Mah Jong and The Ainu

Due to my failure to find any lodging in the far North, I had a very long drive ahead of me for Wednesday.  I left Jeff's at 9:30 and finally found my way to the highway at 10:30.  I decided to take toll roads to start off and switch to locals if I was making good time.  There was only one tricky bit where I was running out of gas and couldn't find an ATM, but other than that the day went fine.  I drove for 6 hours on the expressway and made it just in time for the 4:30 ferry.  Byron had to stay in the car, of course, so I decided to stay down there with her.  It would only be 4 hours and there was nothing of interest above anyway.  Japanese ferries are so strange.  There is nothing but tatami matted rooms, some with TVs called "lounges" and some without called "sleeping rooms."  There were also rows and rows of cabins and first class sleeping rooms.  Need I remind you the ferry is only 4 HOURS!  At 4:30 in the afternoon!  The restaurant was closed, covered, and had been taken off the map.  Even the omiyage (souvenir food) shops were closed for the winter.  With only 1 machine of cup noodles and 28 of tea and beer, I went back to the car content with my tap water to make me feel full.

I arrived at Ben's in Hakodate just before 9pm and just in time for the Mah Jong game he was hosting.  I had never seen Mah Jong before let alone knew the rules.  I was content watching from the sidelines but really left that a realtime commentator would have come in handy.  Before coming to Japan, it would have driven me crazy to spend 4 hours watching a game I did not at all understand, but now, the feeling is familiar.  I understand about 25-50% of what goes on around me at any given time and have stopped even trying to make sense of it.

yay!

The next day I set out to explore Halifax's Japanese sister city (after excessive facebook and other doddling).  It is amazing how much Hakodate reminded me of Halifax architecturally, geologically, and in atmosphere.  Needless to say, it is a really beautiful place and made me miss home.  I took the tram to the Museum of Nothern People's (The Ainu and other native Japanese tribes) and was shocked at how similar their art, clothing, and way of life was to North American Natives.

Hakodate, apparently, has one of the three best cityscape night views in the world.  As the sun went down, I walked to the ropeway  only to find it was closed due to the fact that it was snowy and incredibly windy.  I decided to just keep walking and ended up at Cape Tachimachi, a jut of land off the Southern tip of the city through a deserted graveyard.  The view of the city from there was spectacular with the waves smashing against the rocks below.

I then returned to Ben's to meet up with him and his language exchange partner for dinner.  We went to a nice little Izakaya where there were surprisingly many vegan (or veganizable) options and discussed everything from motorbike licences to fingerprinting to American politics in both English and Japanese.  I came to the conclusion that I need to find myself a good language exchange partner in Hokkaido.

Hakodate blew my mind in several ways and I fully intend to return many times throughout the next two years.  As far as I know, I did not forget anything at Ben's.

My departure from Hakodate marked the end of my couch surfing and homelessness.  My next stop would be my home for the next two years.  Friday morning, amidst the ice and snow, I left Hakodate to go apartment hunting in Tomakomai.