The Sapporo Snow Festival, Otaru, and New Friends

Ice Sculpture with lights inside

It had been snowing heavily all day when Jess and I ventured out to see the event that brought us to Japan this time of year--the Sapporo Snow Festival.  There are teams from different parts of the world that compete in making huge snow sculptures.  We saw sculptures from Thailand, Taiwan, and Hawaii.   Wikopedia explains how the snow festival began-- "The Snow Festival began in 1950, when six local high school students built six snow statues in Odori Park. In 1955, the Japan Self-Defense Forces from the nearby Makomanai base joined in and built the first massive snow sculptures, for which the Snow Festival has now become famous. "  After World War II, Japan has only has a self-defense force instead of an offensive army.  This is one of the activities they help with in Japan.

There was so much snow the day we went to see the festival that they had to sweep it and and blow it off with air hoses.  Above you will see the self-defense forces climbing all over the sculpture they built to remove the snow.

We saw these posters all over the city and subway for weeks.

One of my favorites--old-fashioned style Japanese building.  Notice my umbrella in the upper left corner :)  In Japan, people  use clear umbrellas to keep the snow from hitting their faces in the winter, and opaque umbrellas to shade themselves in the summer heat.

There was lots of "festival food" at the snow festival.  This is what reminded us of the Fulton County Fair!  Jess and I shared a steamed bun with pork and cabbage inside.  It was nice and HOT!  Notice the heater in the food tent.

Beautiful Rock we saw on our train ride along the coast

Otaru

Jess and I went on a day trip to Otaru, a canal city on the coast.  We walked to the JR train station 15 minutes from Anna's apartment.  We had not taken the JR train on this trip in Sapporo yet so it was another experience of navigating.  We were in a hurry when we got to the station, so we quickly got our tickets and went through the gate. At the trains and subways in Japan usually you put your ticket into the gate and it spits it back out at you.  Then you are supposed to take it and put it into the gate at your stop.  That is the place you don't take the ticket back--the machine keeps it.  Well, for some reason, I did not take my ticket back when we went through the gate.  Maybe I was thinking, "This is not the subway so I don't need to take my ticket back".  Anyway, when Jess and I were figuring out the direction to go, we decided to head away from Sapporo.  As we were standing waiting for the train, we noticed that all the other people were on the other side.  Then Jess noticed a train attendant run up on the other side, spy us, and run down the stairs.  He wondered if she was looking for us.  Sure enough, she came running up on our side and told me in broke English that I had left my ticket--and that we were on the WRONG SIDE!  So Jess and RAN down and then up the escalator and got on the right train.  I am so thankful for the kindness and helpfulness of Japanese people.  They have helped us MANY times when we weren't sure where we were going!  I am also thankful that for whatever reason, I left my ticket in the machine--otherwise Jess and I would have ended up out in the boonies of Hokkaido!

Once safely onboard the train after making a transfer in Sapporo, we could enjoy the ride.  One of our favorite parts of this trip was the view of the ocean as we rode along the coast.  It was fun to see the snow on the coast and the waves coming in.  We even saw surfers out in the cold water!

Canals of Otaru

In Otaru, which is about a 40 minute train ride from Sapporo, we walked the streets down to the canals and looked in the little shops.  Otaru is famous for their glass factory, glass artisans, and music box factory.  Because we were getting toward the end of our trip and had budgeted out our money, we had decided to pack a small lunch rather than eat out.  We packed some onigiri (rice balls I made), carrot sticks, cookies, and apples.  As we were walking looking for a possible place to eat, we passed a hotel that had a buffet for 1000 yen per person (about $10.00).  We stopped in the hotel to warm up and use the fancy bathrooms but did not want to get the buffet.  As we walked down the street, we found a cute little cafe that looked just right for getting coffee and tea so we went in.

Our coffee and tea :)

 After we sat down and looked at the menu, we realized that the coffee, tea, and a small bowl of nuts that we ordered cost 1400 Yen (about $14.00!).  I guess we could have gotten that buffet!  Not only that, but Jess's coffee cup was tiny and only filled half full!  We did get fancy sugar cubes. . .
Oh well, we decided to make the best of it and nibbled on our rice balls when the waitress wasn't looking.  We also started up a conversation with the young American woman who was sitting at the table next to us with her mom and 6-month-old baby boy.  We found out she was from Queens, New York, and her husband is stationed in the Navy close to Tokyo.  We had fun laughing about her mom trying to speak Japanese with a strong New York accent.  She also talked about how she did not like Japanese food and has not learned the language.  That would be hard.  Anna just LOVES the food and has learned a fair amount of Japanese.

Other Friends We Have Made

One of the things I felt God saying to me on this trip is that, even though you are only here for a month or even just one more week, "Keep making friends".  Nakamaru Sensei ("Nakamaru" is his last name and "sensei" means teacher.  Anna is called Anna Sensei by her students) is one of Anna's supervisors and has been very helpful to us and to Anna.  He figured out and ordered the bus tickets to the zoo for us.  The other night he volunteered to take us in his car (we had not ridden in a car in WEEKS!) up on one of the mountains around Sapporo to see the night view.  He also took us to a gyoza place where he often ate and knew the owners.  We had such an interesting conversation with him.  He is an English teacher so he appreciated the chance to keep up his English with us and ask us questions about our life.  We enjoyed asking him questions about his life.  He studied at a university in Iowa and said that when he first came, other students ignored him because he could not speak English.  That was really hard for him.  After her learned to speak English, people were very kind and took him to see sights in the area.  So he was returning the favor.  He told us about his religion, which comes from Nara, a city close to Kyoto.  He said it is a small religion started by a woman there.  He also told us that if a teacher gets their license taken away from speeding, their pay will be suspended 30% for three months--so he has to be very careful.

Jess and Nakamau Sensei

Aileen is a really good friend of Anna's.  They met over Facebook before they started JET.  Aileen is from Manassas, VA and lives a 30 minute walk from Anna's apartment.   On Sunday, we went with Aileen to visit a new church for her.  We went to Sapporo Episcopal Church.  This was the first time I had been to an Epscicopal church.  The service was in Japanese but they had a couple of the liturgies in English so I could basically follow along.  I was really touched with the theology that comes out in their liturgy.  They had a significant time of speaking out a confession naming our sinfulness and they also spoke about the mystery of God, which I can really relate to at this time in my life.  God is so great and I (like Job) don't understand everything that happens in my life.  I don't have God all figured out--there is mystery.

Aileen, Jess, and Anna

A quilt at Sapporo Episcopal Church

Another friend we met was Kiku.  Kiku was at EMU in the 90s and got to know Peg as her International Student Advisor.  She found out through Facebook that Peg's niece was coming to Sapporo, she connected with Anna.  Kiku and Sayaka (another student at EMU at that time  who knew Peg) have both become friends with Anna here in Sapporo.  These women have really helped Anna in many ways.  Anna meets with Kiku's mother as a English/Japanese conversation partner.  I am amazed at how God has provided these women (with a connection with Peg) to be here for Anna at this time.  God is amazing!