May 2007
NOTE: The OBJECTIVE of this BLOG is to help my students with their study of English.
AND
For all of you, out there, around the world to;
SEE HOKKAIDO
2007 May 31 Thursday.
More
photos from Jomon no Oka in Date City Hokkaido Japan.
2007 May 30 Wednesday.
More
photos from Jomon no Oka in Date City Hokkaido Japan.
2007 May 29 Tuesday.
More
photos from Jomon no Oka in Date City Hokkaido Japan.
2007 May 28 Monday.
Here
is another photo that I took at the Jomon no Oka Museum. Since my first
visit to this place in DaTe City on May 27, I have become extremely interested
in the very long history of the Jomon Culture. One of the reasons is
because they lived simple and honest lives. No need for paper money,
or even gold and silver coins. If the Jomon People wanted food, all
they had to do was go out and find it, and bring it home. They
literally lived off of the land 100%. They had no other choice.
They also made pottery which is considered to be the oldest of any ceramics ever
found by archeologists. They made it out of the clay beneath their
feet, and without using a potter's wheel. They used ropes to impress
designs into the wet clay and that is where the term Jomon 縄文 comes from.
"Rope Writing." The use of the ropes to create designs in the
finished pottery seems to have had at least three main purposes. One
of course, is for the visually aesthetic value of the design itself.
Another reason is to help prevent the pottery from cracking and breaking apart
during the firing process. The firing process was not done in a high
temperature oven, but rather in a big open pit. And thirdly, the
indentations of the rope designs would make the pots easier to handle and less
likely to slip out of a person's hands when they were wet. As you
can see from the photo on the left, the Jomon people made a lot of
hot pot foods 鍋物. What kind of
ingredients did they put into their Jomon Nabe Cuisine? Well, just
about everything. In this particular village near Date City, they lived on
a hill right next to the Pacific Ocean. In other words, PARADISE.
They could get all kinds of fish, shellfish and even whales or dolphins from the
sea, not to mention all of the wonderful stuff they could get from the hills and
forests. On the land, they could hunt birds, rabbits, deer, bear and
whatever other animals might suit their fancy. Then again, there is the
abundant plant life in Hokkaido. Seeds, nuts, berries, mushrooms,
grasses, roots, flowers,... Can you think of anything else?
Oh! I forgot to mention ONE very very very IMPORTANT INGREDIENT
H2O. Yeah, you all already know this
but, Hokkaido has never experienced a water shortage. At least not
during my very short history of 50 years on this planet. Because
WATER is the basic ingredient in all life forms,
the more you have of it, the more stuff you can grow and make. It
might be nice to have a way to store and use water inside your home, so these
people invented pottery to solve the problem. It's so simple, it's
beautiful. Isn't IT. If you are interested in
seeing more examples of Jomon Pottery which are on display in history museums
ALL AROUND JAPAN, and the WORLD, please
click here. Personally, I can't get
enough of it. The Jomon Culture, I mean.
2007 May 27 Sunday.
I
woke up at 5:30 in my room at the Royal Hotel in DaTe City. I turned
on the TV to see what was in the news. Same xit, different day. Time
to take a hot bath and get warmed up for the cold, rainy and windy day ahead.
It will not be the best day for taking photos, but I will take as many as I can
of the really interesting stuff. After a not so gorgeous breakfast
in the hotel restaurant, everyone gathered together to wait for our tour bus,
which was scheduled to arrive and pick us all up at 8:50. As it IS
with most every thing in Japan, the bus was right on time. We toured
around the environs of Date City and visited many historical buildings and other
sites of historical significance. For me, the most interesting place of
the day was a place called 縄文の丘, also known officially as KitaKoGane KaiZuka
北黄金貝塚. This is just one of the many locations in Hokkaido, as well
as other parts of Japan, where the remains of the 6,000 year old Jomon Culture
have been found. Yes, you read that correctly, a very ancient culture
which thrived some SIX THOUSAND years ago. Let's see,.... that means
that the Jomon Culture was happening in Japan, at exactly the same time that the
Mesopotamia Culture was happening in Iraq. I wonder what the
connection might be. In other words, these two very distinct
cultures were happening about 1,000 years before the Ancient Egyptians 古代エジプト文化
suddenly burst upon the world scene. You know, the people who built
the great pyramids in Giza. One thousand years BEFORE Ancient
Egypt, is a very long time. About 12 or 14 times longer than the
average human life span 平均寿命 in the modern world. See the photo
above/left for an idea of what the Jomon Culture was like at this exact
location. This is an artist's rendering of the exact same
location at which I took this photo. The 縄文の丘 museum.
Take a moment and just gaze upon the picture before you. Here
you are. 6000 years ago. Living in a village together
with about 5, 10, 15, 20, 25,......... 100 people or more. Who
knows? One of my first questions to the experts in this field
of Jomon Culture was; "What language did these people speak?"
The answer was always the same. "Nobody really knows, so we all just call
it, JoMonGo 縄文語. Fair enough. My second question was;
"Did the Jomon People have a written language?" The experts all
responded with a qualified "NO". Unlike the Mesopotamia Culture, the
Jomon Culture did not seem to have any WRITTEN LANGUAGE remaining on clay
tablets, to leave a permanent record for future generations. At least,
none have been found as of yet. QUEST! I am on yet
another, NEW ADVENTURE. Looking for CONTACT sufficiently deep
enough, in order to CONNECT with the COSMIC RECORD of that time/space/dimension.
I KNOW it can be done. I have seen it in my DREAMs.
2007 May 26 Saturday.
Today and tomorrow, I am in DaTe City 伊達市 for the general business meeting of the Hokkaido Cultural Property Protection Association. In the photo on the left you can see the chairman of the organization at the podium delivering his opening remarks. On the right side of the photo, you can see the mayor of Date City. This meeting was held at the Culture Center inside the grounds of the 伊達歴史の杜 which is right next to the Date Roadside Rest Station 道の駅. After the general business meeting was concluded, a man with a PhD. in archeology 考古学の博士 who is also the director of the Date City Institute of Funkawan Culture 伊達市噴火湾文化研究所 gave a rather long and very quickly spoken 早口 speech in Japanese, about the Jomon Culture 縄文 and the activities of his institute. Dr. Ohshima Naoyuki 大島直行 is a very good speaker, spicing up his useful information with witty comments and other amusing play on words, so I really enjoyed listening to him. The only problem was that he spoke so fast, at sometimes the sounds of the words would be blended together and I couldn't quite understand everything that he said. I am not a native speaker of Japanese and at times like this, that is a bit of a disadvantage for me. I could only understand about 80% of what he was talking about, but that was good enough for me to get the gist of his words. His speech was very interesting and very entertaining. A true pro when it comes to the art of presentation. I respect and admire him. After the general business meeting and the culture speech were all finished at about 17:30, the members in attendance broke up and went to the Royal Hotel for an information exchange dinner party 情報交換会 starting at 18:30. The food was good, and the discussions at each table were lively. Tomorrow morning, we will all get together again for a bus tour of the most important cultural assets located in and around Date City. The weather today was rather cold, windy and rainy. Tomorrow is forecasted to be the same way. I hope I can take some good photos of the really interesting stuff.
2007 May 25 Friday.
Lots to write about today, but no time to write it. SORRY!
2007 May 24 Thursday.
Lots to write about today, but no time to write it. SORRY!
2007 May 23 Wednesday.
AaaaaaaChuuuuuu!!! Sneezing has become my
new distraction, again this year. It is very windy today and with
all of the dust and pollen and who knows what else in the air, many people such
has myself, who have pollen allergies 花粉症, will be reaching for the tissue
papers on a regular basis. Today, my best friend is
Dr. Kleenex. Or, if you don't have to go out into public, the
toilet paper hat that you can see in the photo on the left, might be a big help.
One natural remedy that I have found for Hay Fever 花粉症 is to drink mass
quantities of TenCha
甜茶. This tea is available in almost every drug store in
this city. It is not the most delicious tea that I have ever drank,
but I have become accustomed to its sweet taste. Before I discovered
TenCha about 4 years ago, I would take various over the counter medications
(OTC) in an attempt to relieve the sneezing and itchy eyes symptoms of hay
fever. Some of the OTC medicines worked rather well, but the side
effects 副採用 of dizziness and/or sleepiness, made them somewhat impractical when
being on the job teaching classes. Thank you Mother Nature for
making the best remedy of all, in the form of a naturally occurring plant from
China. What superior intelligence created this particular plant, and why?
2007 May 22 Tuesday.
Another
photo that I took on Sunday. This one shows the town of Biei in the
foreground, and the Taisetsu Mountains Range in the background. Ain't it
beautiful?
2007 May 21 Monday.
Another
photo that I took yesterday, at FukiAge OnSen.
2007 May 20 Sunday.
Oh!!!
What a FEELING! Welcome back to FukiAge OnSen 吹上温泉. To get
there, take Route 237 until you get to Biei Town 美瑛, then turn left at the first
signal light in front of the 7-11. When you make that left turn, you
will be on Route 966 headed for ShiroGane Spa 白金温泉. As
you drive through the area where the hotels are located, you will arrive at a
turnoff to the right, when you reach the end of the hotel district.
This is called the 白樺ゲート and is in fact a closed gate during the winter months.
Today it was open, and we continued our drive up the hill to the base of Mt.
Tokachi 十勝岳 until we got to the observation area 望岳台. Before you
actually get all the way up to the observation area, there is another gate,
which is also now open, that will take you the rest of the way to FukiAge Spa.
We took that road also, after spending some time at the 望岳台.
Even though the gravel parking lot at the entrance to the footpath which leads
down to the bathing tubs was completely clear of snow, the foot path itself was
not. This snowy condition made my short trek down to the tubs
themselves a risky adventure. Any misstep or a break away of the
snow under my sandals, could have easily resulted in me, or any other person, in
falling down a steep, but not too long slope, and into the rock layered cold
water stream below. So far, it doesn't seemed to have happened.
At least not this year. Today, the hot water in the upper tub, was
at about 44.5 degrees C. It was really hot. The actual
temperature of the undiluted hot spring near the surface of the earth, is about
60 degrees C. Much, much too hot for any mammal or fish to get into for
even a second or two. You can't fool Mother Nature. The
only reason the upper tub is usable, is because there is a hose attached to a
higher area of the cold stream which comes from the mountain SNOW MELT, and down
into the valley below, and it mixes with the very very hot spring water, in the
small upper tub itself. The result is PERFECTION. If you
already live in Hokkaido, and have never been to this location, you are truly
missing something special. I come here on a regular basis, but
only during the season of no snow. Oh! By the way, this very
excellent hot tub facility, is well maintained. In fact, today when I got
into the upper tub, I met for the first time, the older gentleman who does the
actual draining, and cleaning of these two all rock tubs. It was
obvious to me that he had done just such a cleaning job, in the very recent
past. Perhaps today or yesterday. The all stone tubs
were immaculate. Thank you for your hard labors my friend.
It was an honor to meet you today. I hope to see you again soon, at
the same location. This IS the ESSENCE of HOKKAIDO.
2007 May 19 Saturday.
It
didn't rain much today, but the wind was strong and it felt cold and damp
寒くて湿っぽい. It reminded me of Seattle where I lived for about 6 years
before moving to Asahikawa. Chilly. The photo you can
see on the above/left is of my lunch for today. Inside the clear
bowl on the right is what the Japanese call IKuRa. In English it's
known as Salmon Eggs. This is a very popular and very expensive food
here in Japan, and I normally don't eat it very often, although I really love
it. The only reason I am eating it today, is because we got it for free!
That's right, courtesy of the Japan Postal Service. I'm sure everyone
knows about the annual New Year's Card 年賀状 that most people buy and send to
family, friends and business contacts. At the bottom of every
NenGaJo, there is a unique six digit 六桁 serial number which is used as a sort of
lottery system. There are three levels of prizes, 1等 2等 and 3等.
In years past, we have won a few times at the lowest level, level 3. This
prize is something like a sheet of stamps, or a stationary set for letter
writing, that sort of thing. You only need to get the last 2 of the
6 numbers correct in order to win this type of prize. The level two
prizes are all some sort of food item. You need to get the last 4
numbers right in order to win this level of prize. That is what happened
to us this year, for the first time. In total, we received 400 grams
of Salmon Eggs, less than half of which you can see in the clear bowl. The
other half is in the white bowl on the left, covered with Salmon Flesh Flakes
鮭身ほぐし and some strips of green 大葉 also known as しそ. In English it is
known as a perilla or beefsteak plant. It is a very common
ingredient in many Japanese foods. Below all of that good food is a
big helping of Brown Rice 玄米. A dish known as 鮭親子丼.
Anyway, back to the IKURA. If I were to buy 400 grams of IKURA at a
morning market 朝市 or a supermarket スーパー, it would most likely cost me somewhere
between 5,000 and 6,000 yen. That's more than 50 US Dollars!
Granted, I can get two or three meals out of this amount, but that is still
rather pricey. However, it tastes soooooo good, and I can afford it
from time to time. The level one prize 1等 requires you to get
all six numbers in the exact same order. A very small chance indeed.
However, the prizes are things such as; A Trip to Hawaii, A Trip to Somewhere in
Japan, a laptop PC ノートパソコン, a DVD recorder with a Home Theater Set, or an SLR
digital camera with an Ink Jet Printer. Wow!!!
I can't make up my mind! If you won the First
Prize, which option would you choose?
2007 May 18 Friday.
A
rainy day, all day long. The weather forecast says tomorrow will be
the same. Fortunately, Sunday is supposed to be sunny day.
That is a very good thing for the many elementary schools which will be having
their annual Sports Day Event 運動会. Other elementary schools will hold this
event on Sunday May 27. As a result, the following Mondays will be a
school holiday for the students and most of the teachers. The parents and
grandparents of the elementary school students, usually go to the school ground
early to stake out a place in advance of the event. Most such people
will put down a blue plastic tarp, or use stakes and string to mark off an area
縄張り where they want to sit during Sunday's event. Of course along with the
food and drinks, there will be a lot of still cameras and video movie cameras in
action, to record the precious moments of the young children engaged in various
athletic activities. When everyone sits down to look at these photos
and video movies again, a few years from now, the growth of their children and
grandchildren will be very obvious. Memories of the past.
The only constant is change.
2007 May 17 Thursday.
Look
what rolled into town on Thursday of last week. Yeah, it's that so called
professional wrestling thing. Personally, I don't see what is so
interesting about this sport, but I do respect the athletic abilities of the
wrestlers themselves. A lot of people do seem to enjoy watching this
sport and that is fine with me, but isn't boxing or sumo a bit more realistic?
If you want to learn more about this Big Japan Pro Wrestling thing, you can
visit their website by clicking
here. I took these photos of the big truck trailer that was
parked next door to my classroom at the Local Products Exhibition Center 地場産センター
where the event was to be held, later that evening. I'm not sure how
many people attended, but it seemed to be rather crowded. I hope you
all enjoyed the show. However, I am wondering about the guy in the
middle of the top photo wearing glasses whose name is written as Great Kojika.
I don't believe I have ever seen a pro wrestler wearing glasses before.
Have you?
2007 May 16 Wednesday.
I
don't have much time to write today, because I am planning some new lesson times
at my classroom, so I'll just leave a photo for you to look at.
2007 May 15 Tuesday.
I
don't have much time to write today, because I am planning some new lesson times
at my classroom, so I'll just leave a photo for you to look at.
2007 May 14 Monday.
Back
to the regular "work" schedule. The photos of the cherry flowers
that you can see above and below were taken on Thursday, May 10 and right next
door to my classroom near the Crystal Hall. Aren't they beautiful?
I just love flowers, especially the way they just grow of of nothing.
A bare branch that was covered in snow for 5 months, suddenly springs to life
and starts having a budding-into-flowers attack. Amazing. The
angle of the sunlight gets higher and higher in the sky, the earth warms up and
BINGO! You've got heat in the channel. That's when xit
starts to happen.
2007 May 13 Sunday.
HAPPY
MOTHER'S DAY to all of you mothers out there. I think we all had mothers,
didn't we? If you're not sure, look at the middle of your belly and see if
there is an indentation of some type there. It's called a navel or a belly
button へそ. It was the connection to our lifeline before we popped
out into this world as we now know it. There seems to be two basic types
of navels. Innies and Outties. Which type do you have?
Mine is an Innie. If you don't have a navel, you may have hatched from an
egg. Now that the cherry blossoms are finally starting to
bloom in Asahikawa, I can imagine that a lot of people were planning to have a
Flower Viewing Party 花見 outdoors under the cherry trees, but it has been raining
on and off since yesterday. I know that a few hearty folks will be outside
anyway, eating and drinking. I won't be one of them. I
think I'll eat at home and then talk a walk wearing a GORTEX hat. It
substitutes for an awkward umbrella, and keeps my hands free for tipping a jug.
Time to take a mental vacation.
2007 May 12 Saturday.
Another
photo of the lobby at the Windsor Hotel Toya, taken on May 4, and to the right
side of the photo below in yesterday's blog. On a clear day, you can
see the lake from this huge window, but when this photo was taken, it was rather
foggy and the lake was not visible. Also notice the live musical
performance by two non-Japanese girls, one on piano and one on the cello.
A nice gig if you can get it. The music was so good, that I almost sat
down and ordered a cup of coffee. Almost. The cheapest room at this
hotel will cost you about 400 US Dollars per night. Food and drink
are extra. Any takers?
2007 May 11 Friday.
Where
do you think this photo was taken? I'll give you one guess.
That's right! You got it! This is a photo of the lobby of the
Windsor Hotel Toya. The word luxurious comes to mind. A cup of
coffee and a small slice of cake will set you back almost 2,000 yen.
Lunch anyone?
2007 May 10 Thursday.
Today's
photo was taken on May 4 along the shores of Lake ShiKotsu 支笏湖. I didn't
have a chance to talk to the guy who is driving this monster trike, but my guess
is that the engine size is about 1500 cc or so. It even has an
automatic transmission with a gear shift lever that you can find in almost any
automobile. Awesome. I myself would be a bit afraid to
drive or even ride along on something like this. Talk about a crotch
rocket, this one takes the cake.
2007 May 9 Wednesday.
More
photos from my GW driving adventure. Today's photo was also taken on May 3
from Route 452. In this photo you can see the 1668 meter peak of
Yubari Dake 夕張岳. It gets cold fast when the sun goes down. Dress
appropriately.
2007 May 8 Tuesday.
More
photos from my three day GW driving excursion while staying over night in my
HOTEL NOAH. Thank you TOYOTA for making such a useful family
automobile. I, for one, am a happy customer. The photo
for today, was taken on May 3 at 旭川芦別線駐車公園 along Route 4. I really
like the colors in the photo. How about you? I can't adequately
describe the warmth of the sunshine and the aromatic country air, but you get
the idea.
2007 May 7 Monday.
I'm
back to my regular teaching schedule this week, but I don't have much time to
write this blog. Therefore, I will show you another photo that I
took during my 3 day Golden Week Drive. In my blog of May 3, I posted a
photograph of Lake KatsuraZawa. This is the sign at the entrance to
the bridge that crosses over the lake. Can you see anything on the
sign that you can't read? I can't. It's in
Japanese (Chinese), English and Korean. In recent years, tourists
from all over the world, but especially Taiwan, Hong Kong, other parts of China,
and of course Korea, have been coming to Hokkaido in ever increasing numbers.
I hear Chinese and Korean being spoken from time to time in Asahikawa, whenever
I encounter tour groups along my way. I listen very carefully to see
if I can understand anything that they are saying. Most of the time
I can't. Sometimes, I get lucky and recognize a word or phrase.
I'll keep studying both languages, but right now I'm into writing Korean.
It's a cool ass alphabet. I really like it.
2007 May 6 Sunday.
No driving today. I think I will go for a
walk instead. Also, I won't do much writing today, I think I
will spend more time reading. However, I would like to share a photograph
with you that I took during the first day of my 3 day GW driving expedition.
It was taken along route 452 between Ashibetsu 芦別 and Yubari 夕張 at a place
called Miyama Bridge 深山橋. It appears to be what remains of an old
railroad bridge that went across the Ashibetsu River. You can see
scenes like this in many places all around Hokkaido, especially in inland areas
of the island. I like to look at these type of old relics because it
makes me think about how life was in Hokkaido many many years ago. One
thing is for sure, the nicely paved asphalt road I'm driving along today, wasn't
here at that time.
2007 May 5 Saturday.
Good
Morning Otaru! I woke up at about 5:00 with the light of the
sunrise. After heating up some bottled coffee on a small gas stove, I made
use of the restroom facilities at the MaxValue, and then walked on over to the Otaru
Morning Fish Market 朝市 to have some breakfast. After looking at the menu
for a few seconds, I decided on the 鮭親子丼. It came with pickles 漬物 Miso
Soup 味噌汁 and some hot tea all for the price of only 1,050 yen. Much
cheaper than a cup of coffee and a small slice of cake, at the Windsor Hotel
Toya. After breakfast, I drove around the waterfront along the
piers. Many people were already parked there fishing for whatever
they could catch. This is a very common almost daily sight in the many
seaside cities and towns around Hokkaido. A good way to enjoy nature
and get some free food as well. After looking at the Japan Coast
Guard ships and a large ferry boat which were docked in the area, I got back on
the road taking Highway 393 towards AkaIGawa 赤井川. Along the way, I
stopped by at KiRoRo Ski Resort キロロ and was not too surprised to see many many
people pulling into the parking lots, and getting ready to go skiing or
snowboarding. This is almost the end of the skiing season in
Hokkaido, unless you want to travel all the way up to AsahiDake 旭岳 or KuroDake
黒岳 or some other much higher mountain. It was a nice day for skiing,
at least early in the morning it was. As I continued my drive thru
AkaIGawa and up to YoIchi 余市, it was getting windy and slightly rainy. I
stopped in YoIchi to get some gasoline and take a look at the Mohri Space
Shuttle Museum. After that, it was back on the road headed towards Otaru
and then up the coast towards IshiKari 石狩. Along the stretch of
Highway 231 between IshiKari and HamaMasu 浜益 at a place called YasoSuke 安瀬 I
spotted a group of surfers out on the waves trying to get some rides on the 2
and 3 meter waves. I stopped for a while to watch and take some
pictures. You can see one of them above/left. I have many found
memories of doing this same thing myself about 30 years ago on the island of Iwo
Jima 硫黄島. Surfing was always my favorite sport. Now, it's
walking. As I continued my drive along Route 231, the wind got
stronger and the sky got blacker with light rain coming down, here and there.
After I passed MashiKe 増毛 I turned right onto Route 94, and drove slowly along
the country road through MoSeUshi 妹背牛 and FukaGawa City 深川市. When I
got to KamuI Kotan 神居コタン, I turned left onto Highway 12, and drove the rest of
the way back to Asahikawa and my Base Of Operations. Total driving
distance today, 332 kilometers. Time to sit back, put my feet up and have
a tall cold boy. Talk to ya'all later. I'm off line for now.
2007 May 4 Friday.
Good
morning Chitose! Not a bad day. A bit sunny and a bit cloudy.
Warm enough to leave the fleece jacket in the van and take a walk over to the
nearby toilet. There is even toilet paper in it! Maybe
this will be my lucky day. I got back on the road at about 7:00 and used
the next 90 minutes or so to drive in circles around the entire city of Chitose,
just to get a better feel for the place. Along the way I found a
MacDonalds with a drive thru window and suddenly I had a for craving for about 3
Egg MacMuffins. So, I pulled in and made the buy. Knowing what a gut bomb
can do to your toilet training, I drove back over to the Michi No Eki where I
had just spent the night, and devoured once again, the flavor of my former life,
many years ago. Then, I lived in the USA. A completely
different world than Japan. I know, I have lived in both places for many
years. I would have rather had 3 rice balls for breakfast with a cup
of hot green tea. Today, I was going for the All American Junk Food.
Just follow the yellow brick road until you see the Golden Arches.
That is where the palace of obesity resides. I fit right in.
Anyway, after downing Three MacMuffins and using the toilet facilities one more
time, I was back on the road again. First destination today is 支笏湖
Lake ShiKotsu, one of the 3 largest natural lakes in Hokkaido.
This year, I did not drive around the entire circumference of the lake as I did
last year, but merely stopped at a few select points along the shore, here and
there. One of the places I stopped was at the いとう温泉.
This place is rather old but very good, because the outdoor hot tub 露天風呂 is
right on the water line of the lake, separated only by a low wall of big rocks.
I didn't use the tub today, but about 12 years ago, I stayed overnight here
during the summer, and it was awesome to be able to climb out of the hot tub and
into the lake and then out of the lake and into the hot tub again, time after
time. It was a truly cosmic experience. I wanna do it
again some day, but today, the lake was still much too cold for that kind of
fun. After looking around Lake ShiKotsu for about 90 minutes, I got onto
route 453 heading for Lake Toya 洞爺湖. As I mentioned in this blog of
2007 April 26, the G8 Summit of 2008, will be held at the Windsor Hotel Toya.
I made a special side trip today, just so I could go and take a look at the
place. You can see one photo that I took of the outside of the hotel
above/left. The main road that connects highway 230 to the top of
the mountain where the Windsor Hotel is located, is 5 kilometers in length.
I could see from my drive up the hill, that the roadside illumination lamps need
to be renewed a bit, in order to satisfy security personnel who will be charged
with protecting the VIPs when they come for their visit next summer.
When I got to the top of the hill, I was rather surprised to find that all of
the parking lots were full. Obviously, I am not the only person who is
curious about what this hotel looks like on the inside. I was able to find
a parking place and walked the rest of the distance to the main entrance of the
hotel. I was able to look around the lobby and a few adjoining
public spaces, and I took some photos of those areas. I looked at
the menu of the coffee shop in the lobby and was not too surprised to see that a
cup of coffee and a small slice of cake, will set you back about 2,000 yen.
I wonder how much lunch costs? I didn't even bother to check the
room prices, knowing that it would only make me feel "poor" in comparison with
those privileged people who can easily afford it. The Super Rich
really are different than the rest of us, and in more ways than just the money
aspect of things that be. But that's a whole 'nother story, which I don't
have time to go into here and now. One thing that I will say is that
some of the people I saw who were actually staying at the hotel and not just
looking around, are obviously very intelligent and have their own business or
businesses. Others look like they are living off of their family's
inheritance and dress up in gaudy clothing and use way too much make up.
These are the spoiled brats of the "Old Money Families". People who
never had to use their brains for anything else than a place to enjoy their
daily cocktails. You can see the difference in the eyes of the two
distinct types of the Super Rich. After looking around for about 45
minutes, I got back on the road heading towards JoZanKei 定山渓. I was
hoping to take Route 1 from JoZanKei to AsaRi 朝里 and finally Otaru 小樽, but at
JoZanKei I saw a notice that Route 1 was closed because of a landslide 地すべり.
Bummer, I have no other choice but to continue along Route 230 until it connects
with Route 5 near Sapporo, and takes me the rest of the way into Otaru.
Not my favorite route because it is very crowded, but today I had no other
choice in the matter. I finally arrived in Otaru at about 18:30 and
drove straight to the MaxValue Supermarket which is right next door to the
Morning Fish Market おたる朝市. Otaru doesn't yet have a Michi No Eki
道の駅はまだありませんので、So this parking lot at this 24/7 always open supermarket, is by
far the best place to camp out if you are sleeping in your car.
Although most travelers do not seem to know about this location, a few of us do,
and we use it to our comfort and advantage. The store owners don't
seem to care, and the police never give us any trouble. After all, I
just need to get some sleep and use the toilet from time to time during my stay.
Of course, I will buy some food and drink at the supermarket as well, so I am
not a total free loader ただ乗りでは在りません。 Thank you to MaxValue and the
nice people of Otaru for making this overnight stay a viable possibility.
No assholes anywhere near this part of the world. After I parked and
locked my van, I walked over to the Canal Plaza area of Otaru and arrived at my
first objective. Otaru Micro Brew
おたるビール倉庫 No. 1. I
visit here every year at least once or twice. Why? Well for
starters, the locally made beer is fresh and absolutely delicious. Also,
the food menu is original and very tasty. And to top it all off, the
service provided by the staff and the local musicians who perform live on stage
is also top notch. This is a business that knows how to please its
customers. I am a regular, because I so much enjoy the experience
each and every time. This evening was no different. A local
band called PALOSIKS performed 3 different times during the evening, and I was
able to catch two of them. This year they had a new drummer, and a
bunch of new songs which are not yet out on CD. To see a photo slide show
of this unusual music group and listen to two of their original songs,
please
click here. After two shows, two liters of beer and a
Bavarian Style roast pork and potatoes dinner, I was back on the street walking
to my van. I got inside and went to sleep. Tomorrow it will be
back on the road again. Total driving distance today, 370
kilometers. That's about enough driving for any one day.
2007 May 3 Thursday.
Finally, 4 consecutive days off. The weather forecast says that
it will be mostly sunny and a bit cloudy, with almost no chance of rain in most
of Hokkaido. Yesterday, I sat down with my book of maps and planned
out a driving course for this year's Golden Week. If the weather is good,
I always go for an extended drive during this time of year. It is one of
the very few chances that I get to do so. I don't care about hotel
reservations and all that hassle, because I park at any one of the nearly 100
Roadside Rest Stations 道の駅 that are almost everywhere in Hokkaido.
Some of them are better than others, but the main point is, they all have a
toilet facility that is open 24 hours, and they are usually not too far from a
supermarket or some other such food store. This year, I decided to
make my first over night stay at the Salmon Park Chitose
道の駅サーモンパーク千歳. There were several reasons for
this. One was the fact that I believed I could try the Chitose Micro Brew
千歳地ビール at a place called Chitose Beer Works, which is within easy
walking distance of the roadside rest station. Another reason is because I
wanted to travel the Asahikawa <> Ashibetsu Line 旭川芦別線 which is
a long and winding road, but extremely beautiful with many mountains, hills,
rivers, streams and lakes that run all along that part of Highway 4 and Highway 452
into the city of Yubari 夕張市. Along this part of the route, I nearly
collided with wild deer who were running across the road on 3 separate
occasions. Why is it that deer always seem to run across a road when cars
are coming? Or is it just by chance that a car is coming when deer decide
to run across a busy highway. I don't know the answer for sure,
because it is very likely that deer will be crossing a busy road when there are
absolutely no cars passing by at that time. Anyway, it happened to
me today a total of three times. I always drive quite slowly and let
other cars who seem to be in a hurry pass me when I am out on long drives such
as today. Another reason for my rather slow driving is the fact that
if I was unlucky enough to crash into a deer on the road, my auto insurance
would not pay for the repairs to my car. Yeah, I know it's a scam, but it
is also the law. Back to the deer. The first incident that occurred
today was totally awesome. As I was driving slowly along Route 452
from KatsuraZawaKo 桂沢湖 (see photo above/left) towards Yubari, a female deer suddenly jumped
out of the bushes from
my left, onto the road and ran across to the other side where she then had to run
up a steep hill. However, it was not just her, but a few nano seconds
later, a young buck, maybe 3 or 4 years old judging from the size of his antlers,
was in hot pursuit right behind her. He didn't give a damn about the
danger associated with heavy metal cars or trucks traveling across the
road. He was after the tail of that young doe in front of him. Full
speed ahead, damn the torpedoes. Another thing that really impressed me
about these two young deer, was the speed at which they climbed up the very steep
hill on the other side of the road. No human being, who must run upon only
two legs, could have ever climbed that hill as fast as those deer did. I
sat there behind the steering wheel of my slow moving van and just marveled at
the natural ability of those deer to climb that steep slope so fast. Built
for the job, is all I could think of. Who invented and made deer?
Certainly no human being did. It must be some larger natural intelligence
that made these beautiful animals the way they are. Absolutely Perfect for
their environment. After that slow driving course, the sun set and
it was getting darker and darker by the minute. Driving in the dark
in not a problem, but it is not a pleasure either. For one thing, all you
can see is the road in front of you. Therefore, on the fast track towards Chitose, it was pedal to the metal, while staying in sync with most of the other
cars on the road in front of me. I arrived at my overnight rest stop
at about 20:00, a bit later than I had planned to do so. Of course
it was dark, but that didn't matter. I knew where I was going to stay
tonight and I found it with ease. A not too distant sign that read
"BEER WORKS CHITOSE" beckoned me from across the highway. I parked my
rig and walked on over there, fully expecting to enjoy the unique taste of
Chitose Micro Brew. It was not to be. When I arrived at
the location by walking, and went inside, I discovered that none of the
restaurants had even one mug full of the Chitose Micro Brew. Say
What??? I read about this in a magazine called じゃらん. I guess
they had their facts mixed up. No local Micro Brews at this
location. Fortunately for me there was a supermarket not too far
away where I bought my food and drink for this evening. Total driving
distance today, 199 kilometers.
2007 May 2 Wednesday.
Schools
are still open today, including mine. Time to start planning a
specific driving route for the consecutive holidays starting tomorrow.
Where to go? What to do? I need to get out a map
and do some navigation. I need to become a BUSY BEE.
2007 May 1 Tuesday.
Love
is in the air. See the photo above/left for proof of this. Is
it 恋 ? Or is it 鯉 ? Maybe it's a combination of
both. Today is not a national holiday and I drove out to AU to teach a
class starting at 10:40. To my pleasant surprise, most of the
students were in attendance. When that class was finished at 12:10,
I drove back to Kagura over the New Kagura Bridge and hoped to stop in at Choice
Kaiten Sushi ちょいす回転寿司 in Kagura for some yummy raw fish, but as I
entered the store, I noticed a line of people waiting to get a seat at the
elliptical counter. Good for business, bad for me. I don't DO
lines. I'm outta here. Guess I'll just have to eat at home.
No problem there, I must have some leftovers from last night's dinner.
After having more classes at my place from 15:00 until 20:00, the wife and I
went out for a walk in the cold and windy night air. We both need
the exercise in a big way. I am bigger than her. Let's hope it
stays that way in a proportional sort of way. Even if we both lose weight,
I will always be bigger. Simply because I am a bit taller than her.
But not by much.
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