Sapporo Snow Festival 2001

I had mentioned the Yuki Matsuri, Snow Festival, before but had not posted any of my pictures. Back in 2001, on the initial trip, I was using a point and shoot film camera to snap images. Back then digital cameras were not as common place as they are today. Because of this, Costco had not begun to offer digital prints derived from film. Fortunately, I had a flat bed scanner that I could use to transfer the prints to the computer. We were staying at the Hotel Raffine. It was a place that our friend had recommended. Off the top of my head, I dont remember where this hotel was located. It was a very nice hotel with ample space in the rooms and a large luxurious bathroom to boot. The displays at Odori and Susukino are located in the same place every year. The third site usually moves around the Sapporo area. In 2001, it was set up at a military base.

With Japan being a food obsessed nation and regional areas beaming with pride with what they produce, its no surprise to find the the specialities of the region on display in most of the festival areas. With its icey cold water around the northern most island, a number of crab varieties are plentiful and easily accessible to Sapporo-ans(?)

Many a night was spent walking around the two main areas amidst the locals visitors alike. After the sun sets, the sculptures and displays are illuminated. Some are doused in colors while most have a white spotlight placed upon them. A few have lights that change color to really make them stand out and provide a show for the many onlookers. Along Odori are the larger sculptures of snow and/or ice

I was amazed by the detail found on this replica of Trevi Fountain. As I found later after many travels to Japan, they have a great attention to detail in many things they do

This is not Trevi at night but a structure of asian origin awash in blue lights. It seemed as if man made structures was the theme this year. However, in subsequent visits, they tend to have at least one bulding of some sort. There were just alot more on this first visit.

In the downtown area of Susukino, you will find primarily ice sculptures set up in the middle of a coordined off area open to pedestrians. The creations carved from ice run small and large. Most are about a few feet wide while some of the larger installations can span several yards. With many restaurants around, you can have a courtside seat to the view while enjoying a nice hot meal. This one depicts goldfish. The horizontal lines are present becuase blocks of ice are stacked upon one another to create the blank canvas for the artiste

Roast Duck Anyone?

Go into any large Chinese community and you will find produce shops, restaurants/delis, etc. Specifically, restaurants/delis will display offerings in the window to all passerbys. The steaming hot table will keep things like sweet and sour pork, fried chicken, fried rice/chow fun, etc. warm. Hanging above will be barbecue pork, steamed chicken, and roast duck. These will all be very familiar sites of once has been to their local chinatown.

As such, while walking around my Chinatown, I spotted this in the window. A somewhat Warhol-esque display using the ubiquitous cooked foul. The first row has a black duck(Oil spill duck), a missing duck(What the duck), a black duck with strings painted on it to resemble a cello(Yo yo Ma duck), and a pink duck with a label over its privates(Garment label duck). The bottom row has the following: a multicolored gradient duck(Ranbow duck), a duck covered in paper money(Money duck), a duck covered in duct tape(Duck tape), and a red duck that mimics the flag of the Republic of China(Peking duck)

Apparently, there are more ducks at the artist's website.

Although the city has only one official Chinatown, there are many areas with large Chinese coomunities that have setup shops and restaurants. Some of the well know areas include blocks of Clement, Irving, and Noriega. Some burgeoning areas include San Bruno Ave in the 94134 zip code.

Flights to Haneda

A while back, Haneda airport opened up a few slots to international flights. Before Narita(NRT) was built, Haneda was the main hub for international flights. These flights begin flying in this month and a number of airlines will be embarking on this route. Unfortunately for me, none of those are United out of SFO. ANA has a few flights from LAX which depart shortly past midnight to arrive approx 5am the next day. Other airlines have roughly the same schedule. JAL has a flight that takes off from SFO around 6pm to arrive in HND at 10pm the next day.
My usual flights on United leave at 11am to touch down at 3pm the next day. Because of the time and jet lag, I am rarely able to get a few good hours of sleep on the flight. A midnight departure, in my mind, would seem ideal as I would normally be asleep around at this time. and, hopefully wake up feeling refreshed once I make my way through the airport and into town, The reverse flight back to the states, for practically all filghts, outbounds around midnight. I forget what time it lands in California but I believe it was late afternoon. I imagine there may be some nice aerial views of the metropolis on the inbound JAL flight

Haneda is located just south of and much closer to Tokyo than Narita. Sitting on Tokyo Bay, the airport is serviced by a monorail and a local train which ferry people to Shinagawa and surrounding areas in under 30 minutes. Tickets run less than 500 yen. Narita users will usually ride the N'ex for a speedy 1 hour at 3000 yen minimum. Stations further than Tokyo will incur higher fees.

Trying To Pick Up A New Language...Japanese/Korean

As I get older, I find its very hard to learn new languages, not that I really learned any when I was youner. Case in point, my many failed attempts at learning japanese. Attempts may be a more positive spin on what was really a start and stop, mainly stop, approach to trying to motivate myself to begin the process. The best I was able to do was recognize a few characters and remember a few words. I dont have enough knowledge to even put a sentence together. Also, the language incorporates 3 character sets for its written aspect: katakana, hiragana, and kanji. I think its hiragana that I can somewhat read. See that! I cant even remember which charater set I remember.

So, I tried to understand a little bit of korean before my first trip. Luckily, they have one set alphabet system. Given time, it looks like it would be easier to learn than 3 different sets of symbols. However, I have found a problem with the romanization of the language. In reading the translated sounds of the characters, I found that the same symbol can be pronounced or romanized in 2 ways. Coming from an english language background, I thought they were different words/meanings when spoken differently. Heres a few of the interchangable ways of pronouncing certain characters: j and ch(Jeju/Cheju), b and p(Busan/Pusan), g and k(gimchi/kimchi), etc. In japanese, the characters are distinguished by their softer or harder sounding letters. But the difference in sounds means that they are two seperate words. This was very confusing to me prior to my trip. Although, I found that you can get around Seoul just as easily as Tokyo due to alot of signs being written in english. Conversing with the locals is a whole other matter

My New Favorite Korean Variety Show....Heroes

About 3 months ago, a variety show debuted on Korean TV station SBS. Boasting a cast of 14, the 2 MCs and 12 female cast members battle against each other to see who comes out on top and amongst other things, pride. The hosts are Lee Hwijae and Noh Hongchul. Hwijae is an announcer who has worked on television shows like Star Golden Bell. Hongchul is a comedian whose hosted or been a major player on other Korean shows like 1 Night 2 Days, Infinity Challenge, etc. Each heads one of the two teams that are formed according popularity. The rest of the cast consist of 12 ladies from different spectrum of media. Noh Sayeon is the matriarch and as such demands the most respect from all the underlings. I dont know much about her but it seems she was a singer in her younger days. Shin Bongsun is considered to be one of the top female comedians in Korea. I know that she co-hosts Happy Together with Yoo Jae Suk and Park Myungsoo. She is definitely skilled in getting laughs and keeping things moving when things start to drag on the show

Seo Inyoung is a singer formerly with the group Jewelry. The diva of the group, I first became aware of her when she was on the show We Got Married(the show paired celebrities as faux couples and followed them on camera). Yoo Inna's somewhat sprite-ish nature is an endearing quality for this TV actress whose popularity has risen due to her role in the drama High Kick Through The Roof. Nicole is part of the quintet known as Kara. A transplant from California, she still has troubles with the Korean language which make for funny moments. Jiyeon is from the sextet idol group T-ara. The youngest of the group, she has done some acting in television and movies. IU is a solo artist whose recent hits include Marshmallow and .Nagging As far as I know, this is her first variety show. Narsha is a member of quartet Brown Eyed Girls. She is kept very busy nowadays with her work on Invincible Youth and her own radio show aside from her regular work with her group.

Park Gahee is the leader of After School. After School is a group who started out as 5, gained a member, lost a member, gained 3 more and are currently looking for a ninth. Lee Jin was groupmates with Lee Hyori in the former idol group FinKL. Jung Ga-eun is an actress that I know little about. I believe that Hong Sooah is another actress. Her conniving and mischievious antics on the show has brought her to the forefront in my eyes. She has been one of the few cast members that are worthy of the airtime they recieve.

The show is aired once a week as a two parter. The first part has them all arriving at a location to perform a mission. They stay together overnight and are usually awoken the next day for the second part. The teams are divided by popularity polls devised by the staff and crew of the show so the teams change up on a regular basis. The teams often compete for meals or better accomodations. The trials can consist of answering questions, races, showing a talent, or some other task where they can be pitted against each other.

I dont understand the Korean language so alot of the hilarity comes from physical situations and easy to understand circumstances. For instance, there was a challenge where each member of the team would compete for extra slices of pork for an ensuing barbecue. The table of pork goodness was too much of a temptation for some of them to handle. Sticky fingers would reach out from behind the crowd to purloin an extra portion for themselves. The slices of pork belly would be secreted under their blouses against their own bellies at times. Some are caught red handed and some still remain undeterred to try again. Hong Sooah on a second attempt, hid a plate behind her back. I erupted in laughter when she was hit in the back with a soccer ball causing some of the pork to disloge from the plate and plastic wrap that kept it in place. From what I gather, the cast seems to be having alot of fun onscreen competing and bonding at the same time. The comaraderie feels genuine amongst the men and women. So far, the casting of these different personalities has meshed to create an enjoyable viewing experience. Some of the cast seem to have faded into the background with little to do or say but the majority have helped to keep the mood light and interesting. I look forward to each Sunday airing.