Author Archive for Kevin & Cathy

Biei Marathon

Published by Kevin & Cathy on June 10, 2008 in Japan and Video.   308 views 2 Comments

This Sunday was the annual Healthy Marathon (ヘルシ　マラソン) in the nearby town of Biei. Biei is about 120km away from Takikawa, and is known for its annual marathon as well as its beautiful flower gardens spread over vast rolling hillsides. The Biei marathon attracts thousands of competitors and spectators every year during the June 8th weekend.

Kevin registered online for the 10k quarter-marathon back in early May along with our good friend, Matthew Caesar. Kevin spent a solid month doing a rigorous training routine of 3 day-a-week 6:00am runs down the Sorachi River to prepare for the event. (No, Cathy didn’t go running with.)

On the wednesday before the marathon, we both fell sick with sore throats, and major chest congestion. We ended the week by cancelling a few classes, in hopes that we could rest up and feel better for the weekend, but come marathon day, we were both still very under the weather.

We left Takikawa at 7:00am on Sunday, June 8th with 2 runners - Kevin & Matt and 3 cheerleaders - Cathy, Kaori & David. We headed towards Biei to make the 9:00am registration time. Kevin popped a decongestant, an advil, a tylenol and a general cold pill and started stretching for the race.

Cathy, Kaori and David relaxed in the grass and enjoyed yummy yaki-tori and beer (yes, at 10:00 in the morning) and cheered on Kevin and Matt as the firing gun sounded and the race started.

An hour and twenty minutes later (1hr18min for Matt) Kevin came bouncing down the finish line and had successfully completed his first marathon EVER!

Celebration was in order, so we all headed up the road to Fukiage Onsen to enjoy a traditional Japanese public bath, naked. Gender separated.

It was a huge success.

Here’s a video of Kevin finishing the marathon. A glorious (although painful) moment.

Kimono Dinner with the Soroptimists in Takikawa

Published by Kevin & Cathy on March 4, 2008 in Japan.   1,103 views 5 Comments

Kimono Dinner

We spent the last Saturday in town being very big Barbies, but more in the sense of a Japanese dress-up doll instead of the blond and pink. We were invited to go for dinner with the Takikawa Soroptimist group, for a formal Kimono dress-up session, make-up, hair, and dinner. It was a fantastic invite that we jumped on immediately.

In case you are thinking “What is a Soroptimist? Is that like a Pianist?”

Soroptimist (”best for women”) is an international volunteer organization for business and professional women who work to improve the lives of women and girls, in local communities and throughout the world.

- Quote from Wikipedia

The event was hosted at the Hotel Suehiro. We went with our 2 gaijin friends who were also invited. (Matthew and Kaori) We got there at around 4 to prep for the dinner. 2 hours of Hair and make-up and then dinner + Japanese traditional tea ceremony at 6. Cathy had a beautiful and more traditional Japanese hairstyle that almost looked like a wedding hairdo. The hairstylist was going to give Kevin an old-school Japanese top knot but unfortunately (fortunately?) his hair was too short for that. After hair and make-up, the kimono dressing began.

A geisha moment

Kimonos are really beautiful and elegant. There is a big reason why they are so elegant and why women act so proper in them. Many layers of clothes and hard shells are placed in different places of the body. Wait, not placed, strapped on tightly. The Japanese kimono is much like the western version of a corset, but there are towels and cotton pads all over the place for padding and strapping. After the dressing, it was impossible for Cathy to slouch or simply take a deep breath. It’s not easy being Japanese!

Kevin’s kimono was a Hakama. The one that was put on Kevin was surprisingly long enough. The skirt/pants are also strapped tightly with solid plates to hold it in place. It was tied lower on the hip to create the illusion of a bulging tummy. Cotton pads were also used for extra cushion on the tum.

We had a traditional tea ceremony on the stage where the lady served each of us Japanese Matcha. We were asked to sit in Seiza style. (Where the legs are tucked under the hip in a perfect folding position) It is very difficult for western muscles to sit in such a way. Briefly after sitting down, Kevin and Matthew both gave up and sat cross-legged instead.

We each had to give a little speech about where we are from. Luckily, 3 out of 4 are Canadians. Matt printed out a big map of Canada for us to point and talk. We introduced Vancouver and the culture of Canada. After, we gave out Canadian flag pins to all the women at dinner. It was a delicious dinner and a wonderful experience.

After the dinner, we couldn’t wait to get out of our beautiful outfits. We said our thank-yous and headed back to our apartment for a make-up removal session. Cathy also found pubes in her hair…. well, it was synthetic black puff balls to add volume to the big hair.

It was a really fun night. We were very lucky to have such an opportunity to be dressed in Kimonos and to learn Japanese culture in such formal but intimate setting. Normally people pay lots of money to get dressed up and have their pictures taken. We felt like guests of honor and truly welcomed to the community. Thanks for having us, Takikawa Soroptimist Association! (And thanks for taking us, Matthew)

Our winter in Hokkaido

Published by Kevin & Cathy on January 30, 2008 in General and Japan.   998 views 2 Comments

can you kick it

Of all the things that you have heard about Hokkaido, they are probably all true, but really, Hokkaido is all about its winter. There might be delicious diary products and ice creams here, but nothing beats the powdery fluffy snow. To keep warm in this kind of weather, we have grown accustomed to long johns and toque hair. We have also learned to enjoy a nice warm Shōchū (焼酎) from time to time.

Things we do to try to keep warm and keep ourselves lively

hmmmm beer
- We drink and hang out. Did you know that Japanese bars sometime serve beers in Big, Medium, and small size?
The dark yebisu Japanese beer is almost a meal… (almost. I said.)

- We went on the local radio station FM G’Sky to be the foreigner guests. We later on went to Taichi’s house for a new year party. Did you know, Japanese people celebrate new year with families, so the new year party is usually sometime in January with friends. This is the “party” where people drink and eat and chitchat till the wee hour. If you prefer drunken chitchats, it’s also an option.

- Cathy enjoys kicking snow/ice behind the tires and around the bumpers on the car. A lot of ice builds up on the cars around here. Cathy kicks our car, sometimes also other people’s car.

- We run around in the snow with kids and play: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60KE9V-jzu8. We love these kids.

- The Costco at Sapporo finally opened on Jan 25, 2008. It was the first costco in Hokkaido. We paid a visit on Jan 26. There was a line-up for the cars to go into the parking lot all the way around the block. (which we avoided by parking in another grocery store’s parking lot) We bought blue cheese, costco muffins, san pellegrino, jelly beans, and chai tea. Between the 4 of us, Kevin - Cathy - Matthew - Kaori, we each spent around 7000Yen - equivalent to 70 dollars CDN. None of us planned to buy anything before we went in. Costco just sucked us in. Membership here is slightly cheaper than I remembered. It was 4500 Yen, with the great exchange rate on Canadian dollar right now, that’s 42 CDN dollars. it’s a ripoff if you are paying $49 in Canada!

- Sometimes we visit random small town businesses, such as, bowling alley on a Sunday night. excitementThe place was literally empty. We felt cool and lively while the Japanese teenagers gather around behind us, playing video games and taking sticker photos.

- Cathy got to go to the Sunagawa Hospital for a tour around the surgical room. my night at the sunagawa hospital “How often do you get to meet a cardio surgeon who would take you to the hospital for a private tour?” She said. I am not sure about you, but we don’t all live in grey’s anatomy land.

There are much more things we would like to do around here during the winter, but it seems that time is flying and we will never have enough time to do them all. There hasn’t been any snowman-building yet this winter.

This weekend, we will escape the cold and fly to Taiwan for Chinese new year. Delicious food awaits. We will, however, unfortunately miss the tug-a-war competition in town and the Sapporo snow festival. But we are almost certain that the snow will be here waiting for us till we are back.

On a side note, it really isn’t that cold… - 5 is considerably warm and refreshing. The coldest day of this season to date was -24. It was not pleasant.

If you are reading this post from somewhere above 0 degree, that probably means, you are one of those people we miss dearly.

p.s. All pictures are from Cathy because Kevin has been slow on uploading

Happy New Year 2008 from Tokyo!

Published by Kevin & Cathy on January 13, 2008 in Japan and Video.   685 views 4 Comments

Eiffel 2.0

After waking up in a strange McDonalds in Ueno and finding it much busier than when we had decided to nap quietly in the corner, we headed to Asakusa to drop our bags off at the hotel. Cathy had found us a series of great hotels over the next 5 nights in all the best spots in the City. It was a decision, in part, due to the fact that most hotels were almost fully booked, and we could only find one availability here and there, but it also meant we got to see many different parts of the city and stay in a handful of funky 2-foot by 3-foot hotel rooms. Waking up and dropping off our bags at the next hotel before check-in was a common occurance across our stay in Tokyo.

Over the course of our 5 days in Tokyo, we stayed for one night in Asakusa, two nights in Nishi-Azabu, one night in Shinjuku and one night in Nihonbashi. We pushed & shoved through Harajuku and Shibuya, rode Japan’s biggest ferris wheel in Odaiba, ate and drank in Roppongi and strolled through Ueno & Yoyogi parks. All without a flake of snow!

By great coincidence ( & by relentless encouragement) many of our friends from around Takikawa ended up in Tokyo over new years as well. We each had our various places to go and friends to see, but on a few occaisions we all got together at an Izakaya for food, drinks and and some “Hey, we’re in Tokyo!”

left & right

On new years eve, after a big dinner gathering in Shinjuku, we found ourselves at Zojoji temple, at the foot of the Tokyo Tower. We were accompanied by our new photographer-friend Michael, who we had met for the first time earlier that day. We were introduced to Michael, a former Takikawa resident turned tokyoite, over flickr and the three of us had a great time in Tokyo walking around and taking pictures (even though he’s a Nikon guy…)

We were joined by thousands of people in the temple’s immense courtyard- and at the stroke of midnight, 3,000 “eco-friendly” balloons were launched into the air & the temple’s joya-no kane (new years bell) rang out as the Tokyo Tower lit up with its spectacular new blue colour for 2008. Attached to each balloon was a special new years wish, or prayer. It was a spectacular sight to behold, and in one single event justified our epic 48 hour, 16 transfer train ride down to Tokyo. Following that, we took the subway back to Shinjuku and drank in the new year until the wee hours of the morning.

The first of January, accompanied again by Michael, we visited Kanda Myojin, a modest shrine near Akihabara. Far from the tourists and foreigners, we got a very fascinating, real glimpse into the very old Shinto tradition of visiting the shrine on the first day of the new year, called Saitansai. We ate new years aman, and drank sweet sake, before heading into the heart of Akihabara, the electronics center of Tokyo to play with camera equipment like little kids on Christmas.

yum

That night, we had a farewell Tokyo dinner with our foreigner-friends and woke up the next morning to catch our 9:00am Shinkansen back home. We laughed at our 2 day trip down to Tokyo, as we sped at 284km/h back towards Hokkaido. Within 11 hours, we were back at home to confirm that yes- our fish were still alive and yes… it’s still snowing in Takikawa, just as we remembered.

Tokyo was our first big trip within Japan, and a huge success by any account. It was nice to escape the snow for a week, though Tokyo wasn’t exactly t-shirt weather. We made good friends, took over 3,000 pictures beetween the two of us and ate some delicious monja. Our next trip will be to Taiwan, for Chinese New Year, and then to Kyoto for cherry blossoms in March.

In the mean time, we’ll enjoy the Hokkaido winter from our humble home in Takikawa.

-Goodfishies

How many trains does it take to get to Tokyo?

Published by Kevin & Cathy on January 5, 2008 in Japan.   712 views 2 Comments

16.

silly hats

Cathy and I had been tossing around the idea of where to go for Christmas / New Years for a few weeks. We had considered going down to the tropical southern part of Japan, Okinawa, or maybe driving around Hokkaido, soaking in the wintery goodness. We ended up deciding on something very much in the middle (both on the map and the thermometer), Tokyo! Seeing how we live in Japan, it’s almost necessary to visit Tokyo.

Looking into our travel options, we found a hidden jewel of the Japanese rail company: the Seishun Juhachi Kippu, or youth 18 ticket. (in Japanese, 青春18) The Seishun Juhachi Kippu allows for 5 days of unlimited rail travel in Japan with a slight (maybe major) catch - only local trains. Each day runs from 00:00 to 23:59, and costs ¥2,300 - or just under $20 CAN. As an added bonus, we can both share the same ticket by stamping twice per day.

We spent a few days simultaneously laptop’ing. Cathy was booking hotels in all the best spots in Tokyo (not an easy task as they were nearly all fully booked, and most Japanese online booking systems don’t offer an immediate response on whether or not you’ve managed to book the room.) Kevin was furiously plugging-in individual train schedules into an online trip calculator to find out how on earth we would snake our way down Japan using only local trains. (After all, Hokkaido is a separate island up north.) After a few days of grunting and complaining, we succeded on both fronts and decided on a change of pace for Christmas eve, put our computers away and went outside.

We stayed home for Christmas and had a nice relaxing morning eating breakfast, drinking coffee, listening to christmas carols and opening presents. We had video chats with both our families thanks to iChat / Skype and then we ventured outside to start preparing for our trip to Tokyo. We were to leave the following morning on the first train out of Takikawa, the 6:35 local train to Sapporo.

-15°C

The next morning, we enjoyed a sobering -15°C walk to the train station at 5:50 in the morning, got our first 2 ticket stamps and boarded the 6:35 local train to Sapporo through Iwamizawa, all before the sun came up.Our (ridiculous) schedule looked like this:


—— Dec 26th
06:35- Takikawa -> Sappro
08:28- Sapporo -> Tomakomai
10:07- Tomakomai -> Higashi-muroran
13:45- Higashimuroran -> Oshamambe
16:16- Oshamambe -> Goryokaku
19:37- Goryokaku -> Kikonai
21:10- Kikonai -> Kanita
—— Dec 27th
05:16- Kanita -> Aomori
06:12- Aomori -> Hirosaki
07:00- Hirosaki -> Odate
08:09- Odate -> Akita
12:12- Akita -> Sakata
14:30- Sakata -> Shibata
18:06- Shibata -> Niigata
23:35- Niigata -> Omiya
—— Dec 28th
05:50- Omiya -> Ueno (Tokyo!)

47 hours, 16 trains and 2 very sore bums.

cheeky traveler

In reality we had a few hiccups (actually, one big one) on our connection from Goryokaku to Kikonai and blew our schedule. We made it to Kikonai that night and decided to find a hotel. (Our original plan was to hack it in the train station in Kanita, but our missed connection made us strung out and cold.) We somehow communicated to the station manager that we needed a hotel that night. He took it upon himself to call around and he found us a cheap hotel above a small soba shop and convinced the owner to drive to the station in his pyjamas and come pick us up!

Toot toot!

The next day, we finally made it off of Hokkaido and with a bit of trickery managed to get ourselves back on schedule. The following night we slept on a train called the Moonlight Echigo that runs overnight from 11:35 to 04:28 that provided us a crappy, uncomfortable sleep.

Takikawa -> Tokyo

We pulled in to tokyo on Friday morning on the 5:50 to Ueno station and found ourselves crammed inside a stuffy train in the middle of the busiest rush hour we’d ever seen.We looked at each other and said: “Hey- We’re in Tokyo… cool.”, found a McDonalds, curled up in the corner booth and napped.

to be continued…