Dreams of Snow - Part Two

Hello there! :)

Here comes part two of our snowy Hokkaido adventures. The last three days were probably the most eventful and memorable, and I hope you enjoy the pictures and memories.

Day 4: Art indoors and outdoors

Our last day in Sapporo was meant to be very cultural, so we visited the Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art. There were two exhibitions offered: One dedicated to the Japanese artist Kataoka Tamako, featuring sketches, painting materials and her development of style, and a main exhibition of both local and international artworks. Unfortunately, there were no pictures allowed in the first exhibition, but if you would like to find out about Ms. Kataoka's world, look here.

Museum entrance from above

The Emperor's New Clothes? Or: The museum for kids

The snowy landscape in front of the museum looked like an art installation itself

The place itself was not very big and not very expensive to enter, but had just the right size, at least for me - enough to spend around two hours there. We really wanted to see the Godzilla exhibit, but it was already over... The main exhibition, however, included many artworks on seasons, some of them in a traditional Japanese style on these lovely paper scrolls. 

  

 

Another section had more... modern paintings, as these ones for example:

The final section included interesting lamps, sculptures and 3D paintings - watch the videos to experience their full effect.

This piece was a "special selection" and shows an Ainu spiritual scene

After the museum, our next destination was Otaru, a small and lovely town at the sea, approximately one hour away from Sapporo. It was said to have a beautiful canal and harbour, and we really wanted to see water, being so close to it all the time.  

Arriving in Otaru

Despite being very touristy and crowded, Otaru fulfilled our expectations. You cannot do much here apart from shopping for the famous Otaru glassware, visiting the music box museum (which, of course, was already closed on our arrival) and eating (mainly seafood: There is even one street which contains nothing but sushi restaurants). We had to wait for the sunset to see the city in full bloom: A long row of lanterns, blue lights and colourful reflections in the water. Better than any painting :)

One way to keep yourself warm ;)

When your phone camera is slower than the boats

From Blue Light Yokohama to Blue Light Otaru

Day 5: On a visit to geishas, samurai and ninjas

In the morning, we left Sapporo to spend our last two days in Noboribetsu. This place is famous for its hot springs, but this is not what we came for. We came to see Date Jidai Mura, also known as "ninja park", or the Hokkaido version of Edo Wonderland: A park in the style of the Edo period, with the authentic feel, food and fun of the 17th to 19th century. 

The demon greeting us at the Noboribetsu bus station

The bear seems to be the symbol of Hokkaido - you can encounter these everywhere

The fairytale castle of the Noboribetsu Marine Park

Anything is possible here, even having a demon in your backyard

After a two-hour train ride down to the south, we only had four hours to explore the park, which is really not much considering that there are three shows and several museums to see, Edo-style games and activities to try, and a lot of architecture and costumes to admire.

 

Because the games and costume rental (you could try them on and walk in them for hours) would have cost us a lot and travelling itself was expensive enough, we skipped them and started by watching the shows. The first one was a short play with geishas, in which a foreign spectator was asked to play the main role of a nobleman. He did pretty well, having to read Japanese text, wave a fan and (pretend to) drink sake. 

Our highlight of the show, however, was this cute Japanese woman who explained the story and the rules for the visitors, both in Japanese and English. The latter version sounded like: "Eating: NO (insert Japanese crossed arms gesture here). Drinking: NO. Phone talk: NO. Photo, video: OK! :))))" She even remembered all our nationalities she asked from us at the entrance. 

At the beginning of each show, along with the explanation sheet (which we could not keep), we were given a sort of white paper and instructed to wrap up a coin or sweets in it if we wanted, and throw it on stage once she show was over. This was apparently the tradition of theatre-going in the Edo period, where people threw money on stage to show their appreciation. Maybe also the actors' main source of income?

The ninja show was also in the style of a play, with hilarious sound effects (swoosh of the shuriken and cartoon punch noise) and spectacular stunts. Unfortunately, I don't have a good photo of the show, but one with one of the ninjas:

The most impressive show was the samurai show: It seemed very authentic and professional (although the holding of the sword sometimes differed from what we learned at bojutsu: Is it comparable?), and involved one main warrior fighting against one or several opponents.

Smile!

Between and after the shows, we had time exploring the lovingly arranged sites imitating the life in the Edo period. 

Of course samurai drink tea from the finest bowls

Lunch: 5-minute okonomiyaki (I wonder if it was really that quick back in the 17th century ;))

A tilted hall of mirrors causing chaos

"Don't open this door" - too silly not to share 

Welcome to the cat temple. The explanation says you should join your hands in prayer in front of your chest, with eyes closed, then raise your left hand to your left ear and meow once to worship the cat. Inside, you can find a cat themed ghost train (without the train)

Japanese demon (yokai) ghost train

"Enjoying tea" in a real movie set

Yes, historical drama was and is being shot here

Even though it looks like it, this was not part of the park, but a house we found near Noboribetsu bus station

After the park closed (as everything) at 5pm, we set off to our second accomodation* in Shiraoi, a small town a few train stations away: Another big house with a large bedroom and living room with TV just for us. But this time, we had a real hot spring in the bathroom and flowing underneath the floor, making the house warm and cozy without the help of a heater. Highlight number two was the karaoke machine in the house. Even though it only contained old Japanese songs we never heard about, we spent a fun evening and even almost learned one song quite nice to sing: Love is dreaming. The hosts of the house were very kind and helpful and provided a ride from the train station, and back the next day. Although the location was very residential and the next supermarket could hardly be reached by foot, we managed to buy groceries at the only convenience store at the train station. Our hosts, however, were worried that, clueless as we are, we were left without breakfast and bought us a pack of cereals, milk, biscuits and snacks, which they brought to our door later in the evening. Needless to say that we also found plenty of snacks, tea and coffee in the house. Incredibly thoughtful and kind - I warmly recommend this place to everyone travelling to the area!*

Day 6: Among demons and hellish steam

The day before we left Hokkaido, we boarded the bus from Noboribetsu again. While it was again full of primarily Chinese tourists headed for the onsen, we were getting off at Jigokudani, also known as "Hell Valley" (not to be confused with the Jigokudani on Honshu island down in the south, which is the famous monkey onsen). This is a place where a volcano erupted around 20,000 years ago and left this crater valley with stinky sulphur steam coming out from its depths. 

The hellish place needs an appropriate image

In the town, demons were greeting us at every corner. In fact, there were ten demons in the area which could be found - like a quest, or an alternative version of a Pokemon hunt. One of them, the big red one at the bus station, I already showed to you; the others were scattered all around the town and the valley. We felt like proper adventurers after we took the last picture.

Quest completed!

In contrast to the demon statues, these were here for the "awww" effect

Being the bubbling source of the hot springs of Noboribetsu, this valley provides spectacular sights and invites for a hike along the trail (which took us only one hour and a half, but was still nice to take your time and many photos and videos).

The danger could have come primarily from the nasty sulphur smell - but we already had worse in the onsen in Nikko

Remember our fabulous snowman from the first part? Somewhere along the hiking trail we saw a deep pile of snow and knew: This is it, the moment when we will finally build the snowman we wanted to build the whole trip. 

Across from here, little Toshiaki Junior was born

Some trails were rather slippery and required a lot of concentration 

Oyunumagawa river floats through the valley, and is so warm that you can literally bathe in it. So we did - or rather, our feet. There is a special spot for a footbath where even sitting mats are provided for tourists. Unfortunately, I was stupid enough to wear tights on that day, so I could not fully enjoy the advantages of Hell Valley - but at least my hands finally got warm.

This place was very loud too

Fried rice for late lunch at one of the town's restaurants - it was surprisingly hard to find one that was open and offered good food...

...but the place was full of souvenir shops

Speaking of food, I have not told you yet what we were eating all the time - ramen. We had at least one bowl on our table every day. One reason was because you could find it everywhere, while looking for the famous Hokkaido soup curry or other special dishes was often in vain. The second reason was that it is simply the warmest and most nutritious of the Japanese dishes, perfect for cold and snowy weather.

Mine were the lower two ones

And so our journey ended, and we were back in Kawasaki the following day - which has really become our new home. We felt it not only because it was good to see the familiar train station and city view again, but also thanks to the people around.  Upon arrival, we walked down the street to our dorm and greeted the construction workers there as usual. But one (of those standing in front of the site making sure noone enters the site and everyone passes safely) suddenly asked: "You are walking this street often, do you live here?", and then proceeded to ask where we are from etc. Typical curious Japanese you-look-like-a-foreigner questions, but it somehow made us feel happy and welcome, and made our day. You know you are home when the construction workers in your street recognise you. Sad will be the day when the house they are building is finished and they will be gone...

So we were back to study for our final exams, and finish the last papers. Of course, during our following spring holiday, we have been doing a lot of things too. But this is another story - for the next post. Thank you for reading! Have a great Sunday and week, and see you soon :)

* Look here to find the place we stayed in in Shiraoi.