Hokkaido, Japan's Last Frontier

Just got back from six days in Hokkaido, Japan’s large northern island and its last frontier. That phrase sounded strange to me too, but the guidebooks all said that Hokkaido looks more like the American West than the rest of Japan. And they were right. My first thoughts as I took the train from the airport to Sapporo was that it looks a lot like Minnesota – rolling hills, lots of agriculture and deciduous forests. I later found out that back in the 1850s when Hokkaido was "underdeveloped", Japan invited experts from the US and Europe for their expertise in farming and architecture in that latitude (about 45 degrees north). They definitely succeeded! It certainly doesn’t look like the rest of Japan!
My other overriding impression of Hokkaido is related to the G8 Summit that is about to take place there. In preparation for the Summit, the place was literally crawling with police officers. It was really strange, because I rarely see police officers here. I suspect they brought police from across the country to Hokkaido for this Summit. I got stopped at the airport by an undercover policeman who asked to see my passport. Thank goodness his badge said “police” in English, because I was prepared to just keep walking by him, assuming him to be salesperson or something.
I got into Sapporo about mid afternoon last Friday and wandered on to my hotel. The room was small and simple, but it had a TV. However, it cost 1000 yen ($10) to use the TV for a night!! Obviously I didn’t bother!

I checked out the Clock Tower, Sapporo’s famous landmark, which was correctly described in Lonely Planet as “disappointing”. I include a photo of it so you can agree, and also see how like Western the architecture is.

Next I found a Mexican restaurant in the basement of the train station! That was one of the very, very few Mexican restaurants that I’ve seen in Japan, so as I waited for my enchiladas(!), I texted all my friends to gloat!

After dinner, I took a cable car ride up a mountain on the edge of the city to see the city lights. That was also disappointing as it was a hazy night.

So I headed back into city center, stopping to take a few photos of the TV Tower (only Japan can take something like a TV tower and turn it into a tourist attraction!).

The next morning, as I walked to the fish market, I passed the TV Tower again. Afraid my photos from the night before were blurry, I took more… Not sure why because after all, it is just a TV tower with a digital clock on the side and stalls selling touristy souvenirs underneath.

At the fish market, they were selling the usual unusual stuff like octopus and sea urchins and salmon eggs, as well as very expensive melons! Can you imagine paying $85 for one melon???? (click on the photo to zoom in. The exchange rate is about 100 yen =$1)

At mid-morning, I hopped on a train to Shiraoi where I visited Poroto Kotan, a replica Ainu village. The Ainu are the indigenous people of Hokkaido, but today, except for living history places like Poroto Kotan, Ainu culture and language is pretty much extinct. The original Ainu people looked very different than Japanese people but have since been assimilated into the Japanese race.

The village included several thatched houses.

In one house they were giving performances of traditional Ainu songs and dances. Other houses had dried salmon hanging from the rafters, a significant food source for the Ainu during the long winters. Another house had skewers of fresh salmon roasting by the fire.

And there was an excellent museum with many Ainu artifacts. I spent a lot of time in this museum. One of the most interesting things about Ainu is that they used to tattoo moustaches on women! You can see them in these paintings and on these mannequins, and this sign shows how the tattoos differed among the Ainu.

The village also had five bears in very small cages. Poor bears! I bought bear cookies which I slid down the tube in the front of the cage. The bears were smart, one started pawing the tube as soon as I walked up, begging for cookies! The bears are brown bears, the same species as the grizzly bear, but different subspecies.

After a full day at Poroto Kotan, I headed on to Muroran where I stayed at a youth hostel on the cliffs above the coast. The setting was beautiful, but Muroran didn’t offer much to do, so it was just a place to sleep.

to be continued...