Dartboard

Finally some pictures from my holiday in Hokkaido! I’m not sure I’ve written about it on my blog, but I spent the weekend before last in Sapporo with the lovely Dawn Carmin, viewing the many ice sculptures at the annual snow festival. I’ve got over 30 pictures and it’s already 10:30 p.m. so I have to be quick if I want to post tonight. がんばります！

Dawn, Reid (a guy from Fukuoka we met on the plane and got on with instantly), and Paul (who wouldn’t stop talking, unfortunately always about a subject I had no interest in: himself). We all went out for ramen together our first evening in Sapporo.

There were so many sculptures, but I’ve paired down to just of the best pictures of my favorite ones. This one is a famous young golfer from Okinawa prefecture, Ai-chan.

A close-up of the detail on (another, different) Shisa, an Okinawan mythical god. I think some family got T-shirts with shisa from my trip south last September so look at these pictures carefully!!)

A Buddha and large tower, titled “Happy Taiwan!”

A replica of Horyu-ji Temple.

A taiko performance in front of the ice temple.

My mom will be jealous that she didn’t get to see these adorable little boys on the taiko.

Snoopy—a Japanese icon.

Some dancers (Future J-pop band?!? Carrie, watch for these boys!) in front of Flinder's Street Station.

Not a huge fan of Star Wars, but you know what it is, right?!?

Me and a small block of ice, freezing as it gets darker and colder!

Wouldn’t be complete without some squid and octopus. This sculpture was titled “Go for it! Japan!” and was the Welcome Sculpture for the whole festival.

The World Heritage Angkor Wat sculpture at night with lights.

Sierra standing in front of the Sapporo Tower.

The Chronicles of Narnia even had it’s own sculpture—with a pretty awesome light show. There was music and mist (see the blob of white on the left?) and a large crowd of people.

Still looking happy here because we had recently warmed-up in Starbucks, but it was COLD in Sapporo! Not just cold, but SEVEN DEGREES BELOW FREEZING COLD!!! I was wearing long underwear (thanks Joe!) and a million layers underneath Yuki’s thick down jacket and I was still wimping out after a few hours!

Who ordered the Frappuccino before going out in the seven degrees below?!? The Hawaiian, of course!!!! Here’s Reid pretending to enjoy the ice cold drink—and refusing to admit that I was right—He was crazy to purchase it!!!

Reid trying on hats/masks to buy. I couldn’t believe he didn’t take this one!

Luckily Dawn took me back to the hotel room early our first evening—did I mention it was COLD?!? She didn’t even complain about “missing opportunities to see Sapporo” and lead me to a nearby onsen (public bath house) to get warmed up before bed. We ended up sitting in an outside bath, the light snow fluttering around us as we chatted in the nude. It was really great—and romantic! Too bad onsen aren’t co-ed!

Friday we went snowboarding in Niseko. The Niseko Express to the mountain was delayed because of—you guessed it!—SNOW, but I was happy to chat with new friends on the train. Honestly I’m never that excited at the idea of skiing or snowboarding so I was happy it was delayed. Of course, I always enjoy the activity when I’m doing it, but thinking about it is like anticipating a huge physical workout. (I swear I’m not lazy…) Here Dawn and I are excited (and pretending to be excited) about snowboarding!

The Niseko Express.

Pictures out the window, because LOOK AT ALL THAT SNOW!!!!

This is “Triple T” (from Okayama prefecture/California) and Reid, our seat partners.

Another picture of Dawn and I on the train.

Some more friends we made. Kiwis from the Tokyo area.

We finally made it to the mountain!! Dawn loving the snow, reminding her of her Colorado home.

Although from the lift it looks like a very blustery day, it was actually pretty nice. It was snowing, but I stayed warm and the snow was amazing!!! …Like people always say powder but what does that mean, anyway? I FINALLY understand how wonderful it is to ski in real powder!

Dawn on the lift.

Me taking a break—of course I’m here buried in snow a meter from the trail because I meant to land there and not because I fell!

Finally, the most third most important thing to do in Sapporo (after seeing the snow festival and snowboarding) is EATING! Hokkaido is famous for its crab so the four of us went to an all-you-can-eat-and-drink restaurant and had our fill of two varieties of crab: snow and hairy.

It’s hard to believe that I, Sierra—who wouldn’t touch any fish before coming to Japan—became the fastest crab-leg cracker at the table and started cutting, stripping and piling crab meat up on my plate just for the fun of it! It’s a challenge getting the meat out of the legs, but once you get the hang of it, you just can’t stop!! Well, I couldn't anyway!

Our flights left on Sunday morning so it was a quick and dirty, (not to mention expeeeensive!) trip to the Northern Island of Japan, but definitely a worthwhile one! Just in case you didn’t realize yet, another picture to confirm there was plenty of snow…