Sapporo Summer Festival

I like beer.  Fortunately, so does my city.  In fact, Sapporo likes beer so much that it holds a huge Summer Festival just to celebrate beer, especially the many varieties that are brewed right here.  

The festival is in Odori Park, a HUGE park which is one block by twelve blocks long, marking Sapporo's downtown area (more on Sapporo and my surroundings in a later post).  Each square block is transformed into a beer garden sponsored by a different brewery (Sapporo Beer Garden, Kirin Beer Garden, Premium Malt Beer Garden, German brews beer garden, etc.).  In addition to beers, each garden serves up a variety of delectable foods on which to chomp the night away.

Gotta love Japan...yukatas and beer towers:

Eri and I enjoying the festival and some incredibly rich takoyaki (fried balls of octopus and other goodness):

I'm sure I was forever branded the wierd gaijin (foreigner) stalker at the Sapporo garden...I just couldn't get enough of the radioactive hats.  Plus, I was secretly hoping that someone would read my mind and give me one:

KAMPAI (cheers)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are currently having our Hokkaido region JET orientation here in Sapporo, so this past weekend and this week also brought me my first guests, both fellow JETs from other towns in Hokkaido!!!

My first guest was Ross from Australia.  This is us trying to be Japanese-y:

Currently, Jennie from Wisconsin is enjoying my tatami room.  She's a fourth-year JET and good times galore:

I'm starting to feel like a local-yokel...community fun, guest-hosting, and work (school...which begins this week) are my life now!  School should be interesting...I have to give a speech to the entire student body (1000 kids) in both Japanese and English...terrifying account to follow...

Raise Your Hand If This Is Your Image of Japan...

No one?  I thought so.  I decided to channel my inner tourist this weekend before school began and headed to the mountain towns of Furano and Biei in the very center of Hokkaido (in fact, it is because of this center placement that Furano holds the annual Navel Festival, and I'm not talking national seafaring-defense!)  These two towns are known for awesome skiing in the winter, and fields of fragrant lavender and other brilliant flowers during the spring, summer, and fall.  The area looks more like France or Holland rather than the yukata-wearing, green tea-sipping, plastic-toy-making Japan we all know and love.  This is yet another reason why they say Hokkaido is like a whole other country.

Lavender fields galore...

I liked this sign...my great-grandma's name was Vera.

Um...Kansas???  Is that you?

Insert "over-quoted 'Wizard of Oz' line" here:

Okay...flowers are nice, but let's talk about something more important:  what I ate.  Yes, yes...for those of you that know me, you know that I love to take food photos, especially when traveling.  I just would like to remember these delicacies of the world by more than just the added inches on my thighs, you know!?

What I learned from this trip is that lavender is not just for potpourri anymore.  First up, lavender cream puff:

Next, lavender and honey "pudding" (was actually more like custard or flan):

Ahhh, the ever popular lavender soft cream (notice 2-D and 3-D similarities):

Lavender soda...taste-buds can no longer discern lavender flavor at this point.

Next...what?...oh, real food!  This is called sake chan-chan yaki, a popular and traditional dish from Hokkaido.  It consists of a sizzling plate of cabbage, salmon (sake), scallops, shrimp, musrooms, summer squash, and famous Hokkaido sweet corn all under a generous drizzle of a sweet miso sauce.

Okay back to more flowers, because that's what you came to this post for...can you believe this scenery (the mountains in the background really are snow-capped and Alps-like, however I was cursed with photographer-hating droopy clouds)!?!

A nice "hearty" variety...one of your favorites and mine (thanks, Chinese-tourist-photographer):

I leave you with my own interpretation of the ghastly scene below:

Japanese Scott Baio:  "I'm 100% back-country, bear-lovin good times!"

Bear (Me):  Ummmm...raman (That's the only hiragana I can read on this thing).

My LIfe Is Now Complete

Okay, so it's not like I've just seen a Japanese Elvis impersonator (believe me, I'm looking!), but I did stumble upon the next greatest thing.

I introduce to you this Japanese Beatles tribute band, with such hits as "Rove, Rove Me Do" and "Prease Prease Me"

Upon seeing my American self:

Yay!

I've been robbed!

The thief:  Japanese cell phone company, Softbank.

I'd like to take this opportunity to talk about cell phones in Japan.  They are far superior to any other pocket-box in the world.  Besides having the standard "boring" features of internet and mobile-to-mobile email, you can also watch all of your favorite t.v. stations on them, store all of your national identity cards on them (which can be scanned), download coupons for stores on them (also scanned), and take high-resolution photos.  They also serve as electronic movie and airline tickets (no joke), electronic membership cards, and there are even cell phones that fold out into robots!!

You can imagine what shopping for one of these puppies is like..

And if the phone-bling isn't up to your fancy, well there are two isles of stickers, decals, and charms to make the cell phone of all your Hello Kitty fantasies come true!

Now the fun part.  Trying to decipher the Escher-like brochure of cell phone plans, rates, talk-times, phone charges, phone insurance charges, features, Japanglish, yen, more yen, and Disney (it's everywhere with these cell phone things...).  Thankfully, I had Eri there to ease the blow a bit.  Total time for plan explanation:  one and a half hours.

Time for my certificate of residency, passport, and residence to be verified:  one hour.

Time for my debit card to be processed and then rejected because my middle name initial did not match my written out middle name on my passport:  one hour

Time for my credit card to be denied due to a Softbank internal error:  30 minutes

Time robbed from us with nothing to show for it:  four hours.  The following portrait, however, was taken when we were only robbed of two hours.  We didn't look so approachable at the end of the whole ordeal.

On a positive end, though, I did manage to leave Bic Camera with the means to internet in my casa so I am now thoroughly connected!  Also, I had two fabulous deliveries to my home tonight!  Mariko-san made me a bento dinner with a side of salmon fried rice:

And my cute little neighbor girls, Nagi and Moe, brought me a bag of their homemade chocolate-almond cookies:

I'd like to think that the corporate tyrants at Softbank are working long hours tonight, instead of eating bento and cookies.

Family Outings and Barbecued Squid

My first week here in Sapporo has been nothing short of amazing. Everyone has helped me so much that I feel right at home here, like I never even left a life completely different from this one. The Japanese teachers of English who I'll be working with are all great and incredibly friendly...one helped me to set up all of my bills for direct deposit out of my banking account; one drove me all over the city to get important foreigner things done like getting a hanko (personal seal stamp which acts as a signature for all things important) and setting up my bank account (he and his wife then invited me to their home for lunch); and one constantly helps me everyday with anything and anything I can possibly think up to ask, including how to order a bento lunch from the school's tea-lady!

There is one person...well, family...who stands out though, and that's the Tanechi family, consisting of my Kyoto Sensei or vice-principal (also my supervisor), his three lovely daughers (24, 22, and 19 years old), and his fabulous wife. They live just two houses down from me and have really gone out of their way to make me feel a part of their family! Eri, the oldest daughter, speaks excellent English and has been my guide for everything Sapporo! Aya and Risa, while limited with English, are hilarious and like to communicate in Japanglishsignlanguage, which I totally understand most of the time (seriously). Mariko-san is mom to everyone...I've rarely cooked a meal since coming here because of her. And last, but not least, my Kyoto Sensei in all of his glory:

Vice-principal, father, bear-lover.

Sunday, Kyoto Sensei and Eri loaded me up in their mini-van for a fun trip to the town of Otaru, which is famous for its historical canal and waterfront shops, as well as seafood and glass blowing

Ice cream (actually, I should say "soft cream"), is a Hokkaido speciality, among other things (such as all things dairy, the freshest seafood in all of Japan, lilacs, lavender fields, cows, onsens (hot springs), skiing, national parks...)

Here, you can puruse such soft cream flavors as lavender, melon, milk, and cold water...mmmm...cold water:

This building says "House of Crystal"

Rich Chinese tourists looking for expensive glass souviners. People with teacher's salaries can only take pictures instead.

Ahhhh, the best little street-treat I've had so far...scallops grilled in their shell with a hearty pat of Hokkaido butter!!!!!! Cost about a buck each!

After Otaru, we made a brief feet-soaking stop at one of Sapporo's city beaches...this one in particular was called Dream Beach. I LOVE this city! Beaches, mountains, skiing, dairy farms, snow festivals...all within an hour or less of me!

Last stop of the day...some good 'ol Hokkaido soft cream!

After our venture out of the city, we came back in time to prepare for my welcome BBQ party with my two neighboring households!

On the "menu": cow tounge, cow colon, lamb stomach, beef flanks, grilled squid, grilled vegatables, fried chicken bones, grilled chicken, potato cakes, and beer, beer, beer! Yes, I did try everything, and no, nothing killed me! Actually, for the most part (aside from the cow colon and lamb stomach) everything was quite tasty!

Mariko-san and Kyoto Sensei...grill masters*

Moe and Nagi...two of the sweetest neighbor girls a person could ask for!

As I've come to discover, it's not a true Japanese party unless there's some kind of fire...in this case, sparklers!

Home, sweet, home indeed!!!