Tomorrow I'm headed back to Japan (by way of Indonesia surprisingly). It marks the beginning of my first "foodie" vacation, retracing Anthony Bourdain's trip to Hokkaido ("No Reservations") a year ago before the 3/11 earthquake ravaged the northern half of the main island. I'm going by train so I will be going directly through Aomori and Sendai so that will be interesting (if not a little depressing perhaps)

This trip is special, as it is in memory of my Gram, who passed away earlier this month. She wanted me to take this trip and helped me fund it back from the planning stages last December. Although she wasn't a traveler herself, she always was supportive of my crazy adventures in far away lands.

The trip also marks my first time going north of Nagano in Japan and, as I've always been curious about the Ainu culture, I'm making a side trip out to their village museum as well. The trip also is going to let me see the snow for the second time in two years (first time was on a glacier in New Zealand a bit over a year ago). I miss my snow.

I hope to take lots of photos, the best of which I will post here on my account. Perhaps best of all though, the food will be the main focus of my time in Hokkaido. The Travel Channel has posted Anthony's travel plan from that episode on their site, if you're curious about where I'm headed to and what kinds of food I'll be eating, head on over there and look at the Hokkaido show! First night will be Hokkaido Chirashizushi (ちらし寿司) and second night will be Hokkaido Corn Ramen! I'm excited and hungry thinking about it.

Will post in as I have Internet on the trip, adding to this journal. For now though, I have 2 days of travel ahead of me so I'm off to bed! See you next time from Japan!

~待ったね!
デンキヒツジ

DAYS 1-3:
Hello from Japan! 日本から「こんにちは!」。 I spent 34 hours in transit and have arrived in Sapporo! It's really beautiful here and it was snowing when I woke up this morning. So nice! I'm not overheated finally for the first time in over a year. I've started my food tour by going to the Sapporo Beer Museum and Garden and not only is the museum really interesting (and free), but for 200￥ you can sample a bottle of beer of your choice. Best bit: they made Alcohol Free beer now! (not the .05% stuff you normally find [aka: ultra light] but 0.00%). If that wasn't enough, they have 3 "beer gardens" where you can have lunch/dinner, some outdoors and some indoors, and they are famous for their "Genghis Khan" (it's grain fed lamb that you grill yourself with mushrooms, onions, kobacha pumpkin, and bean sprouts). Each garden makes it a bit differently, I got the 1780￥ lunch special (pickles, potato salad, and smoked salmon and cheese starter; followed by soup, then the Genghis Khan, and afterwards you get a choice of tea or coffee) and it was amazing! Forget the massaged, hand fed cows, get the Genghis Khan! They have a really nice setup for multilinguistic enjoyment of the museum too, so everyone can enjoy it and learn something. It's a big part of Hokkaido culture and history. Tomorrow I plan to explore the second half of that coin by going to the Ainu culture museum and village for the day. As a lot of it is outside, I'm hoping the snow lets up a bit. It's hard getting good pictures when the camera is covered in the white fluffy stuff.

DAYS 4-5:
Hello again! I made it to Porotokan yesterday despite some major obstacles and a minor case of frostbite. It's a really great learning experience and the Hokkaido Dogs are adorable! Not the easiest place to get to, but well worth the trip. I also got to sample some of the butter corn ramen last night and that was absolutely fantastic. I know what people are thinking: butter? in ramen? yuck? But NO! It's amazing! As a result of the frostbite, I went out this morning though and bought some new boots. They're comfy and the only ones that fit me were imported from England. Go figure. As a minor side note, the ABC Mart in the JR Tower in Sapporo is probably the only shoe store that carries women's boots that are equivalent to a women's size 9-10 in the city. I was lucky to be directed to it by a clerk in a different shop. After that I spent most of my day just wandering around town, trying different kinds of food and talking to people. I came in early because the wind chill is much colder than it has been in recent days and I finished a two hour walk a bit ago with some takoyaki, so it's time to get ready for Nisekko tomorrow! tsuzukeru!

DAYS 6-7:
Greetings from Niseko! It's snowy and cold here (and the skiing was great today). Yesterday I was picked up by a shuttle bus and swept off into the mountains to reside for two days beside an active volcano. See my gallery for a pic (give it a minute or two after I update the journal, my camera is still transferring my pictures). I finally managed to get to a place I know Anthony Bourdain was at. Torimatsu in Kutchan (the town beside Niseko) was absolutely incredible! It's one of the best meals I've ever eaten. Period. End of story. It's hard to find, but all the locals know it, so if in doubt ask. It's worth the whole trip up here just to eat there.  Today I went skiing for the first time in 5 years and I am so rusty at it it's not even funny. I only fell once though, so that's not bad for 4 hours on the mountain. On the Hirafu side of the mountain (as opposed to the other 3 sides), the map makes it look a lot smaller than it actually is. Compared to the mountains in Vermont and New Hampshire (USA) I've skied in the past, this place is a monster. When they say something is a black diamond, they mean it. We're talking ungroomed, steep trails with moguls everywhere and trees, hard to forget the trees. There are only 3 trail types: Green Circle ("beginner" supposedly but they actually end up being closer to the green circle and blue square trails in Vermont so beginner-intermediate): these ones start at about the half way point up the mountain and you can take them all the way down, Red Squares (Intermediate, but really steep): these are interspersed from about 3/4 the way up going down and when I say steep, we're talking almost sheer drops in places, but groomed; and Black Diamond: Ungroomed, with trees, moguls, and drops/jumps/cliffs = ski at your own risk. These trails make up most of the top quarter of the mountain and then appear between other trail types going down. It seems like they usually put some Green Circle trails at the end of the Black Diamond ones to give people a break. It's hard skiing but really fun and everyone is friendly and polite on the mountain. I was not once buzzed by a crazy teenager on a snowboard or sprayed with snow by a skier going way too fast and weaving between people. The only thing I crashed into was a cloth fence and that was due to my not having done up my boots tight enough. I was going to go for soba tonight but I'm so tired I might order some pizza/pasta and put my feet up. I'm headed back to Tokyo tomorrow. Will be on the train all day. Catch you laters ^^/

DAYS 8-10:
Tokyo is...well...Tokyo. It defies imagination and explanation in nearly every way, but it's great to be back. I had a great trip back by Shuttle Bus, Shinkansen, and Local trains. Had a wonderful conversation with the Shuttle Bus driver that was really fun and I learned a lot! I love Ikebukuro, and I have since 2005 (long before I knew about Durarara!! although that does add to the coolness). Spent my first day back having lunch with my advisor and then down at the Pure Land Temple (Zojoji - 大本山) to light some incense for my Gram. It was pretty emotional, but I think she would have liked the idea of it all. After that I was back getting some stuff to bring home for my research. Today (day 10) I spent with for her birthday party in Ikebukuro going through Animate, K-Books, and doing some serious karaoke! We had a really good time. Tomorrow I'm starting back to Indonesia and then on to Oz again. 2 more days of travel and after that I'm having a long rest. Btw: the winds in Tokyo were insane today. It even shut some of the train lines down. From the 8th floor of the Ikebukuro Anime branch it seemed like we were having a really long earthquake as the building was shaking from the wind (it seemed like we were going to lose some windows too for a bit) but everything remained intact. Good architecture ^^b. Days 11-12 will be spent in transit, so this is my last entry for my trip. Hopefully another to follow soon.

待ったね!
デンキヒツジ