Spring Finally Arrived

I got a spring haircut - I was little nervous about how short it was on the sides, but it all turned out okay.

Let's talk about ice cream - I love Japanese ice cream. It's a large component in my decision to live here. I'm not joking. These three items are at the top of my list.

The flat, triangular one is a waffle cone lined with chocolate, filled with vanilla ice cream and topped with crispy chocolate. The flattened body design gives this dessert the proper aerodynamics to consume the entire thing in 0.21 seconds.

The middle item is waffle-shaped cone filled with vanilla ice cream and a chocolate bar center. I can eat 3 of these in a row.

The last item is Coolish, which is simply icy vanilla ice cream in a metal pouch. It's one of the best vanilla flavors I've ever had. I first discovered Coolish while studying abroad in Tokyo.

Got a tie in the mail from my parents!

So lately I've noticed a soft "whooshing" noise outside of my apartment and it sounded something like a large river. But there was no evidence of this from my line of sight outside of my apartment. All I could see were orchards, so I assumed it was some sort of farm work going on. But upon further inspection I found something completely different...

A giant river with a bridge to be more specific.

How'd I miss this?

The river is also accompanied by a large, river-side park which has been meticulously maintained. You can't tell from this picture, but the park goes on and on - to the left, it expands quite a lot, with several areas of different elevation.

One of the park buildings - reminds me of something you'd see in Howard County - like in Maple Lawn maybe.

The following day - today, that is - I awoke to find something very surprising concerning this park. That's for next post!

Finding "Japanese" Spots

So I've commented before that Mashike (my current town) has a surprisingly western vibe for being out in the middle of nowhere Japan. This familiar quality seems to stem from the fact that a lot of the architecture to be found on the island of Hokkaido is quite new in comparison to the rest of Japan... but even more interesting is the surprisingly substantial influence from the US of which I was completely unaware.

Hokkaido, lovingly known as "Alaska: the test run"

History Story Time Lecture with Tim-Sensei

So, As I understand it, Hokkaido, as a land mass, wasn't really of interest to the Japanese government until the Meiji Restoration (late 1800's) which makes a majority of the development there much younger than that of the US (which is already considered a young country by global standards).

Hokkaido (aka, the snow baby of Japan)

This western vibe I've been feeling isn't just the result of my "foreigner's ignorance" - you know, like I was expecting geisha's, going to work in a temple, giant robots, all that good stuff:

this is literally what I was expecting.

Around 1870, the Japanese government got serious about Hokkaido due to an increasing threat from Russia, which was expanding - claiming various islands in the East Asian part of the world. To assist in the effort of making Hokkaido a contributing, functional member of the Japanese archipelago, Japan brought over Horace Capron, the Commissioner of Agriculture under President Ulysses S. Grant. He introduced western techniques for utilizing the land: mining, farming, etc.

A few years later, Capron left and was superseded in a way by William S. Clark, who established the Sapporo Agricultural College, which is now known as the University of Hokkaido. His teachings on agriculture and Christianity were rather successful in Japan, which is evident throughout Hokkaido in the form of statues and placards with his famous quote, "Boys, be ambitious!"

I didn't have time to photoshop the heck outta this guy...

During and following this period of American influence, the population of Hokkaido grew by over 400%. So I think that explains why Hokkaido looks more like this than the image above:

(citing my sources: thanks wikipedia)

But all joking aside, I love Mashike. This western vibe has made the transition from the US to Japan incredibly easy in ways I never would have believed prior to my departure.

So the reason I brought all this up was so I can really demonstrate how surprised I was to find little spots around Mashike that really exude a more traditional or conventional Japanese aesthetic (again, this is from a foreigner's perspective - I'm not claiming to make definitive judgements on what's Japanese and what isn't).

Anyway, here are some new shots. Some of the photos near the end of the post are the ones I thought were considerably more "Japanese" than the general view around Mashike.

Little signs that spring is slowly approaching

Muh pants don't fit

More fruit signs.

I know there's a proper name for these little fellas, but it's completely escaped me...

Offerings to the little fellas

The loneliest vending machine in all of Japan. I've heard of vending machines out in the middle of nowhere, but this one isn't even lined up with the road. It's just placed randomly at an angle, in the middle of a gravel lot...

farm house nearby.

one of the schools I teach at - it's one of the oldest timber buildings in Japan... or something like that.

local rooftops

temple grounds...

The only cherry blossoms I could find in all of Mashike

This spot struck me as incredibly "Japanese" looking - very reminiscent of the area I stayed when I visited Mobara, Chiba, which is an hour or two outside of Tokyo.

Last pic for now!

Trip to the Beach

So I busted out the DSLR for some better photos recently.

Let's start with the daily life stuff first:

I got a box from my parents! And then I turned the box it into a large garbage can! I'm so thrifty.

Check it out. This corner is so much more tidy looking now...

Made myself stove top curry ramen and added hot sauce, fresh tomatoes, and frozen spinach. It was the best thing I've ever made to date.

The day before I made "bruschetta," if you can call it that. I sliced up baguette and topped it with spinach and tomatoes... and hot sauce.

It was delicious.

I baked them in my... toaster... oven?

Yeah, I've got this interesting feature with my stove top where I can divert the power to a small... oven drawer thing right below the coil units. Check it out:

weird, right?

Just a little bit of snow left in the area.

My parking spot.

Even some of the larger hills in the area are losing their snow at this point. Almost feels like spring. Almost.

I've gotten better at using these corner mirrors to confidently drive when visibility is slim.

I remember seeing these all over Europe as well.

Today the weather was really nice so I decided to go and get some footage/shots from my typical drive up north along the coast. Warning: it's super shaky/nauseating and I set the whole thing to smooth jamz, so be prepared for that as well.

I teach at three different schools on the water and two of them are north of my town along the stretch in these photos...

More snowless hills. These are directly across from the ocean.

Went down to the water today. The water was pretty brown...

Mountains and the ocean.

The sand is of this very fine, brown quality.

A wall with engravings across from the sea.

Pay phone by the beach.

Panoramic shot from the beach walkway.

Small shrine by some railroad tracks.

View of the ocean from the shrine.