旭川英会話　スノーマンジャパンドットネット　Snowman Japan Welcome to Asahikawa Hokkaido Japan

www.snowmanjapan.net

Asahikawa American English Conversation School

Asahikawa is the second largest city in Hokkaido Japan after Sapporo. With a population of only about 366,000 people, it has plenty of wide open spaces in and around the city. If you love nature and still want to enjoy all the conveniences of a modern city, this is a good place to live.

Warning!!! Asahikawa is covered in snow for about 5 months of the year, every year. If you don't like snow, don't move here.

Asahikawa is located in the Kamikawa Basin 上川盆地　surrounded by the Taisetsu Mountain Range　大雪山脈. As such, it has four distinct seasons. Well, actually, there are really eight distinct seasons because the transition time between the seasons are also unique times of the year.

Let's start at the beginning of the year in January. After a quiet family oriented New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, most people get back to work by about January 5. The first big event of the new year is the Asahikawa Winter Festival which is held during the coldest time of the year in early February.

Although the Asahikawa Winter Festival is not as large or as famous as the Sapporo Snow Festival, it has a special charm all of its own. For one thing, it is a lot less crowded and much more quiet than the big event in Sapporo. The night time illumination is especially magical with soft background music and the hushed voices of the observers.　To see a photo gallery of the 2001 Asahikawa Winter Festival click here. For the 2005 Asahikawa Winter Festival click here.

Of course it is very cold with temperatures hovering around minus 15 degrees Celsius so don't forget to dress warmly and bring some heating pads for your hands and feet. Especially if you need to take off your gloves so you can take photographs or home movies. After taking in the night time scenes, many people go to one of the many fine local restaurants to warm up and have a hot meal.

When the snow finally melts during the beginning of April, the new year really begins.

The long cold and all white winter days give way to the new green of springtime. Not only is there much more color to meet the eyes, but also many wonderful fragrances that have been dormant throughout the long frozen season, arise again to greet another new year.

This is the time of the year when one can truly feel that a new life has begun again, and a new hope for the future has just arrived.

After such a long time spent mostly indoors, it feels wonderful to be able to get outdoors and walk around without having to be careful not to slip and fall down. If you're like me, you have probably gained some weight during the winter from a severe lack of exercise. Now is the perfect time to get back into shape and lose those extra and unsightly kilograms hanging from around your waist or hips. Talk about New Year's Resolutions??? Promises, broken promises, and congenital lies. Let's do our best.

As the snow and ice are gradually melting off of the streets and sidewalks, the next big event of the year takes place. Graduation Season. The school year in Japan ends in early March, and starts back up again in mid-April. Therefore all schools from elementary on up to the university level, are having their graduation ceremonies and after graduation parties, all at about the same time. Does the city get lively? Yes, it does.

The photos above were taken at the Hokkaido Prefecture Nursing Academy of Asahikawa 道立旭川市高等看護学院, and the Kosei Nursing School　ＪＡ北海道厚生連旭川厚生看護専門学校. Click on their English titles to see photo galleries of each event.

The next big event after most of the snow melts, is GOLDEN WEEK. Why it's called golden week, I'm not really sure, but it is a much looked forward to. It runs from April 29 Midori no Hi through May 5 Kodomo no Hi. Many people take advantage of this long stretch of days off to go traveling. Many go overseas. I don't. I stay in Hokkaido, drive around and sleep in my van. I can take a lot of photos for very little money that way. For example, during GW 2005, I drove along the entire coastline of southern Hokkaido from Tomakomai　苫小牧 to Hakodate 函館　and back up to Rumoi　留萌. A 5 days and 4 nights road trip. You can see the photo galleries of the entire trip by clicking here. You can read the Travel Log by clicking here.

As you can see from the above photo, most of the snow has melted on the lower mountain tops. Of course, all of the roads are snow free, and it makes driving a real pleasure. The sun is hot, but the air is fresh and cool. The perfect combination.

The next big event, at least for the parents of young children is the Sports Day Event 運動会 at all of the elementary schools . This is a big event every year, and the teachers, students and their parents spend a considerable amount of time getting ready for it. The event usually starts at about 9:00 and runs until around 14:00. If it rains on the designated day, the event is postponed until the next day. If that next day is also rainy, it may be held in the school gymnasium although that would severely restrict the area to move around in.

As you can see from the above photo, May 22 was a warm and sunny day in 2005. A perfect day for the Kagura Elementary School to have their annual sports day.

In early June, the first big spring festival of the year called the Gokoku Jinja Sai 護国神社祭 is held. This is the Shinto shrine that protects the nation and commemorates all of the soldiers who have fallen in the many wars. It is said that it will always rain on at least one day of the three day festival. And it always does. These are the tears of the fallen soldiers. There is also a marching band parade with participants of all ages and abilities.

After the Gokoku Jinja Sai is finished, it will be about one month before the real festival action gets started. As I said at the top of this page, WARNING: Asahikawa is covered in snow for five months of the year, every year. That is why the short summer is used to its full capacity. A lot of different festivals and events that continue up until about the first week of September. Get it while it's hot!

You can see the entire contents of all the photo galleries by clicking on the Romanized writing for the name of each event. The Kamikawa Jinja Sai 上川神社祭, The Asahikawa Summer Festival 旭川烈火夏祭り, The Ginza Tanabata Festival 銀座七夕まつり,　The giant fireworks displays 花火大会, The Asahikawa Summer festival 2000 旭川烈火夏祭り２０００年.

On or about August 15, most people celebrate Obon お盆. This is the Buddhist tradition of welcoming the departed souls of their ancestors back to the earth each year at this time. Traditionally, most people will visit the family grave site, in order to clean it and make an offering of food and drink to the souls of the departed. Candles and incense are also lit, and prayers are said to comfort the spirits of those long departed. Obon also signals the end of summer vacation, and the beginning of the back-to-school hustle and bustle.

Sometime before the middle of September, the peaks of the Taisetsu Mountain Range get there first dusting of snow. It is a sure sign that the city streets of Asahikawa will be covered with snow in about 2 months or so.