went to another garden and took a million pictures.

We also finally finished the gardening in front of our house, so there are some photos of that, some pics of the town, and just a few of the funny small cars we've seen. (I promised my brother). I'll ride around on my bike some time soon and snap a couple pictures of the town. I really want to take a video inside of the grocery store. It's chock full of little old ladies bustling around me, while I hold my basket above their heads, with this crazy spastic techno song playing, always the same song. Luckily you can only hear the radio in the produce section, but I almost always have that song stuck in my head.

They know how to garden!

I visited the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. It was amazingly beautiful.