24 Hours in Obihiro

A city of about 170,000 people, Obihiro is a major city in agricultural South-Central Hokkaido.  Even travelers with limited time and money can enjoy what this city has to offer, so grab some friends, get a local guide, and start exploring!

My only non-horse/food picture of Obihiro.  Oops?

Friday

1. Fast(est) Food | 9 p.m.

Inarizushi

in a conbini bento

would taste as sweet? (Yes.)

2. Hokkaido Hospitality | 10 p.m.

If you are lucky,

crash on a local’s futon

and make a new friend.

Saturday

3. Morning Meetings | 9 a.m.

Winter Survival:

The most important workshop

you’ll ever attend.

We present again

“Hokkaido English Challenge!”

Train your Poké—kids!

4. A Lovely Lunch | Noon

When you go to Obihiro,

There is no question.

A bowl of butadon

Will be the lunch suggestion.

A good time to be only 95% vegetarian

5. Equine Entertainment | 2 p.m.

Not only foreigners

find out about tourist spots

from reading manga.

But only foreigners take pictures with the characters...

"I sneeze/snort in your

general direction,"

says Milky the horse.

One sassy horse

Grumpy old gambler,

nonplussed, explained how to place

one hundred yen bets.

80¢ on Sakanotaihou.  Living on the wild side!

In spectator sports,

none is so slow yet trilling

as draft horse racing.

Go Sakano Go!!!

I won! Winnings cover entrance fee.

¥280 for me!

6. Bag a Bargain | 4 p.m.

Home-Off, the proof that

buying discount goods is an

urban luxury.

7. Enjoy an Enkai | 6:30 p.m.

The Enkai Logic:

Who needs all-you-can-eat when

there’s all-you-can-drink?

On the road | midnight

Fragile snow flakes fall,

White specks against the dark night.

Are these summer tires?

The Akan Adventure

I just returned from the latest HAJET event in Otaru and came to realize that I still haven't posted about my last HAJET adventure, the mid-September Eastern Welcome Party at Lake Akan.  So now, with no further delay (it's been 2 months already!), here are the haiku.

TLDR; Cool temperatures, cooler place, coolest people!

Even six hours

is not too far to travel

to feel its splendor.

Oo la la!

Feet in an onsen,

fleece-lined wool hat on my head.

Who cares that it's cold?

Cold air, toasty toes

A slow march of flames

illuminating our route

from lake to village.

Just ignore the slight pyromaniacal grin...

Marimo (moss balls):

the cutest algae I've seen!

See: small souvenirs.

Lots of woodcrafted stuff too!  This is a very touristy place...

A rooftop onsen.

The aches of last night's camping

slowly melt away.

No Maddie!  THAT'S NOT AN ONSEN!!!

Gorgeous coastline drive.

How could I have forgotten

Japan's an island?!

Ocean?  What's an ocean?

Bad English Bonus!

This is why I have a job.

Car keys and Good Omens

After one long month

of watching my car mock me.

My wait is over.

THE KEY!!! (and the car, too, I guess...)

A car and its keys:

It’s a match made in heaven

(or maybe Detroit)

Define "freedom" (noun):

Having a car, keys, gas, and

places to explore!

And now, two haiku courtesy of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, whose novel Good Omens features a fictional disaster of a Japanese car.  The Wasabi "had been programmed by someone who not only didn’t understand English, but didn’t understand Japanese either,” resulting in warnings such as “Prease to frasten sleat-bert” and “Oil plessure arert.”  Unfortunately for me, this "Engrish" is not far-fetched at all!  Fortunately for the fictional car, it undergoes a transformation such that it issues “its voice-synthesized warnings in a series of exquisite and perfectly phrased haikus, each one original and apt.

Late frost burns the bloom

Would a fool not let the belt

Restrain the body?

The cherry blossom

Tumbles from the highest tree.

One needs more petrol."

Inspired, I have attempted to create picturesque haiku about my own car experiences in Japan so far!

In gray morning light,

mist creeps down the mountainsides.

Ignition success.

The gentlest breeze

whispers in the empty streets,

Drive on the left, please.

My lovely village in the early morning fog.

Bonus: A haiku about the summer I drove the Subaru in New Hampshire.

A majestic moose

grazes in a twilit lake.

Cruise control is locked.

I strongly encourage you all to write beautiful haiku about your own car experiences and post them in the comments below!

Conquering the bento

It's well-known that I'm not a morning person, so it should come as no surprise that I've been cooking my bento (lunchbox) rice in advance and storing it in the fridge until needed.  Unfortunately, what I didn't realize was that this dries out the rice and makes it, as one middle schooler noted, barabara (scattered, loose, a failure as rice, a shame to Japanese civilization, etc.).  When I woke up yesterday morning to find my rice stash depleted, I managed to convince my rice cooker to steam some up before heading to school.  The result?  Beautiful, sticky white rice!

            

The barabara bento

White rice perfection!

Of course, one of the main kindergarten teachers noted with surprise that "your bento is washoku (Japanese-style food)!"  Considering that it is fairly difficult to get Western ingredients in Japan, let alone my town of 807 people (yes, that includes me), it's not that shocking.  Here are some of the main ingredients that my bread-and-cheese-loving self has been learning to cook while here.

The haul from my first trip to our (tiny) local grocery store

Plain white short-grain rice:

toss on some furikake

and your world will change.

The purple yukari is pretty and tasty!

Renkon (lotus root):

easy to cook, tasty to

eat, nice to look at.

Don't judge a vegetable by its outside...

Hijiki (seaweed):

makes for a messy bento,

but also tastes quite good.

Stewed hijiki, featured in the success!bento above

Kabocha (pumpkin):

So I bought a 3 lb. squash
Now what do I do?!

Grill it, puree it, stick it in a stew...

Umeboshi (plum):

liven up your plain white rice

with a pickled sun.

Japanese people will be especially impressed if you like these
and use them for a Japanese flag-style bento (see bento above)

Enoki (mushrooms,

the only kind I can stand):

grows in fat bunches.

Looks weird, tastes good

Nasu (aubergine):

smaller and cuter than ours,

but taste just the same.

RIP the eggplant dropped in the fish griller when I attempte dthis meal

Tofu (soy bean curd):

don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it!

Mmmm… protein-iful. 

Nomnomnom

Introducing myself

"Hello.  My name is _____.  I like ______."

I'm from the United States.

Def. jikoshokai:

(lit.) a self-introduction; 

(JET) your life story.

This is my family.

Remember "All About Me"? Like that.

This is our cat.  She likes to sleep a lot.

In just five school days,

I have met nine different groups

with one lengthy spiel.

                  

I like moose...

... but I don't like bears.

(Well, three different spiels, 

the shared elements being

myself and a moose.)

My favorite food is pizza.

And now the students

at the middle and high schools 

know about quidditch!

Can you guess what they are playing?  (No.)

And, last but not least,

here’s the short and sweet version

(for normal people):

はじめまして。メイリーです。どうぞよろしくお願いします。

I like skiing.  I am looking forward to winter here!

And now, a special I-have-way-too-much-spare-time bonus: 

The etymology of “self-introduction"

self- < OE self, seolf, sylf “one’s own person” (pronoun also used in compounds such as selflice “self-love, pride”) < P.Gmc. *selbaz “self” < PIE *sel-bho-, suffixed form of root *s(w)e-, pronoun of the third person and reflexive.

+

introduction “formal presentation of one person to another” (1711) < “an introductory statement” (mid-15c.) < “act of bringing into existence” (late 14c.) < O.Fr. introduccion < Lt. introductionem “a leading in” (past participle stem of introducere “to lead in, to introduce”) < intro- “inward” (< PIE *en-t(e)ro-, suffixed form of preposition *en “in”) + ducere “to lead” (< PIE *deuk- “to lead”)

[Note: I no longer have access to the OED, so these etymologies were taken and adapted from http://www.etymonline.com/ ]

Eating out and Enkais

A hidden turn, then

Sapporo's Ramen Alley,

waiting to delight.

Actually, an alley of 6-seat ramen shops!

Bamboo shoots, pork, egg;
Although not instant ramen,
it disappears fast!

So much ramen, so little stomach...

When in Sapporo,
drink beer as the natives do.
Wait, that's Asahi!

There is a "Sapporo" brand beer...

Here I have found it,
onigiri perfection:
omelette-wrapped rice ball.

Available at a Lawson's near you!

Mmm... Matsuri food!
The perfect yakisoba
in a plastic box.

Not pictured: grapefruit chuuhai

Define "enkai" (noun):
1) lit., banquet or party;
2) work drinking fest...

A delicious enkai spread

The enkai high points?
Meeting new coworkers and
eating fresh melon!

Surviving Sapporo Orientation

First day: no cell phone.
A desperate facebook post.
Mary rescues me!

How a JET networks:
"Oh, hey, you live somewhere cool!
What's your name again?"

More orienting.
From classroom games to must-see sites,
we covered it all!

Passive sightseeing:
pausing to take a photo
en route to meetings.

The Akarenga

The main takeaway:
Hokkaido's cold, lonely, vast,
and by far the best!

(The other message?
Join HAJET, join HAJET, join
HAJET, join HAJET...)