Asahikawa and a Random Encounter
Well, it’s still pretty cold here in Sarufutsu. While Sapporo and more southern parts of Hokkaido are starting to experience mid to high twenties weather that should symbolise summer, way up here we still have single digit temperatures and night with a seriously cold wind blowing during the day. I don’t mind so much, as I’ve always rather enjoyed the cold weather. If only it’d snow until July though… (UPDATE: It’s now 6 degrees. Summer here we come!)
This weekend I went to Asahikawa to get a decent-sized and priced tog bag to take on the plane back to SA. I needed something big enough to fit my computer as well as some odds and ends, as well as to search for some flyfishing gear. The city had none of the latter, but I did manage to get the bag, as well as a bunch of westernised foodstuffs from the foreign food store, like nougat, gouda cheese, Ceres fruit juice and Campbell’s soup cans, something which I have become quite addicted to. Driving in the city was as frustrating as any Japanese metropole, as nobody really has a clue about driving. Entering a traffic circle is a recipe for disaster, as they’re relatively new in Japan, yet no instruction has been given to the people as to their navigation. Thus it’s basically a free-for-all everyone for themselves kind of affair where right of way doesn’t exist and motorists haplessly barrel into the circle, never knowing just where they’re meant to be. My blood pressure probably spiked in those harrowed seconds…
Other than seeing a million foxes on the way back, I managed to get home at a respectable hour without much fuss, cruising behind another drive for the most part at a good speed allowed me to make the trip in under three hours. Sunday saw the usual park golf tour with Chris, in which he clearly and most definitively kicked my ass. But on the way back, I passed the Onishibetsu community hall which was a hive of activity, drawin my interest. Curious, I investigated to discover that it was the pre-Shinto shrine festival celebration, which involved food, drink, goldfish and karaoke. It was certainly quite interesting to see, and I bumped into a lot of fellow teachers, office workers, and of course just about all the student from the town. The Junior High Students showed a disturbingly high interest in buying a beer for me when I said I was thirsty. Gleams in their eyes when they tried in their broken English to say as much was… disturbing. Still, they had been drinking fanta and eating corn dogs since 6pm so I can notch that one up to hyperactivity. It was strange seeing what was effectively the entire town’s population in one place at the same time, but a little weird, as the gaijin obviously sticks out like a sore thumb. It would’ve been nice to have at least ONE other foreign devil to divert attention. Nonetheless it was an interesting end to the week, and I’m glad I investigated.
Here’s one of the really crappy pictures I managed to take with my phone’s camera:
