July 2008
Finding a restaurant (20080701)
Today I went off to have Chinese by myself but slightly before
entering the restaurant an e-mail arrived saying "I am eating in
Sapporo Factory soon, how about you?". I had never seen this address
before, and it was not signed, but I said "Sure, I'll be there in 10
minutes" anyway. It turned out to be someone I know. It also turned
out to be complicated to meet up, mainly because the other end of the
conversation kept giving out false information. Like "Go to the third
floor of building Ichi-Jou-Kan", when in fact they were in
"Ni-Jou-Kan", which is in the 2-Jou city block, not the 1-Jou city
block. The food was very nice after we finally did figure out where
everyone was.
Some kind of festival (20080702)
There was some kind of festival (it says "Festival" on the
shirts) somewhere on campus. Here they are sliding noodles down a
slide and you grab them further down and eat them.
Breaking things (20080702)
The festival also included blindfolding people, giving them
wooden katanas, spinning them around until they were dizzy, and then
having them try to smash water melons. The first person missed the
melon. The second hit, but did not even scratch it. Then they looked
over at the foreigners (me and my colleague) in the back, and we tried
to disappear quietly. They caught up with us and my colleague who is
very large got to try to smash the pumpkin. Despite not being dizzy he
missed the water melon and smashed up the wooden sword instead. So in
the end they had to cut up the melon with normal knives instead.
Failed plan (20080702)
This mask was very helpful in stopping pollen, but the message (roughly "if you speak to me, I will treat you to dinner") went largely unnoticed. Two women passing by looked at the mask and one of them read it out loud and they both laughed and kept looking at me. I kept nodding, indicating that it was true, but still they did not speak to me. Not hungry, I guess. That was the only reaction I got from 5 days of wearing this mask.
G8 summit (20080705)
The G8 summit was located at a tiny place in Hokkaido, so most
protests seemed to happen in Sapporo (the only city of any real size
on the island). So there were endless numbers of noisy helicopters
fluttering around and disturbing your sleep, thousands of policemen
from all over the country (very polite and nice, but often blocking
the streets by their sheer numbers), and lots and lots of foreigners
here to protest. So of course everyone thought I was some random
protester too, since I have non-black hair. Here are some photos of
the protest march etc. too. I especially feel for the old ladies
dressed as penguins (i.e. wearing black plastic bags) in the scorching
heat.
Non-protest clothes (20080705)
Most people seemed uninterested in protesting, so you could still
see people wearing completely normal Japanese clothes, like pink doll
like dresses and shirts saying "Merican Industries".
Not protesting (20080705)
Despite a protest rally taking place 10 meters away, the
grandparents, grandchildren, birds, and cats seemed very relaxed.
Not a camel (20080705)
Today we set out to eat camel (which was not available despite
being on the menu last time we went to the restaurant). Again, we were
thwarted in our attempts at eating this possibly delicious animal. The
restaurant has a "all food 50% off" offer all month, and was thus
packed and booked for the whole night. We had Thai curry instead. Which
was nice.
Wedding (20080705)
I dropped by to say hello to the nice people who speak to me
sometimes (i.e. the staff, since they cannot run away since they are
working) in the bar near where I live. There was a wedding party there
tonight. The groom saw through 90% of all my card sleights, so he
seemed to be a clever catch. The bride seemed very nice and was very
pretty.
Dancing kids in the park (20080706)
On weekends you can see these three girls of about 10 years of
age sing and dance in the park wearing strange costumes. A lot of
people take pictures.
Interviewed by corn (20080706)
Since I looked like a foreign protester, people dressed like corn
(!) approached me and told me in rather broken English to write
something I do for the environment on an orange sticker. In exchange I
got a fan, which came in handy in the heat. The only guy in the group
(who was video taping me the whole time) read my mask ("speak to me
and I buy you food") and laughed, but no one took me up on the
offer. Later during the day I was approached by two other girls from the
same environmentalist group, but they came up to me, stood right in
front of me about to speak, read my mask, turned away and left...
Dancing adults in the park (20080706)
The rockabilly gang can also often be seen dancing in the park on
weekends. They seem to have even warmer outfits than the kids. The
girl wearing the corn outfit also decided to join in and rock around.
Other people also taking pictures (20080706)
Most people seemed to take pictures of the protest marches and
such things (journalists, I guess) but some more traditional Japanese
photography was also taking place.
Interviews (20080706)
Many foreigners got interviewed, but no one wanted to interview me.
More protests (20080706)
Another day, another protest. The police outfits are cool. I like
the long stick to smack people with too.
Dancing traditionalists in the park (20080706)
To show foreigners the traditional Japanese culture, this group
of students performed Soran and other dances in the park. To live
music.
Lost kids (20080706)
This kid seemed to have lost her parents somewhere, but one of
the dancing crew tried to help her find them again, so I guess it
turned out OK in the end.
Hamburgers (20080706)
Today I had dinner with my friend whose wedding I attended, and
with her 10 month old son. We had ambitious hamburgers, which were
very good.
Because I am so cool (20080710)
This guy asked if he could take my picture when I was looking for
a friend. I said sure, and then had to do all kinds of posing in front
of the TV tower. My friend showed up and wondered what the heck I was
doing. The photographer said that he thought I looked very cool, so he
wanted to take my picture (I guess it was my sunglasses, bought from
my uncle's store in Gothenburg). He said she should join in the
picture but she was very much opposed. He was also speaking broken
English to me, and then tried to get my (Chinese, but could pass for
Japanese) friend to interpret for him. I only ever speak Japanese to
her, though, since she speaks little English and I speak no
Chinese... I also had to take a "cool pose that is very much 'me'". I
don't have a particular pose, so we argued about that for awhile but
in the end I just fanned out some playing cards and he thought that
was excellent. Probably he was a photo student, and probably he had a
homework consisting of taking pictures of the nutty foreigners here
for the G8 summit.
Long time no see (20080710)
My Chinese friend who I have not met in over a year suddenly got
back in touch today and told me to come by the park. It turned out she
needed foreigners to fill out a questionnaire, so it was not my
charming personality at work (though we were almost married once, in
some strange ritual to confuse newly arrived foreigners the first time
I came to Sapporo). She gave me a handkerchief in exchange, though. And
I was shown pictures from her (real) wedding back in China. Very
pretty.
Rain (20080710)
After a lot of warm weather, it started raining a lot. It did not
rain at all when I got out of the lab at the university, but when I
was halfway home it was raining so much that even people with
umbrellas where running indoors, since splatter from the very heavy
rain reached waist level making them wet anyway.
No pictures of no camel (20080711)
My camera died from the moisture from the non-stop raining. So
today when we again went out to find some possibly delicious camel,
there were no pictures taken. Actually, I took pictures with my cell
phone camera but have not been bothered to put them up on the
web. This time we had booked a table (or rather two chairs at the
counter) but were thwarted once again. The company importing camel
meat has stopped doing so, so camel has left the menu (well, it still
written there, but you cannot order it). We ordered every dish that
was half price instead, which was a lot of food. The only rare thing
was ostrich, though. But the Mexican tacos were very good.
Stylish toilet (20080712)
Today I happened by the toilet of a department store where I had
never before entered the toilet. Very stylish interior.
Almost a dome (20080712)
Someone is building a dome in Odori park.
Festival (20080712)
Some kind of festival took place today, so people in strange
outfits were dancing strange dances in the streets.
Tiramisu, kind of (20080712)
A tiramisu parfait, the specialty of this restaurant. I was
contacted by a crazy Swedish friend who said "We are going for coffee,
are you doing anything interesting [implying I never am, which while
true was still rude]?". So we decided to meet up, which was
surprisingly difficult. You figure it should not be that hard to find
a woman who has red hair (the only one on Hokkaido, probably) and is
40 cm taller than most people. And carries around a blond kid that
attracts enormous amounts of attention by action as well as
looks. Complicating things are present though. Such as e-mails stating
"We are in the clothing shop on the 7th floor of the COSMO department
store". So I went there and there were no foreigners at all, except
me. An e-mail of "No you are not. Where are you?" later I got the
reply "Oh, we left 30 seconds after I sent that mail, no we are in
[new location]". Half an hour later, I found them. In the restaurant
with ice cream tiramisu, they (especially the kid, who speaks
Japanese) also proceeded to tell the waitress (who I have never met
before) that I was in love with her and was folding paper roses to her
(and then forced me to actually fold a paper rose under threat of
crying and being a general pain in the restaurant). It dawned on me
why I do not go out to eat very often with these people.
Shopping (20080712)
I bought salt and pepper shakers, and some tape, today. I don't
need either, but the design was cool and the price was 100 yen.
Other people with nice clothes (20080712)
Someone else wearing playing card designs.
Almost done dome (20080713)
The dome, almost finished. Turns out to be for a jazz festival.
Magic? (20080713)
The festival in the streets is still on, and they seemed to do
magic too. I had no time to stand around and watch, sadly.
Pizza oven (20080713)
I had lunch in a place which has won some kind of pizza making
contest three years in a row.
Wild Romacne (20080713)
Wandering around with a friend who rarely has time to meet me, we
visited the magician's shop hidden in a normal apartment building to
kill some time before she had to go cut her hair. The next door sign
is still misspelled and mysterious.
Present (20080713)
I got a "I went travelling" present from my friend from her trip
to Osaka a few months back. The "last safe day to eat" date was almost
up, but they were still safe.
Fire and gas (20080713)
Today I could not go back inside or even get my bicycle, since
the fire department blocked off the street. Risk of explosion, stay
out, they said. Another building down the street were then stormed by
30 firemen (there was some kind of gas leak alarm) but it turned out
to be a false alarm. Last night, a similar thing happened across the
street on the other side too.
People lining up (20080713)
These people are lining up in front of a dance club, but it is
too early for it to be open. Probably someone has rented the whole
club and has some kind of interesting event there.
Interviewed (20080713)
I finally got interviewed. They were actually looking for French
people, but anyone looking non-Japanese and saying something about
France would also work. I said I have never been to France, so what
should I say? Something about French people. Like what? Well, they are
very difficult to become friends with, right? No, all the French
people I have met have seemed very normal and very friendly. OK, tell
a French joke! I don't know any French jokes... In the end, I told
them that the European stereotype of French people is that they are
very smelly because they don't shower much. The radio guy had huge
problems containing his laughter and said that that would be
perfect. I also said that this was just the stereotype and that I
don't think it is true, but I don't think he even bothered to record
that. The whole thing is supposed to celebrate the French national
day, so I am glad I never gave up my name. Or I would perhaps be
killed by angry French radio listeners.
Dogs and crying children (20080713)
Walking your dogs around the play ground for kids is not good if
you don't plan on spending hours there. The kids swamp you and hug
your dogs, so you cannot leave. If you leave, the kids cry. A lot.
Japanese summer clothes (20080713)
More Japanese clothes. Everything you have seen in anime and
manga is true.
Singapore food (20080713)
After my friend had had a haircut for a little over four hours
(!) we went looking for somewhere to eat. I suggested the place with
the live penguins, but they turned out to be closed on Sundays. As did
her suggestion. We ended up in a place with Singapore style food. They
had something called "Chicken porridge". Surprisingly not disgusting.
Singapore style toilet (20080713)
They also had a very cool toilet. Lots of mirrors, and mirror
covered flapping small doors as if taken from an old Western movie.
Present from Osaka (20080714)
This is what was inside the present from Osaka. Kind of potato
chips that taste of Osaka style okonomiyaki.
Restrunt (20080715)
A friend has found out that this "restrunt" serves insects. Plans
are in the making, but it is almost an hour by car away.
Italian (20080716)
A very small Italian style restaurant with nice food. Horse meat.
Home made cake (20080716)
And I got home made cake to take home too. Notice the dog shaped
piece of tape sticking things together.
Cold fish, cold jokes, and cold apple pie (20080717)
Today I was called in to be chaperon for a friend of a friend
who was meeting a man for dinner but wanted some more people to be
around just in case. He turned out to be very funny. He told many
(stupid) puns, which she always called "samui", which means "cold" (as
in not funny, in this context). He also paid for all the weird sushi
they forced me to eat. Like vaguely dead squid placed on some rice. Is
it really called cooking if you just place a dead animal on rice? In
Japan, evidently it is. She also bought me ice cream filled apple pie
shaped in a strange way (last picture), and the waitress hung around
to look, since she thought I was a professional magician.
Chinese food (20080718)
A friend moving to France was bored enough to invite me along to
dinner with her colleagues. They had planned to go to the only
restaurant in this huge complex of new restaurants that I had already
visited. Luckily, it was already full, so we had Chinese in another
restaurant instead. She the proceeded to more or less tear up my
playing cards in trying to figure out what I was doing, which kind of
ruined things since she did so while I was still trying to do
something, which spoiled the whole thing. Her twin sister also stopped
by to tell me that my clothes are no good and that it is too bad for
me I am too smart so I cannot hang out with normal people. An
interesting analysis, seeing as how we have only met twice before,
both times mainly saying "hello" and "we are too busy to stay and talk
to you".
Warm clothes (20080719)
Being dressed as a huge pink cell phone (or cell phone mascot?)
in the scorching Japanese summer heat is probably not a great job.
Free hugs (20080719)
A girl was advertising free hugs in the park, but only one old
woman hugged her during the time I was watching. A few hundred people
passed by without hugging her.
The not yet open Beer Garden (20080719)
Soon the one month beer fiesta thing will open.
Back from Tokyo (20080719)
This guy is a funny magician that sometimes performs in the
streets close to where I live. He moved to Tokyo, but is now
back. Minus his huge beard.
Some kind of festival (20080719)
Some kind of festival was going on again, blocking off all
streets in Susukino with tables and food stalls.
One day too late (20080719)
Yesterday was the "name day" celebrating people with my name. I
got an e-mail from my brother, which was all. Despite explaining to my
friends that it would be appropriate for them to buy me cake, no one
did so. In the end I ended up buying this cake like thing the next
day myself, on the suggestion from the bartender who was the only one
to speak to me.
Especially for me (20080719)
When leaving one bar I passed another bar, and they waved to me
so I went inside. They had now bought some dokudamicha (tea) just for
me, since I usually ask if they have that (it is on the menu, but they
never have it, so I always ask). Now they do have it, and they gave me
one drink of it for free!
One year minus one day ago (20080720)
Tomorrow is the "sea day" holiday, and last year I went to the
sea with my crazy Swedish friend and her daughter on that day. We took
off one day early this year. And this time it looked like rain, so
there were not that many people in the way either. And less sunburn,
less heat, less of most bad things. There were people training Yosakoi
to our right, and people burying a guy with only a straw to breathe
through (then pouring beer down that straw) to our left, and a life
guard with pink underwear with hearts on them exactly matching the
ones I had for my magic performance where I took my pants off.
Nice clothes (20080721)
If it weren't for the fact that I dislike collars, I would have
bought the ten of hearts shirt.
The now open Beer Garden (20080721)
Beer garden is like Midsummer festival in Sweden, but one month
long. Five blocks, each 100 square meters of tables, packing in huge
amounts of people every day. Even the lawns nearby are packed with
partying people so you can hardly breathe. Except that despite drinking
beer non-stop from noon to 21:30, I have never seen anyone fight in
Japan.
Somebody famous? (20080721)
Huge crowds tried to take a picture of someone or something.
Not German (20080721)
At the "German Village" part of the beer garden (not counted in
the five city blocks above, there are two more blocks of smaller beer
gardens in the same park, and at least three other beer gardens in
other parts of the city too), my Polish colleagues were working. They
did claim to be German this month though.
Famous pizza and strange English (20080721)
This place has participated in some Italian pizza baking contest
(Italian diplomas decorate the walls). I ordered a "samurai pizza",
which was their recommendation. It was good, and seemed to have tofu,
mushrooms, and teriyaki sauce. They also had a weird menu (me being
blond, I got an "English" menu that I had severe difficulties in
understanding; probably the Japanese menu would have been better). It
did not help that when I asked the waitress if this English word was
supposed to be hotate clams in Japanese, she had no idea and said she
would have to go ask someone else. So even the staff did not know what
the menu said, so how do they know what I order if I order that? I
also liked the following things: "Orange's recommended item", "Chicken
boil (teriyaki)", "Shredded beef and egg spicy pizza", "Sweet potato
and pumpkin meat sauce pizza", "A fully ripened tomato and anchovy",
"Spaghetti dressed with butter", "Short-neck clam" (which was what
no one knew what it meant), the "If you are hungry" part of the menu
that contained appetizers..., "A chicken cutlet of the cheese melts",
"Mushroom coating fry", "We serve a mandatory charge for all
customers", "Today's sliced raw fish", "A native fruit tomato",
"Chicken and herb oven ware", and many more things...
European food (20080722)
This is what European (German) food looks like in Japan.
"German" food (20080723)
The German Village of the Beer Garden serves German potato
pancakes. According to the not that German Polish people working
there, it is actually a Polish dish stolen by the Germans. Tastes a
little like Swedish potato pancakes, but not as good.
Japanese barbecue (20080724)
We had to barbecue a lot of stuff from some canceled soft ball
competition today. Someone had forgotten to take the slices of meat
out of the fridge beforehand, though, so it was two huge blocks of
frozen meat to try to barbecue. Which made some sushi delivery people
laugh at us.
Fireworks (20080725)
This years first firework display took place today. Normally you
go there in a huge group with your friends, or as a couple with your
girlfriend. I went alone, which I am told is almost unheard of and
completely insane. An old lady sitting nearby noticed that after a few
hours I still had no one around me, and she offered me some beer. I
politely said that I don't drink beer, so she never spoke to me
again.
Me! (20080725)
In Japan, fireworks are made to look like things, mainly
fruit. This one is "European pear", which in Japanese sounds exactly
like Jonas.
Strawberry (20080725)
Pineapple (20080725)
Spiral? (20080725)
Swan (20080725)
Cherry (20080725)
Planet (20080725)
Kitty (20080725)
The Hello Kitty face. Hard to see in actual performance, but
surprisingly enough turned out so-so in a photo.
Squids and octopi (20080725)
Japanese people love (to eat) these animals.
Smiley (20080725)
Cubes? (20080725)
Not sure what this was supposed to be.
Christmas tree (20080725)
Hard to catch the Christmas tree when it still looked like a
tree. Very quickly dissipated into normal firework image.
Italian (20080725)
After the fireworks were over, I found some friends of a friend
and we went through the sea of people (huge crowds block all streets
nearby for 30 minutes afterwards) to an Italian restaurant.
Family vehicle (20080726)
A cool motorcycle for the whole family. Photo taken while riding
bicycle through high traffic intersection.
More German food (20080726)
The German Village also serves sausages (not very good), bread
(OK, but not that exciting), and sauer kraut (OK).
Poo-chan? (20080726)
For some reason, there is a soft drink brand called "Poo" in
Japan, and this is their mascot. There are also soft drinks called
"Pocari Sweat", "Calpis" (sounds bad in Swedish and is reportedly also
slang for semen in Japanese (though that is said to be inspired by the
name of drink, so not their fault in naming it)), and many other strange names.
Taking photos (20080726)
Other people were taking pictures of people in the German
village. They all had badges and huge cameras.
Bad ass coffee (20080726)
We wanted some "Bad ass coffee" (hence the donkey outside) but
they closed at the same time as the beer garden.
Mega Mac (20080726)
So we (I) had a Mega Mac (surprisingly small, actually) instead.
Tottoro (20080726)
These are rather drunk people sitting next to me in a bar and
they have folded a Tottoro style leaf umbrella from a piece of
tissue. They also liked card magic.
Kids and balloons (20080727)
Some kind of event involving lots of kids and balloons blocked
the street today.
Concert (20080727)
It seemed to be an event called "Sapporo Puromuunado", and it
also included concerts in the street. These guys and girls were very
good.
Sprinkling water (20080727)
And you could go around sprinkling water from a small plastic
pool on the streets, if you wanted.
Fun your life (20080727)
I got some commercial tissue for "Fun your life".
Juggling bartenders (20080727)
When the weather is nice you can often see juggling bartenders in
the park. Some of them are very very good.
Safe traffic (20080727)
People dressed for running a marathon also had stickers saying
"Safe traffic" on them.
Japanese clothes (20080727)
More completely normal Japanese clothing. Like 10 cm platform
shoes.
Dancing in the streets (20080727)
There is a guy often sitting in Susukino playing some weird kind
of bongo drums and asking for money. This time a very drunk old man
started dancing like crazy for 15 minutes in front of the drummer.
Free booze (20080729)
Today I forgot about my brother's "name day", but ran into a
Swedish guy in the beer garden (or on a lawn nearby, more
specifically). His rather drunk friends gave me tea and alcohol in
some strange mix. Since I don't like alcohol I said just tea would be
fine, and besides I would have to ride my bicycle home and did not
want to get caught for drunk driving. He said "OK, I will make it
weak". I also ran into a Japanese girl who was teaching Japanese at a
volunteer course I sometimes go to, and she recognized me despite only
having met twice (I think it helped that I once (after my magic show)
taped a cockroach to her hand without her noticing and when she
noticed it she literally fell down on the floor and was shocked for
five minutes; such things make a deep impression). She forced me to do
magic tricks for her Korean friends that she was drinking
with. Especially, she requested a cockroach trick. But I did not have
any tape with me.
More free booze (20080730)
I ran into the same cockroach related girl again by chance, and
one of the Koreans. So they had me sit down with them and try some
rope magic. They spent two hours trying to figure out a trick, but got
nowhere. The girl I know had to leave, but other people kept showing
up. One thought I was someone famous from abroad, why else would I be
blond and in Sapporo. They then invited me along to the Beer garden to
party with Brazilians. There, the one who thought I was someone famous
bought a huge keg of beer, and when I said I did not like beer he went
500 meters to a convenience store and bought me some other weird
alcohol instead. So it would have been rude to not drink it, and I had
to curb my unenthusiasm for alcohol. He ended up drinking pretty much
the whole keg himself, since the Brazilians (and two Argentinians) did
not like beer either. And when it was finally finished (pressed for
time, since the Beer garden was closing and the staff wanted to
collect the kegs), two random foreigners who had also bought a keg
but not managed to finish it alone gave us their keg. The keg guy was
shocked when he came back to find one new (almost full) keg sitting
there after he had just finished the previous one. He got really
really drunk, but in the end, both kegs where emptied. I went to
return the first keg but the only staff person around was a small girl
with one keg in each hand already. She said "wait", and started
disassembling the ones she had to get a free hand, and when she was
just finished, another girl showed up and took my keg. Much to the
first girls astonishment/annoyance. When I went to return the second
keg, I ran into the same girl again, and she laughed and said she
would take it this time, since she had both hands free. The drunk guy
kept falling down while doing the Brazilian "4 + 4 = 8" are you drunk
or not test (you do the letters with your body), which made people
worried since he was going home by bicycle.