Today I had the final exam for the semester. It was pretty difficult and lasted all 3 hours of school. After the devestation was over, I went to Kentucky Fried Chicken to celebrate the end of the first semester with some genuinely non-Japanese food. It:s hard to believe, but I was actually feeling pretty sick of Japanese food because I:ve been eating it for over a month now. I went home early after lunch to relax and unwind before heading out to Sapporo tomorrow morning!
Days 30-33
During this time, I went to Sapporo for the nakayasumi break. I did lots of things, but I*ll just highlight the best parts for anyone interested in going to Sapporo:
Day 30
I went to Sapporo with some other HIFfers and we stayed at the Guest House Nonaka. I:d really recommend it because it is centrally located near the Susukino district of Sapporo. Susukino is a kind of seedy, but lively part of town where many host men and women are available for hire if you:re feeling lonely. The love hotels are also in this area. The people working at the guest house were really nice too. I:d strongly recommend making reservations for a hotel early on because when I made reservations about 2 weeks before break, every hotel in Sapporo was already full for Saturday night.
The first thing I did was go to the Hokkaido university Botanical Gardens. They were quite nice and relaxing. The weather was cloudy at first, but cleared up by noon. There was a rock garden in the Botanical Gardens, but instead of a Japanese rock garden, it was a Canadian rock garden = :( After grabbing lunch, I went back to the hotel to take a nap because everyone was pretty tired from waking up early for our train.
For dinner, we went out to some pan-Asian restaurant where there was a confusing, mystical, hidden charge that we had to pay. Basically, we had to order a drink with our dinners, but they didn:t tell us that when we went in. Anyways, food was okay, but the best part of the restaurant was that they had ice in the urinals! Post-Dinner, we all went out for some nomi-hodai (all you can drink for an hour and a half) at a nice little bar (Bob:s). After drinking our fill of really weak mixed cocktails, we went out to a more lively bar for some socializing. The other bar called Rad Brothers was full of gaizin (foreigners) and the drinks were a tad expensive, but they had thumping beats and we just hung out and talked for a bit. When we tried to find our way back to the hotel, the person who knew how to get back to the hotel had already left, so we wandered around in a giant circle looking for the Guest House Nonaka and found it finally after about 30 min at least of walking.
Day 31
Most likely the best day of the whole trip. I went to Moerenuma Park outside of Sapporo. We took a subway to the end of the line and from there we took a bus about 20 min to the park. The park was designed by famous Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi.
If you go there, be sure to go into the glass pyramid to learn about how Noguchi designed the park. It is truly a work of art and a masterpiece. There are also awesome playgrounds there in the Sakura No Mori (Cherry Forest) that will bring out anyone:s inner child. Oh there:s also a beach/pool thing there so bring your suit if you plan to cool off. I returned to Sapporo and went in search of the *Virgin Forest of Sapporo*, which is apparently a national monument thing. It was really cold though, so we didn:t stay there for long. There is a ropeway up to the top of the Virgin Forest mountain, but it was too cold and too far for us to walk, so we turned back. We did, however, see the Hokkaido shrine, which is apparently pretty big, but we couldn:t go in because it was already closed.
Back at the hotel, I changed into some warmer clothes and then asked the Guest House nonaka people about internet cafes to sleep in that night because we didn:t have a hotel room for that night and also I asked a bout Ohnsens to take a bath in and I think the people felt so sorry for us that they let us stay in one of their other rooms. Essentially the room was a closet, but the lady put in a couple of futons and it was fine. Another reason to stay at Guest House Nonaka: the people are so nice!
That night we all went out for a debaucherous(?) night on the town. The best place we went to was a club called *Booty* somewhere in downtown Susukino area. Their website is www.booty-disco.com so check it out if you:re in Sapporo. I stayed up for most of the night dancing and having a fun time with my friends in the club and we didn:t get back to the hotel till after sunrise. It was a good time.
Day 32
Woke up in time to check out at 10:00 and then went to find an onsen where we could shower after all the dancing last night. There was an onsen about 5 blocks away that was pretty cheap (300 yen). There were all sorts of baths there too, so we stayed there for a while relaxing.
After that, we had lunch at the JR station at a great soba place on the top floor. From the JR station, we caught a train out to Otaru, the *Venice of Japan*. Upon our arrival, we were a bit disappointed to find that there was only one canal and it in no way compared to Venice. It was still very scenic and nice there though. I walked around a bit looking at the little town and ended up having dinner at Umi Neko, a wonderful European restaurant in an old warehouse. The restaurant played Jazz and served Italian food. I really felt like I wasn:t in Japan anymore, which was a bit of a relief because I sort of miss Western food and culture. Anyways, I would recommend going to Otaru early before the afternoon because by the time we got there, all the pleasure boat tours that go around the bay were finished and apparently the scenery is really nice around there.
Returning from Otaru, we went back to the hotel to rest because we were all so tired.
Day 33
I woke up early again to catch the subway to our 7:30 train back to Hakodate. I slept the whole way back, oh BTW the train cost 10,000 Yen there and back. Yeah, so I got back home and did some laundry, took a shower, and took a nap, did some homework, and went to bed.
Day 34
It was my first day back to school. I feel kind of strange being back in Hakodate after the weekend in Sapporo, the fifth largest city in Japan. I also felt wierd having to go back to school because I really just wanted to explore the city and travel around and see more like I did in Sapporo. Anyways, school:s fine, but I kind of feel like I should be concentrating more on seeing Hakodate and the surrounding area and experiencing it rather than concentrating everything on my work.
Day 35
Toiday I went to school and now I:m going to Judo! We had a great lecutre after school about the Japanese and their view on religion. It was given by David Gardnier from COlorado College. I would really recommend going to the lecture if you come to HIF. It was by far the most interesting one so far. Anyways, now it:s off to Judo to get my ass kicked!
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