naruto to hokkaido by train

A few weeks ago I went on a trip to northern Japan. As opposed to going abroad, this time I stayed in the country where I live so that I could travel feeling like a resident. I had no big plans besides a desire to head north, spend time taking pictures, read books, and check out local food. I had ample time to do all of these things and also met a lot of people along the way. Though most of my traveling has been fairly open-ended, I took this chance to really have an experience that depended upon my interactions with people that I met during the trip.

My first stop was Tokyo. After taking the first bus of the day from Naruto to Kobe, I spent 10 hours riding local trains before meeting up with my friend Yuko, who had just recently moved to the city. The next day we went to see the Daibutsu (Great Buddha) in Kamakura and hung around the seaside for the afternoon.




After spending a few days in town I took off on a 19 hour stretch from Tokyo to the city of Aomori in the northernmost part of Honshu. I left from Tokyo at 10:30pm and reached my destination at 5:30pm the next day, having only one significant break between trains from 4:30am to 6:00am.



Along the way, I stopped in Sakata City where my good friend Julia lived for two years. I had an eight minute stopover but managed to take a bunch of pictures before continuing on my way.




After a night in Aomori and some really good scallop ramen, I was soon heading though the Seikan Tunnel which connects Japan's main island of Honshu with the island of Hokkaido. At this point, I was noticing a lot of the same people were using the same local train ticket (seishun 18 kippu) as me because we were all getting on and off the same trains.




My first stop in Hokkaido was Hakodate, a port city that was one of the first centers of commerce when Japan started to initiate trade with neighboring countries. It's very rare to see red brick buildings in Japan but there are quite a lot of them here. It reminded me a lot of some places that I know in Pittsburgh.



I also came across a photography museum in Hakodate that I really liked. The museum was in a building that was constructed in the 19th century and the rooms looked like they could be in my grandma's farm house.


Six days after departing from Naruto, I made it to Hokkaido's capital city of Sapporo. The snow piled up as we headed north and once I stepped out onto the platform of Sapporo station, I knew that I'd soon have to put on every article of warm clothing that I'd brought.


Sapporo's nice and spacious atmosphere was a welcome change from a lot of the cities near where I live. I was kind of weary after all of the train rides so I spent my time walking around and tasting amazing seafood ramen and having some authentic Indian food at the Jozankei Onsen.




The next day I caught a ride with a guy who was commuting from Sapporo to Asahikawa, a city close to Daisetsuzan National Park. He spoke no English and said that he had never met a foreigner before which made me surprised that he'd gave me a lift. My destination was Mt. Asahidake- the highest point in Hokkaido and a place that I have been wanting to get to since reading about it last year. After a Friday night of drinking local sake in Asahikawa I woke up early the next morning and caught a bus to the park. Going up the mountain really scared me because all of the roads were packed down with snow and the bus driver was speeding up the hill the whole time. It was only me and a family of three on the bus and they seemed to be unphased so I tried not to worry.


As the bus finally made it up the mountain, we were greeted by enormous amounts of snow. I walked over to the log cabin youth hostel and got a room for the night (and in true Japanese fashion they thought I was CRAZY for coming without making a reservation first) and then rented some cross country skis for the cheap price of 500 yen (five dollars). This was my first time on them so I wasn't too graceful but it was a good way of seeing the area and taking some pictures of the snow.



I ended up taking the cable car to the top of the mountain because there would be a few meters of snow that I'd have to contend with if I did it on foot. When I was asking around about Mt. Asahidake most people told me that it's a hit or miss experience depending on the weather. I think that I lucked out on the day that I went.






The next morning I came back to Asahikawa City and then found some rides back to Sapporo, though this time it took significantly longer because we took local roads. Back in the city I took it easy, explored, read, and was amazed by this cake that was for sale for $800:



The next and final stop was the coastal city of Otaru. There are a lot of nice cafes and things here so I took advantage of that atmosphere by hanging around the warehouse district near the port.





In the evening, I caught a show about Naruto wakame (seaweed) and got so excited that I took pictures of the TV to show my students.



Before heading back I had one more day in Otaru. I spent it by going back to the Jozankei Onsen and then making my way to the ferry terminal. By this point I had met so many people on trains, in hostels, and in restaurants that I was already getting phone emails from them. During the entire two weeks I was amazed at the amount of attention that I attracted just by being a Westerner traveling alone.




And then, 22 hours on a ferry, a night spent sleeping outside, and four hours of bus rides (and a bike ride) later, I was back home.


The experience of traveling to northern Japan on local trains was one of the best insights into this culture that I've had. It also turned out to be two weeks of language practice since there seemed to be very little English spoken in a lot of the areas where I stayed. I feel that seeing the country like this was a fitting way to solidify all that I have invested in Japan. Cultural adaption here does not come easily for a many people (and did not for me), but acquiring habits which allow you to see a more real side of life in such a different place is without a doubt worth it to me.


“We live everything as it comes, without warning, like an actor going on cold. And what can life be worth if the first rehearsal for life is life itself? That is why life is always a sketch. No, sketch is not quite the right word, because a sketch is an outline of something, the groundwork for a picture, whereas the sketch that is our life is a sketch of nothing, an outline with no picture.”
-Milan Kundera

kaki tabehodai (all you can eat oysters)

Three people, two hours of eating, and, as a result, one week of good health according to Kennsuke.

after all, it's well worth it

Sometimes the frustrations of living in such a different culture can get to you and bring about feelings of isolation as a minority in an extremely homogeneous population. Recently, I feel like I have been more aware of this fact and have been affected by a wave of culture shock that's compounded by cold weather, an absence of classes during this time of the year (i.e. LOTS of free time at work), and the longing for feelings of anonymity in my community. Granted, I will without a doubt miss those instances when people stop me at the grocery store to tell me that I'm tall, students not being able to comprehend that my eyes really are green and that I'm not wearing color contacts, or people almost crashing their cars as they stare at the foreigner who is jogging beside the rice fields. Although I'll never be able to truly relate to these things, I can at least understand that they happen and not be thrown of just because I can't locate the source of why they occur.

For me, my routine during the winter is simple. I bike to and from work, spend time trying to stay warm by the kerosene heater in the staff room (without feeling lightheaded from the fumes), pick up the usual things from the grocery store, make dinner, and get ready to do it all over again. I generally like the simplicity of this time of the year and because there's no residential central heating here, getting outside and riding my bike for an hour and a half in the cold will probably keep me warmer than sitting under blankets in my apartment. However, as spring approaches, memories of what sometimes seems like a past life where I had a group of friends that I'd often see creep back into my thoughts.

I feel like Japanese culture can be analogous to a powerful locomotive running full speed ahead where those that hop on and join in this way of life are accepted as a part of the culture and those that don't are outcasts. When feeling homesick or culture shock, the 'defined' way of living around me can seem narrow and almost a binary all-or-nothing kind of thing. These feelings are also magnified when you are literally the only non-Japanese person where you work and the 'values' of straightforwardness are not accepted here the way they are in America. In fact, it's seemingly just the opposite. Conversations about what foods are delicious or how cold it is in the winter are the things that keep people united here. It's truly an amazing display of cultural cohesiveness that I could have never imagined without experiencing it firsthand over a long period of time. Of course I take part in these conversations and it makes me feel good that I can navigate through them with ease now that I would say that I have a significant understanding of Japan and its culture. But, I'll always be an outsider here and I am very far from losing sight of this fact.

There is a big difference between these recent, intermittent waves of isolation and how I dealt with similar situations last year. At this point, I understand and recognize signs of culture shock and can give myself ample time to do the things necessary to find relief. Last year's feelings at this time (when I was also experiencing the end-of-winter drag) were grounded on a desire to feel rooted in my situation in general, knowing that I had at least another year and a half in this very different life. The contrast now results in my finite time here. These feeling are still very real but are nowhere near the unidentifiable, sometimes crippling adjustments of being a first year resident.

All of these things in my head can take they cyclic tolls but can also be erased by the reason that I came here- to be a teacher. Living a life that often cannot be backed up by the rational processes of a Western mind suddenly makes sense when, after a year and a half of being their English teacher, you're at the 9th graders' graduation ceremony, standing in front of them and giving a final bow before they go on their way to high school.




So, the fact that I'm getting out of Shikoku for a few weeks starting on Friday is a good thing. Last year I was off to New Zealand but this time I'm keeping it domestic and using the seishun 18 kippu (an inexpensive way to travel on extended breaks by local trains, mostly used by university students) to see more of the country. I'll be doing it alone, trying to get to Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido and, from there, hopefully spending about a week traveling around the area. I should be making plans this weekend for places to stay, etc. but I'll probably just leave it open to make these decisions upon arrival. I'm saving my Alan Watts book for the train (11 hours just to get to Tokyo...) and looking forward to the open fields, mountains, and coastal scenes of northern Japan. Four more days of work and then it's me and my good ol' backpack.

graduation season

Unlike schools in America, the school year here in Japan ends in March so this time of the year marks significant transitions for the lives of my students.


Last Saturday was Naruto Tech's graduation ceremony which prefaces pursuits of various futures such as carpentry, engineering, music, and sports, while others head straight into the workforce.



As you can see, it was an occasion worthy of some uniquely manicured nails.


Meanwhile at Naruto Jr. High, I taught my last English class to the 9th graders after getting to know them over the past year and a half.



Next Friday, I will be there as they transition from junior high to high school. It's no wonder my suit gets a lot of wear this time of the year.