No sooner had I finished watching The Departed did I find out my ferry had also departed - without me on it. I returned a call to Shin Nihonkai Ferry company. Apparently I had missed my boat to Otaru, having left Maizuru earlier that morning. Clearly the travel agent's idea of Saturday night translated literally as 'during the night-time on Saturday, so early Saturday morning also counts'. After a bit of a messy 20 minute phonecall, our tickets were to be transferred to the ferry from Tsuruga to Tomakomai, leaving around the time we had intended to leave anyway, just to and from slightly different locations. I rush to a nearby JTB office to confirm the details, alert Josh to the situation but advise it has already been sorted and we meet at Kyoto Station as planned. However, our voyage was to hit another little snag - and we hadn't even left the city yet.
I was walking towards Mukaijima station, kitted out with all my luggage, when the ferry office phones again to tell me that our ferry was delayed due to rough weather. I spent a long time on the phone with a very patient lady, trying to figure out if it was actually going to go at all, what other passengers were doing, whether I should book another ferry...But all uncertain replies. After talking with Josh, we decided to head there anyway and wait either at the port or on board for the ferry to leave. It was unlikely we'd arrive on Sunday evening now...
The first snow appeared on our train to Tsuruga - a mere taste of what was to come. Although it was snow festival season, we were a little suprised how few people were on the train, the bus to the port and finally waiting for the ferry. I guess if you've got the funds to pay the ludicrous mark-up Sapporo hotels impinge during the festival, you'd probably be Shinkansenning or flying. Still no idea of when departure time was going to be, but we were welcomed aboard at 11.30pm and Josh and I were a little startled by how grand the main entrance was. Big shiny staircases and all - faux-grander but fancy nonetheless. We were sleeping in a big shared space with a simple mat, blanket and pillow for comfort, but it was better than I'd expected it to be. Settled in, we took a quick tour (air hockey!), then sat in the main lounge, drinking beer and eating snacks and waiting for the damn thing to 'hoist anchor and set sail'. But still no movement by 2am, at which point we decided to call it a night. Nevertheless, we stayed up for an hour or so more, as a group of Japanese workers had appeared in our dorm and began chatting with us in English and Japanese. They offered us rice cakes, dried squid, shucho, salami and cheese with little salami chunks in. And then they went and got us another beer each. Not wishing to upset our uninvited hosts, we ate and drank as much as we could stomach - but our stomachs were soon to take an assault of another kind.
I slept comfortably enough, waking intermittently (especially when we finally departed at 5.30am), but finding the experience of sleeping on a giant flat firm water bed very interesting. It was around 11.30am when I awoke properly, but it was not until I was standing that the feeling of nausea sunk in terribly. The heat of the room, the constant swaying, all that food and booze - I clasped my mouth, put on my shoes, and staggered uncontrollably to the lavvies to let rip. I managed to fight the urge to vom everywhere, but I have never felt so ill for so long. I buy some seasickness tablets and water but I didn't imagine they'd have any effect.
Out on deck felt better. The sun and fresh air belied the choppy waters rocking the passengers from side to side, but inside was still more comfortable. Walking around was a virtual impossibility, like living in a fun house with no means of escape. And while others seemed to be coping better (the staff were irritatingly well-composed), hearing someone vomit in the cubicle opposite while you're already on the verge of doing so mid-relief isn't going to help matters. The on-board cinema had opened up but our feature presentations were cancelled due to the weather conditions. I slouch in my seat and drift off for a while until Josh appears with his laptop and we watch The Lost City to take our minds off our sickness. No matter how our bodies felt, energy was necessary, so we dine a la vending machine while watching TV shows on cultural celebrations and ridiculous song extravaganzas (The X-Factor would never work here). Tired of consciousness in this condition, I crash around 8pm.We finally arrive at 3am - and with no hope of actually being able to get anywhere at this time, we have to sit it out in the waiting room for another ferry to arrive. Sleep passes much of the time, though an advert for a program on tonight, pitching animals in CG combat to see which would claim victory, does raise a smile (tonight was BEAR vs CROCODILE). Once the second batch of passengers are on terra firma, it's a bus to Tomakomai station, then a train to Iwamizawa and then change to get a train to Sapporo. It's a very long journey, but at least there's plenty of sunrise snowscapes to please the eyes (I would embed the video but Blogger is being arsey).
We arrive at Sapporo station and just miss the train to Ainosato Kyoikudai (where the SOAS crew are studying and living in Hokkaido). It's an hour before another goes that way, but once we reach our final destination, we take a rest in Mister Donut and wait for Jona. It became clear over the course of our stay that food plays an important part in the Hokkaido lifestyle. I guess the eating goes some way to eliminating the cold, and Mister Donut was a popular stop-off point, particularly with the new range of donuts, the discounts on offer and the oh-so-essential Points Card - the light-up donut and beverage cup had already been claimed by Jona and Dan, but their quest for points continued regardless. It was not long before Jona had escorted us back to his halls - 紫藻寮 Shisoryo (Purple Seaweed).
It's on campus and despite being only a couple of decades old, it was pretty run-down. However, the grime and untidiness just added to its charm and character. Stairways filled with binbags, trash all over the shop, stacks of books, piles of clothes - higgledy-piggledy to the max! I was going to be staying in Jona's cluster (you couldn't really call it anything else - just the word
'cluster' has connotations that Shisoryo was more of an organic community than a building), while Josh was staying with Chris, who we met cooking in his kitchen (ah...the kitchens). I handed over some Kyoto omiyage (some traditional sweets and a Shinobi Hello Kitty) and Chris offered something wondrous in return: Yazz - Wanted. "The Only Way Is Up" indeed! Plus 8 other fine dancealicious tracks. Spellbinding stuff indeed, and quite the last thing I expect to receive as a gift in Japan, but that's Chris for ya! We don't stick around long as their Japanese friend Taiki (obsessed with American culture and very cool and funny indeed) has organised a screening of Jackass: Number Two, which we happily watch in one of the university buildings. Thom turns up as well, and I also finally meet the legend that is Kevin - but I'll leave the Hokkaido guys to the Kevin love-in. We meet Dan (who has developed an Animal Crossing addiction the likes of which I haven't seen before) at the international students office and it's not long before we're back at halls playing videogames and watching telly shows.Then it's off for a big tonkatsu dinner, where Dan dares to deal with the jumbo tonkatsu. Regulars as they all are, they know what they're getting themselves in for, so Josh and I opt for more sensibly-sized portions. It's certainly tasty, but it seems the real reason they've been coming is because of the prizes on offer if you get enough points. Jona and Chris cash in their hard-earned katsu credits for a spangly Toyota remote-controlled car. As deserving as I guess they are, I can't help but think there might be a little kid out there who's been waiting to get that car for ages, only to find it's been claimed by two silly gaijin twice his size.
It's then off to pool and darts - which ends with me pretty much breaking all the darts heads (though I neglect to inform the staff). Josh and I stick around, while the others return to the halls for their regular meeting. From what I hear about these dreaded meetings, they start at 10pm and can last up to three hours, consisting of the Japanese residents airing their greivances, approving rules and regulations, news and information, and so on, while the gaijin feign interest and understanding whilst fighting the urge to doze off or burst out laughing. But this one wraps up quickly being it the last of the term, and we're soon back at their halls, watching The Office and trying out the new RC vehicle. Which drives like a dream. One of those "I'm driving a remote-controlled car dreams".A FROSTY RECEPTION
Snow and suspicion was in the air today. We had lunch at a little ramen place just opposite the university - which also turns out to serve the most delicious ramen in the world. As a result, Dan said all other ramen had been spoiled as it could never compete. And indeed, the akamiso ramen was simply divine. The restaurant also played some truly ludicrous J-pop with lyrics like "I am Japanesey" and something concerning going to the "hotel lobby". However, our friends were running late to see the Chinese students' presentations, so Jona had to let us in to his halls so we could grab our bags as Josh and I were heading into town.
Now the good thing about Shisoryo is that you get daily contact with Japanese students, improving everyday conversational skills no end. But then there are the rules and regulations. No showers for guests I can understand, as the communal washroom is downstairs and naked strangers is perhaps going too far and you're using water you're not paying for - besides, we ended up just using the on-campus showers for the gym area. However, guests must also be accompanied at all times, which proved somewhat difficult.
As soon as I grabbed my backpack, I get stopped by four guys in Jona's cluster, some of whom I'd already introduced myself too, who begin to interrogate me, asking who I was, what I was doing and how I'd gotten in. As they led me downstairs, I met with Josh and we explained the situation as best we could. They reminded us of the rule and we apologised profusely. They said it was okay, but it was clear that none of them bought it at all. We left hoping we hadn't messed things up royally. When we met with Jona again, he explained that it had been cleared up and that they did genuinely want to talk with us and get to know us (and we did chat with them a fair amount over the week to let them know we weren't psychos), but it's just they're a real stickler for the rules. They often say "Oh, WE don't mind, but others blah blah blah...", when it's clear they do care, and they don't bat an eyelid when residents bring back girlfriends or have Japanese friends over. All they asked was if I stayed in someone else's cluster one night, which I agreed to (though it never came to pass), and I made more efforts to say "Hi" and give a 自己紹介 (self-introduction) when necessary.
Despite all this, I got an even worse going-over on Friday morning. I'd woken up and was just sitting in the cluster on my own (as I had been permitted to do), waiting for Jona to wake up. There I was, minding my own business, when out comes one of Jona's clustermates (for want of a better word) who gives me a proper bollocking. He says, "This isn't a hotel! This is our space, not your free space! I don't know you're not a robber or a criminal - only Jon knows!". In Japanese, of course. He then tells me I need to go to Jon's room straight away. I say that he hasn't woken up yet, but he tells me to go wake him then. So I do - which is pretty unfair. Tsk, some people...It's a shame that there were a few jerks, as the vast majority of people were very friendly.
But I'm getting ahead of myself - back to Tuesday. Josh and I arrived in Sapporo to go for a little walk around the city, but taking great care to avoid too much snow sculpture-ogling - that was due for Thursday. Instead, we walked to the Old Sapporo Government Building and met a giant snowman. He told us to take a look inside at some of history of Hokkaido exhibits, some of which were good (mammoth teeth!), others a little poor (many displays consisted of photographs of displays in better museums). We also visited the Tokei-dai, the symbol of Sapporo. People come from all over the country to see what Jona had described as "shed with a clock", but I'd say it was more of a 'Wendy house'. Regardless, it was pants. We walked by the TV Tower and decided to head towards the river to see if any interesting was there. The maps about town were grossly unproportional as it took as a long time to walk all the way, only to find nothing but snow. The river wasn't even frozen. Though it goes to show that when we mentioned our trip there, Jona didn't even know there was a river in Sapporo. After a brief 'Who Can Throw A Snowball Further?" competition (curtailed by the fact we couldn't see where they were landing), we motioned back towards town.We headed to the main shopping district for some arcade games (Time Crisis 4 and the very fun Half Life 2: Survivor), souvenir shops and a peak into the seafood and shellfish restaurants. We hit Susukino, the main entertainment area, which had the streets filled with ice sculp
tures, many completed, but some still being carved with chainsaws. It was also where the influx of tourists for the snow festival was made very apparent - some idiot American shouting at the top of his lungs "HEY! HEY BECKY! BECKY, LOOK! STARBUCKS! STARBUCKS! HEY, BECKY - THEY GOT STARBUCKS!". There were also a variety of igloo ice-bars, as well as, joy of joys, an ice karaoke box! As we wait in line, we get hot drinks and Josh and I deliberate over which song to pick. Not sure exactly what to plump for that we're both capable of, we settle on David Bowie's "Heroes" (natch) - it's pretty straightforward. And if you get enough points, you can win a Nintendo DS! It's our turn, and we give it our all (as much as you can sat down on an ice bench anyway). Our results screen pops up - 50...80...83! Far better than anyone else we'd seen that evening (mostly 60s and 70s), and only 2 points off a prize (500 yen off something or other). We're congratulated and given a sweets and snacks goodie bag, plus an enthusiastic Japanese couple shake our hands and say we're cool. Nice.We soon meet Jona, Chris and Dan from their music lesson in town and we head back to Ainosato Kyoikudai to meet with Thom, Taiki, Kevin and the Chinese contingent celebrating a post-presentation party. Many drinking games and snack platters later, it's karaoke for real and super cheap. While Chinese songs dominate the selection (with only "Ring Da Ding Ding Dong" offering much for non-speakers to sing along to), there are plenty of great songs and emotional ballads for us to pour our feelings into after a long hard day. We get back around 3.30am.
Coming soon in Part II: snowboarding, snow sculptures, Sapporo Beer Garden and Surira!
To see all my Hokkaido pictures, check out my Hokkaido Collection on Flickr.
