Japan Trip Day Four and Five

 
***Japan Trip Log Days Four and Five***
 
When it came time to leave Sapporo, you would never have known we had only been there for two days.  Our kids came back with amazing stories - their host families had taken them everywhere, from Shinto shrines to historical villages, from the ski jump on top of the local mountain to the giant Sapporo Dome Stadium...and, of course, the mall.  Students shared stories of all they had eaten, from squid and octopus to bacon-wrapped asparagus.  It seemed that they had packed a week into last night alone.
 
Now, this morning, all of the Higashi school host families flooded the lobby of the Sapporo Youth Hostel (much to the consternation of the desk clerk!) to spend their last minutes with our kids.  Tears began flowing freely, and the lobby became a flurry of sobs, hugs and exchanges of contact information.  At times it looked as if it would not be possible to get our students on the bus without taking at least a few of the Higashi kids with us as well!  I told the assemblage that it was a testament to their warmth and adventurousness that such strong bonds had been formed in such a short time, and tried to encourage everyone to think of this as just the beginning of long friendships...no easy task when my eyes were tearing, too!  As the bus pulled away, the kids and their families chased us, ala Dustin Hoffman in that iconic scene from The Graduate, for at least a city block.
 
The mood was definitely a somber one for awhile after that - when I took a straw poll on the bus as to who wanted to make sure they did a semester abroad in Japan in college, every hand went up. :)
The long bus ride that followed afforded some time for discussion, reflection, and just "chilling" a bit after all that emotion.  The breathtaking scenery of Hokkaido stretched out all around us, endless miles of farmland and volcanic mountains, ringed in the distance by the Pacific Ocean, which very few of the kids had seen from THIS side before. We also passed around some local newspapers we had picked up in Sapporo - our kids' visit made the pages of not one, not two, but THREE different locals, including the Hokkaido Shinbun, the most popular paper in Hokkaido.
The sky was thick and hazy as we traveled onward, and our bus driver informed us that the particulate matter in the sky was actually sand from the Gobi Desert in China, blowing all the way here this time of year - what a stunning reminder of how interconnected our planet is!
 
A few hours later, everything went to Hell...in a good way!  We stopped for lunch in Noboribetsu, the "mouth of hell", a resort town situated at the mouth of an active volcano.  Sticking carefully to the shielded path, we treaded across boiling rock and bubbling water, trying our best to not breathe in the billowing, sulfurous clouds everywhere.  After lunch and a few photo ops with "Oni" statues (Japanese demons), we dipped our feet in a tolerably warm volcanic stream and then pressed onward. 
 
A few hours later, the bus was winding its way down by the Oceanside, cruising through fishing villages where fleets of squid boats plied the water to bring Japan tonight's crop of sushi.  By evening we had finally reached Concord's sister-city of Nanae.  We pulled in to the gorgeous Onuma park and the Onuma Prince Hotel, where it seemed half the town of Nanae was awaiting us.  The town officials announced us one by one as we walked into the ballroom - it was hard not to feel like a celebrity! As a nice touch, the loudspeakers played the theme from the anime "Totoro" as we entered.

We took our seats with our new host families as the mayor and city counselors of Nanae spoke, affirming how much they value this sister-city relationship, then treated us to a lavish buffet dinner and showed us a movie about the adventures of the last Nanae visitors who came to Concord.  It was a pleasure to see familiar faces and places on the big screen, and I would be lying if I didn't say some of the kids felt a tiny bit homesick.
 
The impact of all the ceremony was not lost on the kids.  Dan came up and told me, "I never realized how important this whole visit was until now.  I mean, I know you'd told us a thousand times that we're ambassadors and this is a diplomatic mission, but it never hit me until just now."  Gifts were exchanged in formal fashion - all of the kids received exquisite enamel chopsticks in a calligraphed wooden box, and we in turn gave a gorgeous Concord Afghan to the mayor, depicting famous sites from the town.  It elicited all the oohs and aahs from the crowd we could have hoped for.
 
More speeches and more toasts followed, and then it was time to go off to their host families' homes.  Students were treated to a range of evening activities, from video games to Buddhist prayer meetings.
The next morning, we were reunited for a personal greeting session with Nanae's Mayor.  All of us were called into his office for introductions and "face time", and I am happy to report how many of our students introduced themselves using excellent Japanese!  We then received a tour of the town hall, before hopping on the bus again and heading off to nearby Hakodate.  By daylight, the beauty of the Nanae valley area was undeniable - students ooed and aahed as we took in the breathtaking landscape, as I hope their pictures will attest when they return.
 
Our next stop was Future University, a remarkable "campus under glass" whose curriculum is devoted to science, math and engineering.  From giant glass walls that trapped heat to gardens on the rooftop, Future University strove to be a model of ecologically friendly engineering in form as well as curriculum.  After a tour of the revolutionary architecture, our students got the chance to spend time with the college's anime club, once again using manga and drawing as a cultural bridge.  We then got a sneak-peek at this year's Grand Prix winning anime film, well ahead of its American release.  The film, "House of Small Boxes", was a poignant and moving tale that used global warming as a metaphor for the passage of time in a human life...all of us, kids and chaperones, were in tears by its conclusion.  In need of a bit of catharsis, we headed to a local park and regressed a bit, making full use of the climbing structures, trampolines and rope swing s!
 
Duly centered again, we continued on to downtown Hakodate, a port city much like Seattle, but whose concrete and skyscrapers lay atop historical ground.  When the Meji Restoration brought Westernization to Japan in the 1800s, the traditional Samurai resisted and rebelled, seeking to preserve their feudal way of life.  Losing to the modern, mechanized Meji armies, the Samurai fell back to Hakodate and built a fort to make their doomed last stand, which they did, on the very grounds that the students were now visiting.  We took it all in first from ground-level, and then from atop Goryokaku Tower.  Chapman noticed that the statues of the Meji Emperor and the leader of the Samurai rebellion are equally tall and on an even plane, suggesting that today's Japanese are the inheritors of both legacies.
We then allowed time for a little shopping at the Hakodate waterfront and esplanade, a quaint Fanueil-Hall type area full of touristy stores and charming restaurants, including "Lucky Pierot's", a cross, according to the students, between fast-food and a funhouse.  Most of us seemed to gravitate there for dinner, where we could sit on carousel swings and eat "Cuttlefish Burgers", among other "delicacies."
When darkness fell we took the cable car ropeway to Mount Hakodate, where a stunningly clear (if freezing and windy!) night afforded us an awe-inspiring view of Hakodate bay, all lit up to form the third best night view in the world.
 
Now, this morning, we:re spending our day in the life of a Nanae high school student - we can't wait to tell you about it soon!
 
Mata neh,
 
David Nurenberg