Day 5: 休み（Rest/holiday)

At this point, there is nothing that terrifies me more than the dinner table – the knowledge that I should expect to eat everything put before me, and even complete it, is putting me more out my comfort zone than anything else! But I suppose that is one way we grow, by being pushed outside our comfort zones. And so, I awoke to a huge breakfast assortment, included in which were some definite comfort-testers…

Breakfast of champions

Notice that this includes the very pollock roe I hardly took a bite of the other day, as well as natto (fermented soybeans), which is definitely an acquired taste. But you will be proud to know that I finished everything, even the fish eggs, which on second tasting are pretty tasty, with a salty flavor. (I still think salmon roe – the bigger orbs – will be a challenge, but thankfully I haven't gotten there yet). After breakfast, お母さん (okaasan, the Japanese word for mother, and also what we call Yoneuchi-san) suggested we go to the nearby Goryokaku Park, which was celebrating its 150th anniversary. Great timing for an enjoyable activity the last day before classes begin!

The exterior of Goryokaku, and Goryokaku tower

Food and souvenir stands

Goryokaku Park was built as a fort during the Hakodate War, during the time of the Meiji Restoration and the overthrow of the Japanese feudal government system. It is in the shape of a star, surrounded by water, and is only about 10 minutes walking distance from our house. In May, it's known for its さくら(cherry blossoms), which bud all over the park (you can see a picture on the homepage of this blog). We arrived a month too late for the さくら, but the park was still very cool.

As we were entering the park's outside perimeter (outside the moat), these two infernal crows were swooping down and nearly attacking pedestrians! It was like something out of The Birds. We first walked to the Goryokaku tower, built 50 years ago, that gives an aerial view of the park and serves as a sort of history museum. We arrived just in tim for the beginning of a cultural festival presentation, with various interesting performances. I have no clue what any of them represent historically-culturally, but I enjoyed watching the well-rehearsed movements and listening to the music with an analytical mindset.

The Goryokaku mascot

One of the coolest was a simple dragon puppet, operated by two men, one who operated head while the other operated the tail. Over the course of their presentation they summoned the dragon, as it were, beginning with it dormant, then the operating the head, then climbing so the body was active. By the end, they were walking through the audience "eating" audience members' heads (including my own). (My phone ran out of room to take a video, unfortunately.)

After an hour and a half of watching, Yoneuchi-san bought us tickets to go up in the tower. I tell you, she covers everything for us. The view was pretty spectacular – not only of the park but of all of Hakodate, including Mount Hakodate in the distance (see picture I took above).

Returning to ground level. we sampled foods from a couple stalls. The first was served in a shell and I don't really know what it was, but it tasted good. The second was a German-style sausage; apparently this particular business was started by German immigrants. We also had some Sapporo beer. :)

As we were sitting an eating, Yoneuchi-san ran into a few of her friends, who began to converse with us. One in particular was very kind and asked us about our hometowns, our studies, our future career intentions… it's great to practice the language with more and more unique individuals. She then told us that we had stumbled upon an opportunity to be in the Guinness Book of World Records: for the 150th anniversary, they planned to have 1500 people form the "longest chain of people clasping wrists" – ha. So, since we had a couple hours to kill, we took part. Everyone was assigned a square and given either a green or white hat, and from an aerial view it formed a "150." Apparently the world records thing is an obsession in Japan.

(That's me where the arrow is pointing)

For lunch, ramen at a tiny family-run shop. Ramen in these parts blows the instant-made ramen noodles we have in the states out of the water. When you look at it it kind of looks like they put the whole kitchen in there. And hey, I ate all of it. (Be proud of me! This is not normal for me!). I only had trouble when I got to the ふ (fu), wheat gluten, which is that thing at the bottom-left that pretty much looks like a soggy piece of bread. I thought I would be able to handle it, then as it was going down I just about gagged, and made some awkward coughing sounds. Thankfully nothing worse happened. The taste of it lingered for the next couple hours, though. Oof, I really struggle with those squishy textures… Lord give me strength.

When we walked home, we found a tiny pair of shoes in the foyer – Mariko and her 4-year old son Haruto were taking nap in お母さん's room. I was delighted to meet him once he woke up; he is a wild child, and after playing shy, started hitting Nick and me with pillows.

For dinner, the six of us decided on a buffet – Praise God. In Japanese, this was literally called a "Viking restaurant," I suppose because vikings eat a lot of food. Interestingly, in the middle of each table there was an little stove; you would go and grab your choice of raw meat pieces, then cook them yourselves according to your taste. I stocked up on nigiri and some other foods that would be easy on my taste buds, including Japanese-style fried chicken (furaido chikken - no, I'm not making that up), which is basically a fried chicken dumpling. Kento, who had spent the day at Basketball, ate about 5 plates and 3 bowls of food. Impressive, nee.

Yum! (Don't I deserve a break?)

Haruto and Kento

Next up, classes. Tomorrow I find out my class placement when I arrive at school, then it's off to the races. I'm treating myself to an episode of The Good Wife before I go to bed, since who knows how much free time I'll have from studying from this point on. I'm hoping for a strong start and a strong follow through to the end.

A very well-kept garden in someone's front yard

P.S. If you want to see more pictures, you can view my full album here, as I update it.