Sunday, February 28, 2016

Hokkaido Kaitaku No Mura



With my last day in Sapporo, I decided to get away from the Snow Festival crowds and do some sightseeing like a proper tourist.

TripAdvisor.com led to Kaitaku No Mura, a historical village outside the city. The featured buildings were brought from all corners of Hokkaido and reassembled in the little town, open for folks to come inside and look around.

I've tried to describe what it felt like to walk through this village alone. I'm not sure if the magic came from the fact that I'm not really used to snow, or the fact that I'm not really used to historical buildings in snow, but it felt like a fairy tale.

The houses and shops were mostly empty, sparsely furnished with the sort of things one might find in a Japanese residence or commercial building in the 1800s.









 



I wandered around the village until I came upon a huge fishing warehouse. I expected to walk inside another empty building, but when I opened the door, I was shocked to find a group of happy people with tea and a little cook fire going.

"Come in, have some tea!" the man exclaimed.

"Okay!" I said, surprised and delighted. I started chatting with him. He seemed pretty chuffed to find that I could speak Japanese, and we talked about my life in Miyazaki compared to life in Hokkaido.

After my bones had thawed and I had downed another cup of tea or two, he told me that I should make my way to the sake factory in the middle of town. Apparently, there were only two buildings in town that had volunteers manning them, and the sake factory volunteers gave people free hot sake and pickled Hokkaido radish.

Free food? Free alcohol? I'm in!

My tea enthusiast friend

The Fishing Warehouse cook fire
When I arrived at the Sake Warehouse, I was greeted by another warm fire and an old man and woman who welcomed everyone inside.

They gave me a warm cup of amazake, a low-alcohol traditional Japanese beverage, and unlimited pickled radish. No better way to win me over.

Like the man in the fishing warehouse, the pair of volunteers was so happy that I could speak Japanese that we talked for a long time about life in Hokkaido.

They answered all my questions, gave me recommendations for good restaurants to try in Sapporo, and then, when they had their lunch break, proceeded to take me out to lunch!

Sake factory friends

Traditional Hokkaido "Field Soldier" Meal - complete with potato pancakes and white konyaku
I don't think I had ever been so happy I had studied Japanese before. My day in the historical village was one of the most positive experiences of my life, let alone my time in Japan. There's something so satisfying about making new friends on a trip.

Especially if those friends give you sake and pickled radish. I love snacks!

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Deja Vu at the Ruins of St. Paul's


Are you a long time reader of Lauren Loves Noodles? Then it's time to test your memory.

Look closely at the picture above. Notice anything familiar?

That is a snow sculpture from my trip to the Sapporo Snow Festival that is being colored with projection mapping. Every night of the festival, all the large sculptures were projected upon with lights and music. It was a neat counterpoint to the snowy white scenery you could see throughout the day.

Pretty neat right? This sculpture was, by far, my favorite of the entire festival. Something about it just kept me doing d

Here are some other outrageous colors.




Beautiful right? The whole time I was watching it, I kept thinking to myself, "this giant snow castle looks oddly familiar..."

Then suddenly, it clicked. I had seen that structure before.

The real life version of my favorite snow sculpture
Here's a close up:

The Ruins of St. Paul's College

If you've been following me since my Hong Kong study abroad experience, you might remember my trip to Macau in February of 2013. It was there that I visited The Ruins of St. Paul's College for the first time and took these photos.

In Sapporo, I was treated to a neon bright snow sculpture version. What a blast from the past!

The St. Paul Snow Sculpture was apparently sponsored by the Macau Tourism Board, to try and get more people to visit Macau. And people should! I thought Macao was a vibrant place, filled with unique Portuguese buildings, Chinese-influenced culture, and crazy casinos (if you're into that sort of thing). There's really nowhere like it in the whole world.

It felt so strange to have this massive structure appear in my life twice, once the real thing, and once, an equally impressive snow sculpture version.

So if you recognized it right away, give yourself a pat on the back.

Let's celebrate three years of noodles!

Monday, February 22, 2016

Sapporo Snow Festival


When I first started considering the idea of moving to Japan for the JET Program, I remember my mentor and former supervisor saying that the Sapporo Snow Festival was one of the best events she attended during her two year stay in Kyoto. She told me tales of snow flakes falling, huge snow mazes, warm crab soup, and lanterns lighting up the streets. 

Needless to say, I wanted to go. I wanted to eat soup and play in snow. It was my dream.

What I didn't count on was the cost. With flights and hotel expenses, the Sapporo Snow Festival looked to be a bit out of my price range. Just a reminder, I live in the very south of Japan, almost as south as you can go before hitting Okinawa. Sapporo is on the northernmost island. It's a ways away.

Last year, I passed the snow festival up, saying I'd go next year. This year, I once again, almost passed, saying "I need to save money! I'm moving in August! I can't waste my cash on frivolous things!"

Then, I did a Google Image Search and changed my mind again. When would I get another chance to see something like this?

The Snow Festival (Yuki Matsuri in Japanese) was a giant winter wonderland. There were ice sculptures, huge snow stages (with cheerleaders and raffles as pictured above), competitive snowboarding events, snow sculpting teams from all over the world, and a snow play dome for the kids. 

Strolling around getting snowflakes in my eyelashes, I felt like a kid too.














Sunday, February 21, 2016

Lazy Days in Okinawa



Okinawa. White sand beaches and sunsets and fancy fruit drinks. Not a bad place to spend a vacation. Considering it's only about an hour and a half flight from Kyushu, Alex and I decided to make the trip this past August.

I had visited Okinawa before, in 2014, during winter vacation. However, due the slightly colder than beach-appropriate weather then, I thought it would be nice to give Okinawa another chance.

We left all our planning until the last minute, which was sort of a bad idea. We ended up having to rent a super expensive family sized room on the top floor of a resort hotel. Everything else was sold out.

But in the end, it wasn't a problem. We made the most of it, lazing on the beach all day, looking out over the island, and dancing around in the hotel room at night.

It had a pretty sweet speaker system and a tatami dance floor. What's not to love?













Friday, February 12, 2016

Fushimi Inari-Taisha




For my last three hours in Kyoto, I hightailed it over to Fushimi Inari Taisha, the most famous fox shrine in all of Japan. The whole place is covered in fox sculptures and statues, and as I have a love of anything animal themed, I had to go check it out.

Many people know the shrine because of its 10,000 tori (pictured below) leading you up and around Inari mountain. It's a pretty famous tourist photo for folks visiting Kyoto, for good reason! The bright orange gates are just as breath-taking in real life as they are in the photos.

My traveling companion, Lindsay, and I also had a chance to speak some Kansai dialect Japanese with some old ladies walking around the shrine. What a treat that was! I am often finding that learning a new language comes with interesting rewards around every corner, and hearing the ladies laugh out loud at us trying to talk like a local was a real trip.







Wednesday, February 10, 2016

A Love Letter to Nara Park



Dear Nara Park,

I loved your deer. I loved feeding them sembei crackers and watching them do their little bows. I had always wanted to feed a Japanese deer, and now I can say proudly that I have.

I also loved your amazing Todai Temple, with its giant golden Buddha inside. I love a good giant golden Buddha, and I've gotta say, yours was spectacular. Possibly the biggest golden Buddha I'd ever seen.

I'm sure you've had others love you before. Heck, you've been around thousands of years. You've probably had loads of girls write you love letters!

But this, what we have, it's worth holding onto, Nara Park. I'll do long distance for you. I'll look at your photo every day, and remember your tiny deer, nibbling my fingers. It was beautiful.

Don't forget me, my love.

Lauren




Todai-ji (Todai Temple)


Daibutsu (Big Buddha)
The seduction in his eyes...

Friday, February 5, 2016

Busan's Jagalchi Fish Market



Oh, Jagalchi Market. I feel like I've had the pleasure of visiting several fish markets since I studied abroad in Hong Kong in 2013. But the Jagalchi Fish Market was something else.

Fish on ice in outdoor stalls, octopus in tanks in the giant multi-floor fish market complex, tables set out for dining on the freshest abalone you could possibly buy. It's a cornucopia of fish deliciousness.

Inspired by this scene from Oldboy, Alex and I decided to go for a special dish. Raw, wriggling, (basically still alive) octopus sashimi. It felt weird, sort of like it wanted to climb back up after we chewed it. One tentacle squeezed my tongue really hard.

I recorded our first bites in the video below.


All in all, an exciting experience. 6/10, but would eat again.