港まつり

港まつり and the イカ踊り are big to-do's here in Hakodate. In fact, aside from the local fish market I remember those being two of the first and most famous events I remember hearing about in connection with Hakodate.

港まつり has taken place most of this week, kicking off with the big firework show on Sunday night and going until tomorrow. It's pretty much like your local fireman's fair (is that just a PA thing? Now I'm curious...) just on a grander scale. There's vendors with cotton candy and yakitori, slushies and crepes and lollipop shaped sausage-pops (I kid you not), your good reliable fish catching game - with real fish. And turtles. And games and beer and concerts and just a general good time. Not to mention the fireworks on Sunday were amazing; Pittsburgh really enjoys it's firework shows but it's got nothing on Japan. There were even Hello Kitty shaped fireworks. I rest my case.

The イカ踊り - or squid dance - is basically a two day long parade of townspeople paying homage to their mascot and relatively delicious local catch. Which is quite a strange combination, come to think of it. There are local bands and floats, taiko groups and school kids as well as regular townsfolk who join in the parade, doing the squid dance all the way (actually for a total of about 1 1/2 hours each night). I couldn't justify doing the squid dance for almost 2 hours, but the HIF students joined in for a bit and ikaodori-ed our way down the closed off streets.

Not to mention that prior to the squid dance starting there was a group of zombie attired Japanese parade-goers doing the Thriller dance down the parade route. I think it's actually a requirement to live in Japan that you must know Michael Jackson's entire discography and pack in some of his signature dance moves. My kind of country.

Today was our last day of class and we finish up tomorrow with our final exam. It's strange to think it's over - 8 weeks went so fast and yet so slow at times. We have a small farewell party on Friday at the hotel and then I pack up, ship my luggage to the airport and spend some time on my own in Tokyo before getting on my plane. This is definitely not the end of Japan, though it probably will be the end of my adventures in Hakodate. Well, provided I can secure a spot on the train on Saturday; that's currently a bit of a komaru.

イカ踊り - knicked from Youtube:

Stay tuned!

"The List" Part II

I won't lie, food has very much been on the mind this week. I blame this solely on discussing a 'coming-home IHOP celebration feast' with the Boy.

• I have to give credit to the, mainly high school kids but occasionally elderly women who I've spotted biking around Hakodate while texting. The first time I saw it it was actually raining and I have to say, I was quite surprised to see how well people could bike and hold an umbrella. Even more so, I saw highschool students biking, holding an umbrella AND texting at the same time. Skill! But I feel this can only lead to bad things.
  
• Garbage trucks play music! Kind of like the ice cream man. Just...not as tasty.
  
• I really would not like seaweed flavored flakes on everything that I put in my mouth. Just saying.
  
• On that note: bring on the steak!
  
• You know how you go to buy a bag of chips, open the bag and feel suddenly jipped that the air you just bought was so expensive? My morning coffee likes to emply a related tactic - weighted cans. Just when you think you can tilt your head back and down the rest of your delish Cafe au lait -- oh wait. There's nothing left. There feels like there's at least another gulp or two. Negatory. The can's been empty for the past 10 minutes. BUT IT FEELS LIKE THERE'S STUFF IN THERE TO SWISH AROUND! I have no love for you, cans of deceit.
  
• As I was standing and waiting for my bus home on Tuesday, an older couple was taking pictures of one another by the bus stop/schedule. Why take a picture of your loving wife next to the bus times is beyond me, but I won't question it too much. Realizing what they were doing and realizing that my fan (it was ridiculously hot that day) might be flickering into the picture, I muttered a 'gomen nasai" and backed up which was responded to with a "No, no, no" and a beckoning motion (which, in Japan the "come here" hand wave corresponds to the American "Shoo!" - don't confuse the two!). Now I have a proud place in some Japanese tourists' "My Trip to Hakodate" scrapbook. Ah, memories.
  
• Once again there was a wedding outside of our classroom window. Naturally, it turns into something akin to the first snowfall of the year, even though you've seen snow all of your life. So the entire class runs to the window to stick out heads out and be nosy. This is the 3rd wedding I've seen from our classroom window. I feel like I haven't even left David's Bridal and am strangely compelled to shout out to the bride and tell her about our wedding part discounts. I should also note that the bride was wearing this giant, poofy, pink catastrophe adorned with flower petals. Just not my choice.

Taiko + Birthday Extravaganzas

Heather's birthday happened to be last weekend, July 3rd. Which happened to be about the time of Laura's birthday. And America's birthday. So, to celebrate in a grand and generally obnoxious American way (we've been so good so far and I feel like the 4th of July is a legitimate excuse xD) we went to Goryokaku for nomihodai (all you can drink plus dinner; you just pay for a set amount of time ie. $30/person for a two hour slot and order away!)

But not before doing some necessary errands first.

The HIF office's Okada-san was nice enough -- no, make that: she was her normal angel-of-a-self, and got me in contact with a local taiko group in connection with my Independent Study project. I really wasn't sure what to expect but I had to get the ball moving on this IS thing so Heather came along with and we trekked out at 9am to find this place armed with just the memory of the map on the school wall.





It wasn't hard to find. At all. Like, it was probably the easiest time I've had getting somewhere in Japan. The group - Tomoe Daiko - is a 5-man taiko drumming group (the kind of drums you've seen if you've been to the Japanese World Showcase in Epcot) and they were also amazing enough to let us try and play. Actually, that's an understatement, they actually taught us a drum sequence and we got to play with them! They even let us keep a pair of taiko drum sticks afterwards! (plug time: Go ahead and follow Tomoe Daiko on twitter @hakodate_rengo)





As if that wasn't awesome enough, Heather and I wandered about Goryokaku and killed time until dinner (naturally, by going for kaitenzushi for lunch) and working on some IS stuff in the library. Which would be a really nice library if it were actually air conditioned.





7 o'clock rolled around and we finally managed to coordinate the meeting up of everyone at the station and heading of to "watami-I forget the rest of the restaurant's name" for dinner. And by everyone I mean all 25 of us. Dinner was amazing though: what started out as one pot of Ghengis Khan on each table quickly turned into french fries, crisps, flatbread "pizza", yakitori and more. I don't know how this is economical for the restaurant since people were gulping down drinks like mad in that two hour time limit xD

Afterwards there was a bit of karaoke and I ended up walking home with Michael and Neil (since
everything stops running at 9pm even on the weekends ><;) because I didn't really didn't feel like forking over $50 for a taxi. Luckily, they waited until I was home before they proceeded to set off the fireworks they bought at the conbini xDD

Also, tomorrow is Tanabata! Papa and I stayed up tonight decorating the take (bamboo) with these really epic paper lanterns he taught me how to make. But more on that tomorrow :)

Oyasumi nasai!

Asahi Elementary School

Tuesday we took a field trip over to Asahi Elementary School to play with the kids. Seriously, there's nothing cuter than Asian children. This trip affirmed that about 250 different times.

The first major bout of cute was when we walked in the door and found handmade nametags for us all. Mine had origami dolphins on it. It's like they knew I was coming.

Not to mention we then managed to find a group (flock? gaggle? herd?) of Sailor Scouts in the display case. Did I mention how much I love Japan?

These kids were supposed to be cleaning the windows. Clearly, they had a hidden agenda and started waving to us instead. And then the window wiping turned into a full out dance.

We were all ushered into the gym much more ceremoniously than even my graduation. Like, to music and under brightly colored streamer archways where we spent the next hour or so singing the Japanese "If You're Happy and You Know It", playing tug of war, jan-ken-pon, and (I hesistate to say) learned the infamous Squid Dance. Kids don't really teach you or preface anything. They just expect you to instantly know. So we all hopped around in a giant circle attempting to mimic the kids who were all basically doing something different anyway xD Though adorable none the less.

We then broke up into smaller groups and taught the kids Duck Duck Goose and boy did the kids catch on quick. Catch on as in caught on to the little things you do when playing to trick/psyche out the other kids. Or smacking that annoying boy right on the head (this one little girl got in a good one xD)

It was such a blast.

So much, that afterwards we decided to hunt go gaijin smash-ing for pizza.

Which we found, but lo! Pizza in Japan doesn't really count. I would not like mayo on my pizza, thank you (or on my french fries, on my salad, on my sandwhich, on my egg, on my damn miso soup ><; Ugh, why Japan!?). Or crab/shrimp/corn/mayo. Or whatever the else they come up with. We eventually found just peppers, cheese, pepperoni, and corn (couldn't get away from that one, sadly). Bear in mind that we got a 12 cut pizza, the biggest size, I believe 31cm, for about $25. And they 're usuallu way more expensive than that.

So here's about 10 of us standing in Pizza Hut, which are all takeout/delivery only. We get our pizza and sit out front of the store on the stairs to eat it because basically, there's no other option. And then halway through it hits us - "Crap, what are we going to do with these boxes when we're done?"

Take them back into the store of course xD

It's Impossible for Asian Children to NOT Be Cute

Wait until I get up the pictures/video from today. We went to Asahi Elementary School to play games and sing songs with the kids. They were too freaking adorable.

Charge faster camera!

Placement Testing

Owatta!

Just finished up placement today (though I'll know by Monday exactly which class I'm in) and it's a huge relief. The reading/writing ws difficult, but I'm pretty sure the oral went well :)

The school is really quaint! Except it's at the top of this killer hill, which, in tandem with all of the veggies I'm eating already, I will be in much better shape. But from the school you can see Mt. Hakodate and its cable cars and all the way down to the ocean :D It's a gorgeous location, and apparently they think so here too since when I looked outside from the window to take pictures there was a couple getting wedding pictures taken! Bikkuri-sita!