So here we are then. It has been a long last few days since we last met, wouldn’t you agree? Gosh and how am I supposed to get to posting and telling about it all with internet only being available here at work? Golly, what a predicament. But let’s not sew old buttons on to new clothing.
Right !
So keeping all the necessary bits of personal informations in the proper light -that being me not telling all and every last thing to you- the last weekend was good. I was not off of work on Friday. The cold that I had was working full-time.
Anyways, on to the good stuff.
I had a friend come up from Sapporo. With great success we departed from here in town to Wakkanai, the northermost town in Japan. From Wakkanai we, two, drove to the northernmost point in Japan. It is a tiny peninsula-like place with a monument and a statue. And, well, it’s really far north.. in Japan anyways.
It was a blast. After that outset we had fresh-fresh sashimi at an izakaya recommended by some friends and then made our way to another kaiten (conveyor belt) sushi spot to eat some sea urchin. The sea urchin was really the reason we came to Wakkanai. The northernmost point of Japan just happened to be convenient to visit. Including the fact that my friend had never been that far north in Japan before.
Okay ! From there we graduated to our next destination. Over the next few days there was a lot of driving and a lot of things going on. The weather was fair as we drove along the coast. And here is the fun bit, I was doing a lot of the driving. It seems to have paid off, having brought an international driving permit here to Japan. With all things and travellings safe -all I really had to remember was to stick to the left side of the road and to be cautious. The rest was cakework.
Our travels took us to Furano. This place is literally dab in the center of Hokkaido. We met up with another friend, our party now totalling three, and we began our quest anew. Our first stop was a famous curry shop. And I use this word ‘shop’ in the fullest sense. Between a few trees in the farm-ish location of Furano, which has been compared to the south of France for its sweeping hill-ish location and wines (wines which really don’t compare to France, in my opinion) lo! there was located between some few trees a tree house sort of building. This spot resembled something like a settler’s shack in New Canada so many Hudson’s Bay Company years ago. After waiting in queue for minutes on end we entered inside and dined on brilliant roux. The curry at this shop was just about right packing enough spice to make you realize what you were eating. I ordered a mushroom variety with a cheese topping. If you’ll be so kind to wait I will attach a photo oh so soon..
From this place we hurried on to the wine factory. I would like to call it a winery but most of the tourism literature said it was a factory. Tours were self-guided and the view was free. Nestled high atop the hills that wrap around the basin-like city of Furano we stared at dusty barrels and gazed over the city from outside the factory. The wine tasting was surprising -and self serve. No. This is not the kind of ‘all inclusive deal’ that you would be hoping for. You know the tiny cups that they serve pills to you in when you stay at the hospital or visit a clinic? Well, a cup just like that but with enough room for a penny to lie full-flat in was what we sipped wine from.
I think I’ve had more juice from a communion glass than I did wine at the facotry that day.
I’m not complaining I just think that I had something different in mind having come from a town in Canada surrounded by towns that boast wine sipping and place-viewing at a premium. This was a new experience and I walked away with a glass of grape juice for my vitamin-C needing body and a wooden box for wines with which I intend to decorate my home.
Next on we pressed on to a sweets factory that pureed the finest puddings that remind me of something that my grandmother and mum used to often make over a boisterous Hungarian stove, and next an Ice Milk Factory. Yes, I loved the location as much as I love the name of the place.
First on, the puddings were beautiful at our first location. Line ups ensued and we waited to make our purchase along with the the other children, parents, and tv cameras that were filming a tv spot on location. I really have to talk about the television here sometime. It’s just banging.
The Ice Milk Factory led me to experience my first flavoring of cheese ice cream. It tasted just like ice cream made with Hokkaido’s fresh-fresh milk only with little slivets of cheese mixed in for good measure.
I will tell you now that although you may think that chomping down raw fish sashimi and eating things like cheese ice cream is O so foreign and Japanese food is so out of reach for you.. I will tell you this,
Food here has been perfected to an art. Along with coffees, cafes, pastries, breads and convenience stores. I have had the pleasure to travel to an array of countries, even European ones. But Japan does food well. And I am yet to be pressed by a slew of poor experiences when it comes to food. Although I have been shocked a few times -namely when my meal was microwaved in front of me in a ziploc container by microwave. But I don’t need to think about that.
After having my picture taken with a plastic cow with udders that didn’t move our group of three set out to buy ingredients for our sukiyaki (or simmer what you wish) dish for dinner. And again we afterward set out to drive another two hours to the next few towns over to join our last friend for the meal.
Keeping to the story and longing to keep this post readable I will tell all in part.
Dinner was a blast. Dipping simmered onions, pork, tofu and things into raw egg and sucking it back over a tipper of steaming rice never tasted soo good. Even being surrounded by friends. The lot of us toppled all over the floor on our respective futons for the night and then awoke with surprise the next day.
One of our few had a reaction to some meds that were being taken for a cold. So in the bright and cool hours of the morning we nixed our plans to sink into an onsen and visit a fairy village (for real), and we drove instead another three and four hours about to a hospital for check up.
Hospitals here double as clinics and walk-in centers. That is how I seem to understand it now. So there is no need to worry. The friend, now, is fine so far as I know. From our hospital location after our friend was given an injection that compares to something prepared by ACME from a Looney Tunes show -we ate ramen at a place that sells, ahem* two kilogram bowls of the stuff and then we browesed a video, game, and book shop for the remainder of our time. From there I popped on to a train, transferred to a bus and then rode my way some four hours back to my assigned town. Can you say, tired?
Not to mention the conference I had to attend the next morning waking at six thirty only to drive another hour or so back to the northernmost town that I visited only days before. Only this time no sea urchin.
I want to thank you for hanging in there and reading.
I feel only a little ashamed that I am not more well sorted and better written on this whole account. Even now as I close off my thoughts little pops of ideas about the weekend are hovering near me.
Like how the last friend’s home we were at is a bit of a dj. That is he mixes music for little shows that he may or may not do from time to time. At one point when the girls stepped out for a chat he and I listened to dance music and mixed our way deep into the evening. Oh, and I won’t mention the one friend’s little pet bird that travelled with us by pet-keep cage all the way back to square one. It really was a good time.
Right then. With internet soon on its way to my prying fingers and weary mind I close by saying this,
The leaves are changing color here and we are coming on to one of the most revelling seasons in this part of Japan -all of Japan in fact. It is now Fall.
Eat something warm and toasty and I’ll be sipping back my favoured ramen noodles. All my best to you and let’s connect soon. Maybe in a few days’ time.
Happy Fall and greetings to you.
And I hope this post was everything you were waiting for, and more.
The Traveller's Typewriter 