Tanja's JSPS Summer Program 2007 Blog

I don't know what to say – I was SO lucky with the weather! In the morning, it was still drizzling, but when we started climbing Asahidake, the sun gradually came out until we experienced the surrounding peaks in the most beautiful sunshine; I even caught a sunburn!

Going into the big nowhere...

...arriving at a great somewhere

As you might know, I am quite sturdy, but far from being a professional hiker. So I was truly impressed by the fabulous gear all those guys around me were wearing and carrying... but since I would have turned around anyway if the climate conditions had worsened, the following served me well for the six-to-seven-hour trip (I am travelling lightweight – at least, I'm trying...):

• simple raingear from the hostel's shop (850¥ for jacket and pants. Cool.)
• ultra-lightweight sneakers (the famous Lidl running shoes)
• my Samsonite backpack
• an umbrella (no kidding!)
• Other clothes: pants, T-shirt, hooded fleece jacket, normal socks
• Food and drink: two litres of water, a packet of dried raisins, whole-grain banana biscuits, chocolate cookies. Plus, later on, a handful of endomame snack and a Vegemite sandwich (VEGEMITE!! Real Vegemite!) in exchange for chocolate cookies and raisins.

Ms. Klein trying to steal the signpost at the top of Asahidake without anyone noticing. Good luck. (Note the professional equipment.)

The experience is truly impressive. I chose a round trip, starting and ending at Asahidake ropeway station, which was pretty much feasible as a day trip. I started off by nine, getting food, rain gear, a map, some dried raisins and a bear bell in the bottom station of the ropeway – as there really have been bear sightings near the ropeway recently, the latter does not necessarily serve the "spot the tourist" purpose. (Might make an impressive gift for your children – "It protected me from the bears!" –, but don't blame me afterwards why those kids of yours don't have a friggin' clue in stats, though ) I decided to take the ropeway up and down, as the way to the starting point leads through dense forest and did not really appeal to me; in addition, it saves you a good deal of time. While the fog was still dense when we went up, it soon cleared up when we started hiking. The first part of the way leads to volcanic springs – the sulphur smell is not really the most pleasant thing I know, but considering the fascinating view, it's really worth bearing it for a while!

 

Part of the way, I went with an Aussie guy whom I had met at the hostel and who was carrying his whole household, as he wanted to hike on to a nearby mountain hut. I preferred the comfort of lightweight gear, though (and was glad about it!).

From the springs, the real climb to the peak of Mt. Asahidake begins: With 2,290 metres, it is the highest mountain in all of Hokkaido and sometimes really steep, but the view is truly impressive!

 

The simple 300¥ map I had opted for served its purpose (even though some height lines would have been nice; but fortunately, you almost always encounter someone with a better map you can ask), and the times indicated on it are pretty realistic – Japanese seem to be stronger hikers than the average German!

Further up, it then got really windy, so I was glad for the fleece jacket. As my hiking mate was carrying heavily, we took frequent breaks, but that was fine for me, too I was surprised there's still some patches of snow (indeed, Asahidake is quite a popular skiing resort, with hip-deep pow-pow in winter), the first of which we could feel after descending the summit.

That way goes down quite steepily and is partly slippery as well (rubble!), so if you are carrying heavy gear, make sure you are wearing decent boots. (For me it was fine like this.) After passing a little campground, we carried on along the crater of an extinct volcano and a bit further; then, our ways split, as my nice company was heading the other direction.

 

I went on alone singing loudly, as nobody was nearby anyway (in the home country of Karaoke, they should be used to worse singing than mine... well, maybe ;-) ). I only got confused when, after a steep way downhill, I had to cross a river which was not on the map; well, actually, there was one, but pretty far away from where I thought I was.

 

Fortunately, some friendly Japanese hikers were resting at the river (which had a bubbling natural onsen, too!) and, upon my "Sumimasen, ima watashi wa doko desu ka?" (Excuse me, where am I now?), waving my map at them, were able to show me that it was only the map which was slightly inaccurate and that I was still on the right track.

 

Later on, the way got a little tough, with narrow, shrub-grown ways sloping down to a shallow river on both sides – fortunately, I only slipped once (nothing happened to my camera :-) ) and could rinse the mud from my pants in a nearby pond.

 

Occasionally, the route was so muddy it was supported by wooden planks (which made walking a lot easier). The sun was shining bright, so after having used my fabulous umbrella (a gift from Ino's Place, the backpackers inn at Sapporo where I had stayed) as a walking stick on the way up Asahidake, I now gladly used it according to its real purpose. Must have looked funny – the only hiker in sneakers, taking pictures every couple of metres (the camera always hanging around my neck, of course – I'm a tourist), and carrying a lovely green-and-white umbrella And it was so refreshing to cool my slightly sunburnt cheeks with the snow from the snow fields I crossed... never thought this would be possible in Japan!

 

Another funny experience: Occasionally, a guy overtook me; when he took a break, it was me who overtook him, and whenever we met, we chatted for a while. His English was excellent, and I learned later on that he is a professor of psychiatry (researching about sleep in particular) in Tokyo. He also told me it had been the third time he had climbed Asahidake, but that this day was by far the most beautiful one – lucky me!

Anyway, the rest of the way went pretty smoothly, and so I arrived at the ropeway station at about 5 p.m. With lots of breaks, an easy pace and innumerable pictures I had taken underway, the whole trip had taken me about seven hours, and it was a really great experience I would recommend without hesitation! I truly enjoyed the rich meal and a delicious beer at the hostel one hour later – this night, I slept like a baby

For those of my valued readers who are a little reluctant to visit an onsen, be assured: It's not quite as complicated as one might think. Actually, it's pretty much similar to standard Japanese bathrooms (teehee ). You will encounter

• a tap with a connected shower head
• a plastic bowl
• sort of a plastic seat
• shampoo and shower gel, or a bar of soap
• the bath itself (more on that later).

I even managed to take a picture of it – unfortunately only while the staff was cleaning the bath, so you don't see the plastic bowls on the picture, and the seats are mostly stacked in the corner. The picture is a bit blurred, too (due to the hot steam).

 

Useful things to bring along:

• towels (one big towel for after the bath, a little hand towel for inside the onsen. Note that the Japanese handtowels are slightly smaller and thinner than the European ones.) At most onsen, you can also rent a towel at a moderate price, though.
• facial washing gel
• a washcloth, or one of these funky peeling cloths of about 1 meter's length
• a hairbrush
• anything you usually need after a bath (body lotion, make-up, hairstyling products, etc.)
• if you feel like it, a toothbrush
• something to tie your hair together, in case you have long hair.

Not really necessary (as these things are usually provided):

• shower gel and shampoo (except if you prefer a particular product, don't want to run any allergy risks, etc.)
• a blowdryer
• drinks (there's vending machines everywhere, remember )

So, how to do it? First, don't mix up gents' and ladies' entrance. Most onsen strictly separate the sexes. Then, take off your shoes in the entrance hall. (In smaller onsen, this can be only a small area near the door; however, it is usually noticeable where the "no shoes" section begins.) Here's a picture of it (note the "border" where slippers have to be taken off):

 

Put your shoes away in the locker, shelf or cupboard provided. Then, get to the changing room and get yourself naked. If you have a serious problem to show yourself naked in front of others, DO NOT GO TO AN ONSEN. (But you don't know what you would be missing!) Lock your stuff away, except for the little handtowel, the washcloth, and the cleansing stuff you need, and enter the washing area. As you probably know, you don't enter the water unless you are totally clean. The purpose of the bath is not to clean the body, but to purify the soul (and to relax, of course...).

Upon arrival, choose a place, then clean it by rinsing it with water. Some people prefer to fill the plastic bowl and pour the water over the tap, the seat, the ground etc., some just use the shower head. Then, take the shower head, sit down on the little seat and start washing. Most Japanese women seem to prefer washing their hair when it hangs in front of their faces, something I will never get used to; but I guess either way is fine. If soap is provided, you can fill the bowl with water to rinse the washcloth. Scrub your whole body and rinse it afterwards – ready for onsen!

It is perfectly acceptable to sink into the hot water saying something like "atsuuuuuuu!" or so; indeed, in most cases, the water IS piping hot (why does this remind me of that stupid joke with the father pulling his crying kid through the hot water by the ears now?). Enjoy yourself thoroughly; once you've gotten used to the temperature, it is really, really relaxing.

The Spa here is really small (one inner and one outer onsen); there are locations with much more choice, though. Together with Komasa-san, I went to a nice Spa near Ashiya twice; there, they not only offered water with different temperatures, different ingredients added to it, plus several hot steam baths and saunas (this was WAY cool: Have you ever been to a sauna where you can watch TV?), but also what is called "esthe" here. Sometimes, this term is used for certain services; but in this context in included a face massage and in-depth treatment of about 20 minutes (I felt SO beautiful afterwards ). So in case you have the chance to do it: Try it out. If it cost that much in Germany, I would go there every week...

Of course what I wrote here is valid for the women's section only, as I have not seen the guy's section (yet ). Is it similar? Tell me more!

The rest of the village was not that big after all (well... would have been funny if sort of a second Osaka would have been just around the corner without anyone noticing for years, wouldn't it), so I soon decided to return. And, after a little meditation session, I discovered the hostel's private onsen! The water comes from two different hot springs and is cooled down (!) to about 41 degrees. Atsuuui! But it's a great experience to enjoy an open-air onsen in the pouring rain, while the birds chant funny tunes... never experienced anything more relaxing... om.

Well... MAYBE this was a bit of a spontaneous decision to come to this remote place for mountain hiking... and maybe I should have read my Lonely Planet Guide a bit more carefully, too As I wanted to discover Hokkaido's nature where it it still somehow accessible via public transport, I changed my original plan of going to Shiretokko Peninsula and instead decided to head for Daisetsuzan (which has the further advantage of not being such a long trip either – I am a little sick of traveling by train!)

Actually, my plan for today was to get to the youth hostel at Asahidake first, then return to Biei for a nice evening, grabbing some food and drink, and then returning to the hostel somewhen later. As I understood it, buses were supposed to run between the two towns in regular intervals... but surprise: the buses don't circulate between AsahiDAKE and Biei, but between AsahiKAWA and Biei. And interference sucks. At least, the hostel staff was really amused when I asked them whether there was any supermarket or at least some shop around... and when I mentioned the word Internet, they almost died laughing. However, it IS an intriguing experience to be in the middle of nowhere; and like this, I also have time to relax, to blog, to meditate, maybe to study a little Japanese, and last not least to finish my data analysis, so actually the situation could be worse. (After all, there is electricity and water. And heated toilet seats, too.)

I am glad nobody will be able to read this ere my safe return to civilization... Nature here is gorgeous, though. I hope the weather conditions will be a bit better tomorrow; a Taifun was announced to hit Hokkaido, and last night in Sapporo it kept raining heavily indeed, but today, it's already a lot better. Speaking of it: It just starts pouring. And I don't have a rain jacket, only an umbrella... hopefully, I won't encounter any of those perfectly prepared Japanese hikers, dry and cozy in their nice watertight pants and jackets, while I'll be fighting what is left of my umbrella – I'll be the laughing stock of the day, I guess. Maybe they will try to feed me (wouldn't be too bad, though ).

I guess I'll now face the tempest outside and bravely explore the rest of the "village". (And I thought I grew up in the deepest province. Heck.) Fortunately, it's only three hours forty-three minutes till dinner...

About Sapporo, the Lonely Planet Guide says something like "great to organize your stuff before getting to the more interesting spots of Hokkaido" – well, this is probably true The city itself is not too spectacular – apart from the strange organization of the addresses (starting womewhere in the middle, all blocks are numbered according to their North vs. South and East vs. West coordinates, which makes it extremely confusing to find one's way; even the taxi driver had to phone the hostel twice before dropping me off). I stayed at a backpackers named "Ino's place", a really nice hostel with extremely friendly staff, where they even offer free tea and coffee

The next day, I slept in, so maybe I missed some of Sapporo's treasures... but I really needed some sleep, especially since in the evening I was going to meet a friend of mine who had been a Ph.D. student at the department where I worked as a student assistant and has now been living in Sapporo for five years. So I took a walk around the city, had a look at a beer festival (and several drunk people), checked out the TV tower, the red brick government building and the adjoining park, and later on had a look at the Tokeidai, which is actually not that impressive after all (but after my Imazu lighthouse experience, I am not that spoilt anymore ).

 

 

Meeting Gabor (and, later on, his girlfriend) was totally cool, and we enjoyed the evening with traditional Japanese food (Chicken gumbo and hot spaghetti –just kidding, the bar was New Orleans style and, apparently, a second home to quite a couple of expats. Nice atmosphere, though!). I also enjoyed the "Salty Dog", a cocktail made of vodka or gin in the rocks plus grapefruit juice, served in a whisky tumbler with a salt rim... yummy. It was really cool to meet him again, and the evening was simply sugokatta!

Some more pictures from Sapporo...

Akarenga

 

This morning, I headed off for a one-week trip to Hokkaido, and now, after about fifteen hours since my departure, I have finally arrived! I'll be staying in Sapporo for the first two days and then continue my journey towards one of the National Parks... we'll see. My first impression of the North is GORGEOUS. My goodness, I have hardly ever seen such beauty, with dense green forest and foggy mountain tops next to the sea... simply great. Pictures will follow!

I mentioned that Japan is really one of the safest countries I have encountered up to now. (In turn, many Japanese travellers do not take enough precautions against crimes when abroad. In one of the books I bought here, The Japanese Mind, the idea was brought up that this behavior might be linked to a crucial concept of Japanese culture: amae, or the dependence on the benevolence of others, which also explains why Japanese people focus group identity and harmony so much more than Westerners. But I digress.)

However, this safety does not extend to a particular type of crime, which is so important that the word for people committing it even appears in the lowest-level travelers dictionaries: chikan. A chikan is someone who molests women sexually, and it is often recommended to yell "Chikan!!" in case this happens to you in order to expose and publicly embarass the person. In Germany, this type of harassment has happened to me twice (in my entire life); in Japan, too (within seven weeks); however, I did not have the nerve to yell out, as it was me who felt sort of embarassed... and in addition, I was worried about making a fool of me (especially when I can't defend myself verbally when he tells the bystanders, for instance, that I have gone mad or so). It's not that I feel really threatened when some guy fondles my butt in crowded places (I mean, I am taller and probably also heavier than most of them – those guys are no Jean-Claude Van Dammes, if you know what I mean); however, I feel extremely annoyed and slightly distressed, especially when the usual techniques (moving away, threatening looks, etc.) don't work out. I wonder why they choose me – is it my "European exoticism" , or do they just choose anyone – tourists as well as Japanese women – and I simply don't notice, as other women are as shy about it as I am? I am also worried I could get in serious trouble when defending myself physically (my first impulse was to slap the bloody bastard in the face, but I was worried about what might happen if I hit him badly; in addition, he wore glasses ).

Has this happened to anyone else? What appropriate reactions would you recommend?

As some of you might remember, I noted the fact that female hygiene items were nicely wrapped so that nobody can see what is inside. Well, I asked some friends about this, and they supported my hypothesis that it serves to hide something potentially embarassing (and also agreed that, since exerybody knows what is inside, it actually doesn't really matter). Just for you to know

Something funny I noticed: Whenever I meet other Caucasians (be it an uni or in the city), it feels like we are mutually avoiding any eye contact and pretend we didn't notice each other. Do others share these feelings? And why is that so?

I spent the last few days first at Komasa-san's and then at Yamada-san's, a friend of Komasa-san's, where I had a really, really great time with wonderful people in a beautiful traditional Japanese-style house with garden and a funny little dog! Thank you so much for everything, it was a superb couple of days, and I will sure mention these great stays more in detail within the next few days!

So today, I returned "home" to Fujihara-sensei (it really feels like coming home!)... I must have left the fly screen open while letting some air in, because when I looked up, I saw a GIANT cockroach about the size of my thumb sitting on the wall. As I remember from Australia, they are damn fast (and I am damn scared of them!), so I asked Fujihara-sensei for help. And courageously, he hunted down the intruder and slayed it with an old newspaper – relief! (That's what I call professors who really care for their students...)