The next thing Eliza and I did was to make a Winter visit to the Yamabiko waterfalls, a short drive outside of Maruseppu. I'd been to the falls two summers ago soon after arriving in Japan. As impressive as the small, quaint waterfall was then, it was even more impressive as a frozen column of ice! The road leading up the falls is closed in the Winter so we had to park and walk a short twenty minutes to the entrance path. I'd never actually seen a frozen waterfall up close before, but it was like a huge icicle the size of a redwood tree! The shrine behind the waterfall was still there, nestled deep against the bedrock, along with signs of the other curious visitors before us. The picturesque scenery along with the sounds of the forest, muffled by the quiet blanket of snow, made it the perfect place to relax and spend time alone in nature ;)

Eliza came up last weekend to visit me in Eastern Hokkaido so the first thing I did was take her to Cha Cha World. It's a funky, castle-shaped toy museum that I've always driven past but haven't been to. I've heard from others who've been there that it's only worth going to once. I'm not sure if it's because I had lowered expectations, but the museum was awesome! I highly recommend it.

First of all, the place is shaped like a freaking castle! Second, as you walk in you're immediately surrounded by life-sized wooden statues and toy shelves. The first gallery we went to - and probably the best part of the museum - had a collection of neat shadow art, created by an artist who lived in the area (and is probably because of him that the toy museum exists in the first place). There's a huge display of single pieces, including some next to mirrors so it looks like it continues on to infinity, and a wall of panels depicting Japanese fairy tales. At the end of the gallery is an incredible 2-storey collage you could spent hours sitting and looking at. I was blown away by its size, incredible detail, artistic talent, and the fantastical elements of the display. It was amazing! It kind of reminded me of Zelda. From there we went upstairs to where they had elaborate wooden block displays and a play area where you can build your own wooden sculpture. Not being able to resist, we built our own precariously-balanced wooden tower then did the natural thing to do after laboring painstakingly over a piece of work... destroy it!
The rest of the museum consisted of a kid's play area, a section with wooden puzzles, wooden toys, and wooden marble mazes the scientist in me gravitated to, old-fashioned Japanese toys, complex wooden toys with moving parts, and a collection of other random toys. We only spent two hours there since we had a busy day, but I'd definitely go back there just to see the shadow art gallery again or have a woodblock-building contest. You can check out their website here (in Japanese): http://city.hokkai.or.jp/~chacha/.

For lack of a better title, this is what I did all Winter vacation. I'm a bit behind at posting this, mainly due to things cropping up over the past few weeks (ie. laziness and lack of motivation), but later is better than never. That and I've suddenly gotten a burst of creative inspiration to write blog posts again, so I've grabbed my keyboard to catch some brain waves before they recede back into the murky depths.

As I mentioned before, I spent a majority of the winter riding Yuki; up and down her slipper slopes. She came down bountifully over the winter break, especially around New Years when a blizzard rolled in across Hokkaido and blanketed the entire island under a meter of snow. I've written about the quality of Hokkaido's snow last year, but I'll mention again: I'm fully convinced that no where else in the world gets the same amount of snow that Hokkaido does. Of course, I haven't been all over the world to compare (yet), but if you see what Hokkaido's winters dish out, you'll realize that there is such thing as too much snow! I went to the opening day of Asahidake where I experienced the only time in my life of ever riding in waist-deep powder. Just imagine not only being unable to see your board or boots, but anything below your waist! What was incredibly frustrating at first turned into pure glee once I learned to forget carving and just 'surf' the powder instead. Nothing compares to having wispy billows of snow in your wake and mini-avalanches racing alongside you as you let gravity carry you down a mountain built by the incredible forces of nature... Indescribable.

In a ten-day period over the Winter break, I managed to go snowboarding eight times at five different ski hills. I spent New Years at the hyped up (and rightly-so) Niseko resort, known for it's huge runs and high-quality snow. Unfortunately, the blizzard I mentioned earlier rolled in on New Years Eve, cancelling all the outdoor events that we planned on going to and forcing us to go bar-hopping and spend the countdown outside in front of an ice castle in the falling snow instead. There are definitely worst ways to spend New Years, but it was fun! The house that me and my road-tripping crew, Chris and Nikki, stayed at had a host of others sharing floorspace, making it a warm, cozy and lively place to shelter from the raging wind and snow outside.

After Niseko, I spent a relaxing week with Eliza in Sapporo then returned to my small town and cold apartment to sluggishly get back into work mode. I had decided to stay in Hokkaido instead of traveling overseas to save money this year, but after tallying my 2400km gas bill and expenses, I'd spent as much money as I would have if I'd had gone overseas! I don't mind though, I live for snowboarding, and this will possibly be my last season in Hokkaido :( I've also decided not to make the same mistake and stay in Hokkaido for Golden Week in April. Stay tuned ;)

Ok, so this post isn't about any adventures I've had in Japan, but about an awesome Japanese band I've discovered. They're aptly named 'GReeeeN' with four e's for members in the band, all dentists from Fukushima who make music as a hobby. I first discovered them after continually hearing the same song called "Kiseki" in my schools, in stores, and on the radio. It was pretty catchy and I liked it, so I decided to look them up and listen to their other songs, which I was surprised to find were all really good! Not just catchy but with original melodies, quality music and easy lyrics. I bought their newest 2-disc album and through listening to them and reading (ie. studying) the lyrics, I've been learning new Japanese words. It's great! Of the few Japanese bands I've discovered, they're definitely my favorite (which isn't saying much, but see for yourself :P) Here's one of their videos called "Tabidachi" off of YouTube. Apologies in advance for its cheesiness:

Also check out "Kiseki": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_lcH_2nw-o

Today, I've officially decided to finish my last year on JET. I was split 50/50 for a long time, considering the economy back home and how difficult it is to find jobs, but after weighing the pros and cons I decided it was best for me to return home. I think when I initially came to Japan I knew I was only going to be here for 2 years. Now having decided not to do a 3rd year, I feel it was the right decision. I need a change, to break out of my mould, and to challenge myself again. I really love this country and intend to live here again someday, but not as an English ALT, as a graduate student working towards a Masters degree. My return home will, hopefully, only be temporary.

So here's to my last 6 months in Japan, and to my eventual return in April 2012.

I've been in Japan for over 17 months and I thought I'd see everything.. that was until I ran across this gem in Asahikawa. Fulfilling the stereotype that you can get anything out of a vending machine in Japan, the Egg Haus delivers! It's exactly what you think it is, a wee building that sells eggs out of vending machines. You can even get sauce to go with your eggs. The only thing that struck me odd was the location of the haus, on the edge of town. Then again, where is the ideal place to put an egg haus? You'd figure it would be downtown where all the salarymen could get an egg on the way to work.. or something. Random Japan, how you never fail to amaze me!

To me, "Christmas" means spending time with family. It means eating a Christmas dinner of turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, veggies, and cranberry sauce. It means opening presents on New Years Eve after dinner. It means being in that all-encompassing festive atmosphere during the Christmas holidays and having warm memories of Christmas from my childhood.

This being my first Christmas in Japan (I was in Vietnam last year) I was pretty excited to see how the Japanese spend their Christmas. But in Japan, what does "Christmas" mean? Two Things: KFC and Christmas cake. Christmas in Japan is more of a novelty holiday, like St. Patrick's day or Valentines day back in Canada. They aren't really "holidays" per se (since it's not a national holiday), but it's one of those fun holidays where it's fine if you don't actually do anything for it. In Japan, it's somehow become tradition (I have a feeling through clever marketing) to eat KFC for Christmas, which is the closest you can get to proper turkey in Japan. I'm not sure where the Christmas cake tradition came from but it's normally a strawberry-flavored sponge cake that's eaten between lovers on Christmas Eve. There's an old saying in Japan that if you are older than 25 (the date of Christmas Eve) and still unmarried, you are a "Christmas cake" meaning you get old and stale the longer you leave it past the 25th! This year I celebrated Christmas Eve Japanese style. I went snowboarding at amazing Asahidake (2 days after opening) for untouched, waist-deep powder. Amazing! That night I made a stop by KFC intending to get some fried chicken but got a huge line-up instead, so I just got a picture with the Kernel and left empty-handed. I ended up getting cold, fried chicken after a stop at Seicomart (a convenience store). I wasn't intending to, but how could you pass up that Christmas packaging! I also picked up some other things for a complete, well-balance Christmas dinner:

Mmmm.. Tim Tams, Cheeza, canned coffee, hot chocolate, and gyudon. I wanted to get some Christmas cake but that stuff is hella expensive, so I opted for pastries instead. Also, for the record, the beer wasn't mine. I ended up hanging out with my friend Nicole and watched How The Grinch Stole Christmas while she wrapped last-minute presents and listened to Christmas reggae music. It was probably the most bizarre Christmas Eve I've ever had! It was justified because the next evening, on Christmas Day, I went to my friend Caroline's house where she had ordered in turkey, ham, stuffing, cranberry sauce... a proper Christmas dinner! I hadn't had turkey in over two years so I stuffed myself like I was going into hibernation. Overall, not what I was used to but a fun Christmas nonetheless. I'm still undecided where I'll be having Christmas next year, whether it's in Japan or back in Canada.. Hmm, どうしようかな？

Also, a little belated but, Happy Christmas everyone!