Sapporo: day one

Blog 2.6

Today was my first of three full days in Sapporo.
I have a list of things I wanted to do over the next few days, but I the biggest obstacle for me is getting around the city. All the websites and guidebooks say that it is easy to navigate around Sapporo because it is set up like most Western cities...but of course...I come from Oberlin and there are two main streets and about a zero percent chance of getting lost. I guess I'm not a fan of cities anyway...but there I was. I took the subway to Odori Sation, which is where all three subway lines intersect. I was going to go look for a book store. But when I came up the stairs I found myself staring at Odori Park, swarmed with people, snow and ice scultpures. Well, that's what I came here to see! So I walked along the sidewalk, trying not to slip in the slush and winding my way through hords of people. The first thing I really saw was a massive snow sculpture of an ocean scene with a walrus, seat turtle, baby seal, fish and more. I think the things was around 20 meters tall...  The walrus was beautiful, with long curved ice whiskers. The turtle even had gentle wrinkles around its eyes. I've never seen anything like it. I walked on, there were tons of stands with food and souveniers...but I kind of lost my appetite since it's no fun to eat alone, surrounded by people. There were scultpures as monsterous as the first that depicted Mickey Mouse, One Piece characters, a traditonal Japanese castle, an ice palace and the Taj Mahal. There were also little snow and ice slides and things for children and I stood and watched that for a while...they all look so happy.

There were tons of people standing in front of the Taj Mahal snow sculpture so I thought something might be happening. I stood around for a while but got cold and decided to head out, but then I caught some official people talking to eachother about how the show is going to start soon. There were many people from India there, and very official looking too. So I stayed, and finally there was an awesome performance. It is what I took to be a mix of traditional and modern Indian dances with a mixture of music. It was really incredible. There were pairs of men and women, the men in blue and pink and the women in green and red with sequins and beads and sparkles...very beautiful. As the performance progressed it became more intense, there was a "battle" between the men and the women. Goodness could they DANCE! I could only think of Clara while I watched...I was amazed at this, but she spent a year there experiencing that culture that is so incredibly different from ours. So many experiences...

I stayed till the end. The performers bowed to a very pathetic pitter patter of applause. Keiko told me though that Japanese are often embarrassed to show such enthusiasm. Thus things like standing ovations are basically none existant. In the crowd amongst the muffled clapping was the occasional hoot, holler and wild whistle of a happy foreigner. I personally think that a pitiful applause is WAY more embarrassing than a hoot. These artists deserve proper recognition...
Anyway, that was awesome. Felt like dancing. Instead I trudged along the muddy, slushy walkways and viewed more snow sculptures (totoro, doraemon, happy feet, crayon shinchan...etc.) At the end of the walk, I should have gone up the other side of the park but I decided to stop there for today and head for the station in search of a shopping center where I could find a book store.

I found the shopping arcade and walked up and down the entire length. Peering down each street that intersected in search of a 本 sign, meaning book. It seemed that they had all disappeared from Sapporo's streets. However, I soon found myself near Nijo Fish Market and that was one my places to go for that day, so I walk along the walk and stared at all the fish and crabs...half of which eerily stared back at me...
It was 1:00. I wasn't all that hungry but I decided I should stop to eat. I walked up to a ramen shop stood in front of it nervously wondering if I could gain the courage to go in...when I decided that no, I couldn't, and went back to the market and walked into a less dark restaurant.

The thing about ramen shops, or noodle shops in general, is that they are really small, normally filled with business men or couples, dark, and have a bar that faces the cooks. I didn't feel like sitting alone, staring at the cooks then nervously slurping up the noodles (because I am not good at slurping) while they watched me. I'm sure that's not ACTUALLY what would happen, but I'd feel more comfortable once I found a good book to keep me company.

It all worked out, though, because at this restaurant I chose I could sample all kinds of fresh seafood that Hokkaido is famous for. I was seated at the bar since I was alone and I ordered the set that was most reccomended. It came on a laquer tray with four little bowls surrounding a little plate with three pieces of nigiri sushi. Awesome. Three bowls were seafood over a little bit of rice, one was sea urchin, one was salmon roe and the other I think was raw scallop...the fourth bowl had crab miso soup. The three pieces of sushi were salmon, tuna and crab. I sat alone and just thought about the amazing show going on inside my mouth. It was all delicious. Fresh. Flavorful. Fantastic. I usually don't like roe, but, this time I really liked it. It's been a while since I've eaten it, perhaps my taste has matured. In the crab miso soup was an actually crab claw, so I picked the meat out of it. There was a foreign man and his Japanese girlfriend or wife nearby. I felt like they kept looking over at me...I imagined they were critiquing the way I picked the crab meat out of the claw...I just hope I didn't look as barbaric as I felt! Overall, I'm glad I ate there. A definite staple in my memory of Nijo Market.

After that, I wandered around even more looking for a darn book store. I found one, but it had the worst English section ever...it was a used shop so there were no great novels or anything. I decided I'd look it up on the net for tomorrow. If I had a super phone...I could've have just done it right then. I probably looked really out of date staring at my PAPER maps...hand draw and everything! Probably why I was getting lost...haha.

I had looked up "spots to see" in Sapporo and one of them was a place called the Sapporo Factory. So, I went there. It was nice, with a  beautiful indoor garden and patio. All the stores were very expensive...I enjoyed looking. There was a little store with foreign items. I saw mini bag of Hershey's Kisses for $4. That isn't happening while I can by a Ghana Chocolate Bar for 88 yen.  There was a supermarket on the bottom floor and I picked up some yogurt and fruits. I also bought a fruit/vegetable drink that is green (therefore pretty promising on the nutrious end of things).

I was heading back to the apartment going through the subway. I was putting my ticket through the machine and walking through the gate when suddenly the little doors slammed against my knees. I was already walking with power though, so I walked right through it...however it had really surprised me and I wondered why it had happened because I had paid the right amount everything. I stood around waiting for some station attendant to come question me...but no one came. I got a new ticket for the new line and entered a different gate then stopped at an information desk. I explained to the lady what had happened and she said it's fine, that I can just go on my way. Why did it do that then? Silly machine.

I stopped at the local supermarket for dinner and TP. Now that I am here, I realized I should have picked up more chocolate!

Tomorrow I hope to go to the zoo, see more of Odori Koen, the Susunko festival site, BOOK STORE, the clock tower and then dinner with Amanda. That saves Ishiya Chocolate Factory, Tsudome (another festival site) and Otaru (festival of lights in nearby small town) for Wednesday. This really is a short trip...but, that'd good, because I'm a lonely person...I've never talked to little in my LIFE!

Tomorrow I hope I feel more up for an adventure then I do now. My body isn't feeling to hot at the moment.