Tsukuba-Dooba-Doo

Day 3- The bucket list killer


Despite the constant snowfall, you can still make out the Sapporo city lights on the right side of the photo above the snowboarder's head.  Where those lights end on the left is where the coastline is.  There was really only one that we could go on, but we still had a blast being on the snow. It was easily the driest (meaning fastest) snow we had ever been on.  Plus, there were some boxes and jumps so Kate and I took this opportunity to practice our tricks.  No broken bones = success.

Day 4- Beer:30
On our final day in Sapporo, we knew we had to end it right.  How might we achieve trip ending perfection...? Oh, by going to the Sapporo Beer Museum, that's how!  All of us were very excited for this adventure.


Sapporo Beer Company was the established in 1876 when a German brew master was brought in to teach the Japanese how to make beer.  As you may already know, Sapporo beer has made its way all across the globe, including America.  Everyone really enjoyed the museum as we learned about the brewing process, Sapporo Beer history, and current trends.

Probably the most interesting thing we noticed was Space Barley beer.  This beer was made from barley grown in space on the international space station and was sold in 2009 for roughly $120 per 6-pack.  Apparently it tasted like "normal beer."  Pretty boring, but I suppose that's the point in proving the feasibility of growing crops in space.

Of course we had to do some tasting.  Lucky for us they had a three beer sampler platter.  After the four of us ordered it, we became aware that we looked like a bunch of raging alcoholics.  The fact that it was barely lunch time didn't help either.  

Here we are in front of the old Hokkaido government building.  This building is very popular because it was built in 1888 to mimic the Massachusetts State House AND it was constructed using 2.5 million red bricks (red bricks were rare in Japan at that time). Currently it serves as a history museum for Hokkaido.  It was free and warm, so Seth and I took a mental note for later when we were with the Haines.

Once we caught up with the Haines we headed to the snow sculptures.  The picture above shows an owl native to Hokkaido as well as a model of Red Bricks.  The magnitude and detail was insane!

This is the back wall of the owl snow sculpture.  To put it in perspective, I'm 5'2" and standing about 10ft away.  The back wall is easily 4x taller than me!  Sweet sassy molassy these things were huge!  It wasn't too long before we got to one of Seth's favorite displays: The Lion King.  Naturally, Seth snatched up Reagan so we could do the "Circle of Life" pose in front of it. 

(from laughingplace.com)

We were privileged to be able to sit in on such a performance.  No only because it gave us insight into their practices, but also because it was just SO FUNNY!  Ok, ok, ok, I suppose the more mature members of the audience didn't see the humor in it that we did, but to us it was comic gold.  Seth went ahead and made a video for this.  Enjoy.




This snow sculpture is of a Japanese animation show called Sazae-san. It has been going on for 42 years starting in 1969. This large snow statue (roughly 25" tall) was amazingly done and was easily a crowd favorite with the Japanese.



-Kate

With about 10 years of fishing in multiple leagues simultaneously, he has essentially turned recreation into profession.  My dad's wall full of plaques, awards, and trophies are proof positive that he is one of the most talented bass fishermen in the southwest.  For him, the lake is the best kind of therapy.  Being that I am his favorite son (right, dad?), I catered to his love of the lakeside by planning a trip to the second largest lake in Japan, Kasumigaura Lake.  Firstly however, we had a relaxing breakfast on the top floor of the Ninomiya House. 

Sunning by the windows.

I'm pretty sure Louis hustled me.

We were amazed to find that we could see the Big Buddha from so far away.

After breakfast we all piled in the rental car and drove to the nearby town of Tsuchiura.  It is the nearest access to Kasumigaura Lake and has many parks along the lakeside.  While walking around, we spotted an area where the locals were feeding a whole gaggle of geese and some seagulls.  As we approached, Katie booked it across the street and refused to come within 100 feet of the "disease-infested, disgusting, terrifying, flying balls of evil."  She did manage to get some photos of my dad and I feeding them our of our hands.

See...?  Harmless.

We did have the good fortune of coming across a man who was doing some fishing.  My father was content with observing from afar.

Waiting. and wishing. and hoping. and praying.

We got back in the car after having a picnic and playing on Japanese playground equipment (which is of the awesome, dangerous, lawsuit inducing variety).  Dad swore up and down that he had spotted a Cabela's Outdoor Shop on our way to the lake and he HAD to stop by to check it out.  Sure enough, we pulled in and snapped the photo below.

Our crew walked inside, half-expecting to find a totally different variety of bait and tackle....we were disappointed.  Sure, there were some Japanese nuances, but nothing was 'souvenir worthy' for my dad, so we left. On our drive back we decided to go to "Tsukuba You World" for bowling. I hadn't tried bowling in Japan yet.  It was essentially the same as in the US, save for the fact that I had to write our names and age on a piece of paper so that the staff could enter our names for us.  Apparently, the most technologically savvy society in the world has a difficult time entering letters on a bowling computer. After we glanced up at the score screen it was apparent that my five year old handwriting had finally caught up to me.  Instead of reading "Sam, Mary, Louis, Katie, Seth" it read:


Hmmm.....well at least they got "Mary" right, right?  Oh well, we put on our shoes and headed around in search of a ball.  I couldn't put my finger on it at first, but there was something different about their bowling balls.  Then, I could put a finger on it, or rather, five fingers IN it!

Five finger bowling ball for maximum control.

Picking up the spare with immaculate form.

After an enjoyable (and regretfully expensive) bowling session, we went back to the Ninomiya House for the ceremonial, vacation-ending tako yaki dinner.


The next day Katie and I took everyone back to the airport.  I couldn't believe how awesome Mary, Louis, and Dad's trip had been.  They all did amazing when it came to foreign foods and customs.  I was very happy that they were able to experience Japan.  Not to mention the fact that they took half of Japan with them in their suitcases.

Perhaps the most surprising/enjoyable thing for me was how we all connected on a much deeper level than we have in a long time.  For some reason, in this completely unique setting, we managed to have truly meaningful conversations.  I'm forever grateful for that.

-Seth

Once we were all templed out, we ventured out to a couple of the many waterfalls.  The most famous waterfall, Kegon Falls, was unreachable since fresh snow prevented us from driving to it.  However, we were still able to breath in waterfall mist from two others that were close by.  I drove us on a nerve rackingly narrow/curvaceous road to the first waterfall.


Following our little photo op we started walking back to our rental car.  After examining a small pile of rocks (and debating on throwing some into the forest) I hear Mary say


Sure enough, as soon as we spotted one, our eyes started picking out monkeys all over the mountain! They were jumping across boulders in the stream, climbing on trees, and running around irrigation equipment.  There was about 12 monkeys in total walking/jumping/climbing everywhere in the valley.  One even dropped down some branches next to the pile of rocks we were just investigating.  I'm glad I fought off my prepubescent urge to throw those rocks.  I actually started getting nervous considering the fact that those same monkeys might have been surrounding us on our walk TO the waterfall.  They could have easily ambushed us and we would have never seen it coming. 

Valentine's Day has always been a special day for me.  From as far back as I can remember, my mother would always celebrate Feb 14th with my brother and I by giving us chocolates, small presents, cards, and a special V-Day breakfast.  Waking up to heart-shaped pancakes, strawberry syrup, and an early morning chocolate-high was enough to move Valentines Day near the top of my holiday list.


As I grew up with budding hormones, this day became much more about girlfriends and romance.  I, a man, began following the American traditions of Valentines Day by buying flowers, chocolate, dinner, ect. for my significant other just like the advertisements told me to do.  Interestingly, my Valentine's Day in Japan will be reminiscent of my childhood.  This is because in Japan, it is the women who are expected to buy presents for the men.


That's right boys, just sit back and let the girls swoon to you with arms full of sweet, sweet chocolate.  For school girls, this is the perfect chance to let that special boy (or boys) know how you feel about them.  Even in the work place, female coworkers are supposed to give gifts to their male coworkers and bosses.  These chocolates are more of a burden for women since they are called "obligatory chocolates" or "giri-choko" and are seen as a friendly gesture, not romantic.  As with most gift giving in Japan, these treats are ridiculously priced so women can end up spending a pretty penny by the time they buy chocolates for everyone they are supposed to.

But hold on...back the truck up!  Isn't Japan the land of mutual gift giving? How can men just take, take, take without reciprocation? Well they don't anymore.  In 1978, Japan created another holiday called "White Day" in which men return the favor to the women that they like.  From what I've read, it seems like White Day is very similar to the American way of celebrating Valentines Day.  Don't worry ladies, the men are expected to give gifts 2-3 times more expensive than were given to them.  So you win out in the end.


In honor of my mother's tradition I made a Valentine's Day breakfast.  However, instead of pancakes, I  made Kate and myself strawberry shakes.  When I got to work I couldn't help but be disappointed.  I'm not gonna lie, I was looking forward to getting obligatory chocolates from my female coworkers, but it never happened.  I at least thought that the head honcho of the office, Iki-san, would get something from someone.  Alas, as I stealthily scoured the office for Valentine's Day chocolate, it became clear to me that maybe it wasn't as widely celebrated as I thought.  In fact, I never even heard the word Valentine throughout the whole day...the internet lied to me! :(

To see a video about Valentine's Day in Japan, click here.

-Seth

Following the Tokyo Tower debacle, we followed the big blob of a crowd back to Roppongi for some serious clubbing.  Since the last train to Tsukuba left at 11:30pm, we were dedicated to playing in Tokyo at least until the first morning train at 5:30am.  It was going to be a long night.

The club: Feria.  The rub: 4 stories of dancing mayhem.  Upon our arrival Katie and I strolled down to the basement floor.  From the stairs we tried to scope out a spot for dancing, but couldn't locate a single square inch of vacant dance floor real estate.  If there is one thing I've learned from riding the overly packed Tokyo train system, it's that there is always room for just a few more.  So, we promptly squeezed our way to a little dance nook by a small stairway.  We danced for a little while before getting fed up with the overcrowded room.  From there we elevator-ed up a couple levels to check out the other floors.

The 4th floor was less crowded so we spent the majority of the night up there.  The music was awesome (American pop music, in case you were wondering) and we were having a blast.  However, being that Katie and I aren't actually party animals ( I may have exaggerated a little bit in the last post), we started checking our watches fairly frequently around 3:00am.  We visited the 3rd floor bar and outdoor lounge until about 4:00am.  One this particular night, the guy-to-girl ratio at Feria was about 4 to 1.  This meant that EVERY time I turned my back for a second a guy was trying to swoop in on Katie.  Truth be told, it was kinda funny to me.  Poor guys...it's good to be a married man.

In Japan, the coming of the New Year is considered to be the most important holiday of he year.  It is a deeply religious week where people spend time with their families as well as visiting temples and shrines.  The Meiji Shrine in Tokyo hosts several million visitors in the frist three days of the new year.  In some ways, it parallels how Americans celebrate Christmas.  However, it doesn't resemble how Americans bring in the New Year (e.g. "Partyyyyyyyy!").  We usually seize this opportunity to throw back a bucket of beer, eat a crock pot of queso, and toast to the New Year in every time zone imaginable.  "3...2...1... Happy New Year Portuguese Azores!!!"

One Japanese tradition we indulged in was eating soba (buckwheat) noodles.  They believe that eating long noodles will yield long life.  We went with Junichi, Kaoru, the Haines', and Akira to a noodle shop in a small town north of Tsukuba.  Akira said that he eats at that shop every New Years Eve and only on New Years Eve.        





After what felt like 10 minutes after arriving, I noticed it was 11:45pm.  Katie and I decided to book it over to the Tokyo Tower for the end of the year countdown.   We approached the tower and got gobbled up by the huge crowd surrounding it.  About 5 minutes before the new year, colorful strobe lights began to flicker at the base of the tower.  As the new year approached, these lights moved their way up the tower.  The anticipation was building, but there wasn't an "official" clock anywhere.  I didn't want to miss the countdown so I began nervously checking my iPod clock.  "Three minutes......two minutes....ONE MINUTE...."  I could feel the anxiety in the air.  Nobody had enough confidence in their timekeeping device to muster up a countdown.  Before I knew it I looked up and saw a big "2011" light up on the tower.  Crap, we missed it!  Katie and I looked at each other with shocked/confused/apprehensive expressions and said "Happy New Year!"



We had missed the official countdown...awwwww swizzle sticks!  Oh well, it was the new year.  I took this moment to simply stop and take it in. What a difference a year can make.  2010 had been the most life changing year I could have ever imagined.  Not in a million year would I have guessed that I would climb Mt. Fuji, spend the night in a Tokyo sleep pod, and visit Tokyo Disneyland on multiple occasions.  Best of all, I've been able to share everything that Japan has to offer with so many loved ones.  So good luck 2011, you have a hard act to follow.

-Seth