Avainsana: Sapporo

It has been a while, hasn’t it? And honestly it’s my own fault too, trying to get involved in everything that happens at Hokkaido University and going out every night and evening and day. I’m trying to rewind just a little bit and tell a summary of things that have happened here since my last post.

I think the first thing I wanna tell about is climbing our nearby mountain (or as our guide that day put it: a glorified hill), Maruyama.

This was our gang for that day.

The mountain is gorgeous and it was already turning into autumn colors. The little fox statues along the road were prayed to and asked to protect ”lost children”. That’s why people also dressed the statues warmly so they could deliver those clothes to the children needing them. It was creepy and heartwarming at the same time.

The view from the top was so worth the hike!

”A bunch of sweaty but happy foreigners”.

…then there was this other time we hiked Maruyama at evening with Agné, Ewelina and Pardis. And it was beautiful. Children, do not try this at home. Photo © Agné Jurgaityté

Then the next worthwhile thing to mention is our self-planned trip to Otaru which is a nearby tourist town of Sapporo.

Highlight of the trip for me was to try something one Japanese couple recommended to me at work back in Finland to try out if I was ever to go to Sapporo: Genghis Khan. Basically you have the grill in the middle of the table and you fry meat, onion and sprouts on it. Plus you get rice, sauce and miso soup.

At this point weather was turning freezing cold already. Photos from Otaru © Carmen Winfield

The autumn here is amazing and colorful. Unfortunately, as I’m writing this, the snow has already fallen here in Sapporo. The autumn time was short-lived as snow arrived almost a month earlier than on the previous years. In other words, I’m in my element.

This it what it looks like in here… The snow just really came out of nowhere. Photo © Agné Jurgaityté

Eternal fucking struggle to figure out how much clothing to wear in the morning. It might be sunny in the morning but it gets freezing in the evening. If you walk, you need less clothes or you start sweating like a little pig. If you take bike, you need more clothes because of the wind. Do you take the short jacket you have for autumn and risk freezing, or do you get the long winter jacket and risk freezing later ’cause you used the winter coat in the autumn? ARGH! Seriously, I mentally high-five myself every time I get my clothing choices right for the weather. (Or high-touch, as the Japanese say. …yes, I know, wtf?)

Japan, for me, has been a time of firsts. In that category also goes my first experience with proper Halloween. And it was awesome and everybody’s outfits were so on point!

…less vodka next time though.

The amount of hangover the next day, oh my god… Not to mention that it wasn’t a normal stay-at-home-and-die kind of a hangover day, no, nope. We had a fucking trip on that day. We went to Shikotsu lake, Ainu village and Jigoku Hell Valley, not to mention that half of the day we sat in a bus. Gosh, just thinking back at it makes me nauseous. The trip was awesome, though.

First stop, lake Shikotsu. We look like we’re fucking freezing, hah! (We were.) The wind was crazy strong and damn cold, but on the bright side I got to taste a corn-dog which was nice. And yes, I know it’s american but I’ve never had it before. Who said all my new experiences had to be strictly about Japan?

Jigoku Hell Valley. I learned from Supernatural that demons smell of sulfur. Also learned that day that sulfur stinks pretty bad. Wind that smells of rotten eggs and hangover – true hell doesn’t get much better than that.

True to it’s name I found this oni (Japanese monster) from Hell Valley. Didn’t seem to mind me invading his personal space. I don’t have any pictures from Ainu Village but, uh, there wasn’t that much to see, so… Go there yourself if you wanna see it, dammit.

I did get the permission to show you these two adorable group pictures from Ainu Village though. Photos © Gabbie Manolo

What else, what else? Well, there has been about a million different parties that make me deliriously happy. So many amazing personalities, so many new friends and inside jokes and so much laughter. I’m surprised how well I’m doing on these with my social skills being:

In any case, I feel like I’m slowly getting the hang of socializing. It’s not so bad. It’s just me that’s bad. But I’ll get better, I swear.

Apart from countless parties that I’ve been lucky enough to join, there’s one another thing that makes me the happiest person on earth:

Onsens.

Gosh, those places are awesome. Onsens are basically public bath-houses, with either natural hot water springs or man-made ones, but whichever you end up with, you’re bound to enjoy it. Sure, the nakedness is awkward at first but it’s the same with Finnish sauna: first it’s awkward and then you realize nobody cares about your (or their) nudity and you can just stop caring as well.

Pro Tip: Instead of having feelings, try being dead inside. Everything is still horrible but you will not care at all.

I’m kidding, of course. But I promise, after the first shock everything gets exponentially better. If you don’t take my word for it, take my friends’. The onsen near to our dorm is called Souen, and on their website you can check out the pictures of the place. With onsens there are few rules you need to follow:

1. Bring your own towel. One big and one small (called modesty towel). Otherwise you will have to rent or buy them.
2. Onsens are usually pretty cheap. For example in Souen you pay 400 yen (little less than 4 euros) and you can stay as long as you like.
3. Strip naked. And I mean entirely. No, swimming suits of any kind are not allowed.
4. You can bring your own soap and shampoos, but usually onsens provide the basic ones.
5. Important: clean yourself from top to bottom before entering onsen. Wash yourself carefully, including hair. Because you’re a foreigner you have to be extremely careful with this unless you want to get on the Japanese peoples’ bad side.
6. Tie your hair up before entering onsen. It’s important your hair doesn’t touch the water. It’s not a fucking swimming pool, alright?
7. If there’s a scoop before onsens, it’s for scooping some water and splashing it on your feet in order to get rid of any dirt you might have gathered from the walk between shower and onsen.
8. You can put your modesty towel (which you can use to cover your, uh, lady parts while you’re walking if you want) to the side or on top of your head. If your towel gets wet, squeeze the water outside the onsen, not back into the onsen.
9. If you go to sauna, shower afterwards before entering any other onsens.
10. Be careful of getting dizzy! It can happen surprisingly fast because the water is hot. Take a cold bath or shower before taking another dip. Also, stay hydrated afterwards. The water of onsens doesn’t magically get absorbed into your body, so remember to drink!

I know this seems very complicated and lot to remember at first but honestly, just use your head and common sense and you’ll be fine.

You should also get something to eat after taking a dip. Just like swimming, onsens make people super hungry. My choice for the day was fried shrimp with egg, noodles, pickled pieces of something yellow (I told you, I don’t usually know what the food is), and Sapporo Classic Beer.

Alright, couple more things and events I think are worth mentioning before this monster-of-a-blog-entry is done. I just feel like I need to get all the events before snow out of my system, so the next entry can be about Sapporo’s early winter.

So, on that note… I went to see an orchestra. It was awesome but in my typical style I feel asleep at some parts. I’m so sorry, I’m so ashamed of myself.

We found a gorgeous little soup-curry place near Odori Park. Soup-curry is one of Hokkaido’s specialities.

There was this autumn-event where they lightened up the Ginkou Alley on our University Campus. It was so pretty! A lot of people gathered at the beginning of the road and we had a countdown for the lights to be turned on. Honestly, the picture taken with my phone doesn’t do the place any justice.

Got some super cheap cotton candy and coffee! In the picture you can see mine and Ewelina’s excitement over the treasure we found.

It’s not like it’s all party-party-party every night though. Only every other night. No, but seriously, the thing keeping me awake isn’t only the constant socializing but also schoolwork. There’s been a staggering amount of it, when you consider it all. The HUSTEP core courses aren’t bad, no problem, I can do it. It’s the japanese classes that are giving me a rough time. Every morning – and I literally mean every single morning – begins 8:45 with a test. Then you give in the homework you spend three hours total completing. Then you learn new grammar and kanjis every single day.

But it’s not like I’m ready to give up, fuck no. I came here to study (yeah, I could hear that skeptical snort through the screen), so study I shall. And it’s not like it’s all pointless, I’m learning more japanese than ever and my english has majorly improved because of constant communicating with my friends. Nowadays I even start my conversations with other Finns in english by pure reflex.

Besides studying I decided to join a Karate Club but since I’ve only been to one practice so far (I started last Thursday), I don’t have too much to tell yet. Maybe in the next blog entry.

Gah, finally this word-picture-vomit of a blog entry is over. I hope you enjoyed!