Sapporo

Remember when I said that I was worried I couldn't keep this up? Yeah . . . .

But I want to share some pictures from our trip to Sapporo. Going to the Sapporo Snow Festival is something I'd wanted to do for a long time. 


I don't exactly remember why we didn't go the last time we were living in Japan. Did we find out about it too late? Were we too broke? Did it seem like the only way to get there was an overnight ferry ride on winter seas (something some friends of our later did)? I'm not sure.

This trip was made more affordable thanks to extreme budget airlines (no free water, no actual gate at Narita, no checking your bags in too early, etc.) and the tip that we could go a few days early and see the snow sculptures in progress. Not going during the festival meant that both airfare and lodging was a lot cheaper.

We were also able to visit a friend from our old grad program. 

 

Our friend lives just outside Sapporo - the further we got from the city center, there was more and more snow piled up everywhere. Our friend later told us that this was a "nothing year" in terms of snow. We had a lovely evening with him - so much hospitality, such a lovely house and family. Also, apparently, there are wild foxes in the Sapporo suburbs (no picture, but we did see one). This is at the train station at the end of the evening - doesn't look like a "nothing year" to me, but clearly I'm no expert!

Here are some snow sculptures. It's hard to capture the scale and the detail of these sculptures. They are so large! And so elaborate! They're also totally constructed with military precision - sometimes even by the military (theirs and ours), actually. It really was amazing and totally worth it. It was super-cool (the puns, they write themselves)

Partial group shot:

 
We also stumbled upon some more informal (but still elaborate) snow sculptures being built in a local park. This wasn't part of the official festival; it seemed more like a community effort. Sort of puts an ordinary snowperson to shame, no?

Sapporo is really beautiful. Don't get me wrong, it's, like, so cold and so far north that it's almost in Russia. But the mountains come right down to the city on one side and the Japan Sea is on the other side. So it's a chilly sort of beauty. (There's also excellent skiing close to Sapporo and super-excellent skiing slightly further away in Niseko.)

But you know what warmed our hearts? We got to spend a lot of time with the host family Mike stayed with during his time in Japan in 1998. It's funny how time passes - he stayed there as a college student and now he returns as a college professor with two kids. He was both gratified and grateful.

Here's a family shot in an elevator in Sapporo. When we travel with Jacob in the stroller, we're all about the elevators (so! many! elevators!).

We also made sure the kids had some time to play in the snow.

Natalie and Mike also went ice skating.

 

 This, of course, required hot chocolate afterwards.

 

Unfortunately, all this playing and walking didn't sufficiently wear Jacob out. Either that, or hotels are just too exciting. We had a really hard time getting him to settle down and go to sleep at night. This picture was taken about three hours after we started on the bedtime process. He is, with no irony at all, holding the Do Not Disturb sign from the hotel door.

So that was hard. Also hard was that he was then so grouchy and cranky that he was really difficult and screamy. We had to leave the hotel restaurant one morning because he was throwing a fit. Know what makes for a grouchy day? A mother who doesn't get to eat breakfast. So we're off hotels for now. And for the next ten years.

Also sad was that we managed to lose Natalie's brand new fancy ski jacket. I had snagged this jacket at an amazing deal after some serious internet research and sale-stalking. The jacket had a zip-in fleece and a system where you could extend the sleeves, so it would have lasted two years. I'm really, really upset about it. It was an awful moment to realize that we were missing it as the express train pulled out of the station en route to the airport. The first train stop was already so far from the town, plus we had a flight to catch and airport lunch plans with Mike's host family. There was just no going back. We called a few different places a few times, but, well, it's gone. Like I said, I'm more broken up about this than I should be. I keep looking at sale sites for similar jackets, but I suspect it's still too early for great deals on ski jackets. Maybe I'll find something in April or at the start of next winter. I don't know; I guess I just hope the lost jacket just finds someone who really needs a warm jacket. 

But, well, here's a ray of sunshine: realizing that we were in real jacket trouble (the kid had to go to school, jacket or no jacket), I posted on the local parents' Facebook group asking where to buy a used or new jacket and offering to buy an outgrown jacket. A very lovely woman then met me the next day, brought three jackets her daughter had outgrown, let us pick one, and then refused to accept any money. 

So kind, right? Her only request was that we pass the coat on to someone else who could use it when we were done with it. This was so touching because it's so hard to be here without extra clothes, friends to help, and local knowledge (we honestly didn't even know where to go to buy a reasonably priced winter jacket). Your village is, indeed, where you find it and where you make it.

Jacob doesn't go for the cosmic karma lessons. He just consoled himself with a melon pan the size of his face.

The above is actually a good reminder because, well, any weekend we don't use the Epi-pen is a good weekend, lost jackets or no lost jackets.

Stay cool, my friends.