February 9-14 (Sun-Fri) - The Way Back to Sapporo

The plan was to fly up to Sapporo to meet my friends for the Yuki Matsuri (Snow Festival). It was a direct flight, putting me in before noon, giving me 1 whole day and two almost-full days in Sapporo. 

Some things just refuse to go according to the perfect plan. Or the next-best plan. 

Sunday: Woke at 5. Alice and I went to the station together, she was heading the other direction for a day in Nagoya at a Transformers convention. In the city, I took a bus to the airport, arriving with perfect timing for my 8:45 flight. Which didn’t exist anymore. And I guess a cancelled flight doesn’t warrant an email…? When I asked, I was told they had an announcement on their website. I know, I really really should have checked my flight status the day before, especially with all the snow, but I was confident that, since I was signed up with ANA, if there was anything amiss they would alert me. And I was perusing the airport’s website the day before, which said absolutely nothing. Safe to say I was equal parts irritated at ANA and myself. Sad thing is, I booked this flight to get me in earlier to Sapporo… whereas if I’d booked the double leg (stopping in Tokyo) it’s possible I eventually would have got there that day.

As it was, I was routed through Sendai, which is a little airport with apparently poor management, ANA was not dealing with the crisis well, and because of all the late flights they ended up canceling my flight to Sapporo. And there was no announcement at the gate, where I was waiting. Luckily I noticed the flight had vanished from the non-electronic board, then I had to wait in line for an hour to put my name in a lot for getting a flight the next day. 

I got into Sendai city around 7, at which point it was too late to see anything if there is anything to see in Sendai, so I tried to get to bed early in order to…

Monday: Wake up at 5 again. Go to airport, although train was delayed for unknown reasons. (I thought they said they couldn’t go because another train was on their track, but that seems rather incompetent, so I probably didn’t hear right.) Stand in line — luckily, early enough it was short. Got my name on stand-by list for earlier flights, although for whatever reason the first flight to Sapporo was cancelled……….

It was a big mess, and I didn’t think ANA took care of it very well. In the midst of all these cancelled flights and people waiting in line, they didn’t once put up proper line-barriers to encompass it. I’m willing to say Sendai is a small airport, and maybe not used to so much disruption (after all, Tokyo never gets snow, and Tokyo got snow). 

Anyway! I did get to see a display of Kokeshi dolls,

and play in the small airport museum. 

But I was too nervous I wouldn’t be able to hear the announcements, so for most of the morning I had to sit in the window listening for them, which was uncomfortable and stressful, but at last, the trumpets blew, and I was put on an earlier flight, with the result I greeted Terra and Duncan around 2:00 in the afternoon of the day after I was supposed to — but at last I’d made it. To Sapporo once again. It looked a bit different this time.

We ate delicious ramen for lunch, dropped off luggage, then bundled up so they could guide me around the entire festival. 

The sidewalks around Odori Park were limited to 1-way traffic, and thousands of people shuffled over about 5-inch-deep packed snow to see the gigantic wonders. There were palaces,

figures,

(Momotaro)

(Anpan-man)

a skii hill,

and more.

We ate the strangest ‘tiramisu’ — hot chocolate with azuki, mochi, whipped cream, and a bit of cake —

 as well as hot wine and free miso soup.

On the Indian tomb-palace thing they played a projection-mapping light show, which is like a light show only awesome. Duncan got a video that I’m dying to watch but for now we must be content with photos.

Exhibit 2: ice sculptures. Eagles, mermaids, phoenix, 

dragons, benches, and fish.

Terra gave me cool lenses so I got micro photos!!

I caught a sad pictures of children wishing for Hana-matsuri dolls.

Actually they are mannequins. A little creepy.

Last, we went up the tower, for a snowy view of what we could see,

 then trudged back to the hotel and got to bed way too late.

Look, edamame-flavored kit-kats. 

Tuesday: This day was Kenkoku Kinen no Hi, celebrating the legendary founding of Japan. With nothing specific planned, we went to the Sapporo Beer Factory, which is a large shopping complex, where we ate crepes and weathered out the storm. At last we emerged, and went to check the ice sculptures again in daylight. 

We also got some photo booth souvenirs, and stopped in at a pet shop. Awww!

The evening wound down with okonomiyaki at the station, then we bid mata ne and boarded our separate trains. Although I was extremely paranoid nothing went amiss and I returned back home at 11pm.

Wednesday: At Kawada the kids are making their own Momotaro story. So I spent the entire class doing nothing but wandering between the two groups and checking their progress. It was kind of fun, because they pulled out their English picture dictionaries and were having fun with it, and I kind of talked to the kids… but mostly did nothing. 

Thursday: I got pictures with all my nursery-school kids! You can’t see it. Sorry.

Then I cleaned my apartment. Then I cleaned my car. I have a feeling the car hasn’t been that thoroughly cleaned for a long, long long time. 

Alice and I went to dinner at a Chinese chain called King of Gyoza (potstickers). 

Friday: Having been so physically productive the day before I had a hard time spending the morning being productive on my computer. I read some emails!!!

Then Kitanakayama and the kids made me laugh. They always do. They are the wildest 5th-graders and I hope they never lose that enthusiasm!

I took my juku kids candy (since it was Valentines) and they really enjoyed it, which surprised me and made me happy. They were even brave enough to try the cinnamon-bunnies, although they proclaimed them too spicy, and as I taught the next set of kids the Japanese teacher spend most of the lesson with the first set talking about strange foods, which is kind of awesome. I think most things you can’t learn unless someone teaches you, for the simple reason that it never occurs to you such things are to be learned. It makes me reexamine my role as a teacher. I forget that kids (everyone really…) are still learning about the world and about correct behavior. As figures of authority, children will listen to teachers and adapt their behavior to what the teacher wants, even unconsciously. Yes, I’m teaching English… but maybe it’s also my responsibility to help the kids understand what they can be… er… I had something all pretty thought out about showing them the paths so they can choose for themselves but — well that’s all I’m going to say.

Recent Japanese:

kekkou (欠航) = flight cancellation

muchuu (夢中) = daze, trance

medatsu (目立つ) = to stand out

nayami (悩み) = troubles, worries