A Writer Visits Hokkaido Japan : Snow, Bears, and Folktales
I never imagined myself traveling around the globe to places on the other side of the international dateline, but when my eldest son decided to make his home in Indonesia, my perspective changed. Virtual communication has advanced, but nothing beats a hug in person. This holiday season, we decided to meet in Japan.
I took a backseat on the “planning,” because we comprised three generations of travelers. My grandson Herman was about to turn four. Most activities were geared to things he’d enjoy and his parents and older sister did the choosing. To mentally prepare, I started reading and listening to a few books. My goal, to soak up a little bit of Japanese literary culture.
Read Before You Visit
A Tale for the Time Being, which I wrote about last month, written by a Canadian writer of Japanese heritage, Ruth Orzeki, initiated my mental journey. Not technically a Japanese author, the book was instructive culturally because it introduced me to the role of Buddhism in Japanese culture as well as the competitive academic structure of Japanese schools.
I’ve been a big fan of Haruki Marukami and have read several of his books including IQ84. In looking for other authors to sample, I found Keiichiro Hirano.
A novel I’d like to recommend by Hirano is, A Man, translated from Japanese to English by Eli K.P. William. The novel deftly weaves a plot concerning mistaken and hidden identities. The story begins when a woman is widowed and seeks to notify her late husband’s estranged family of his death. To her surprise, she discovers her husband took on someone else’s name. She hires a lawyer, the main protagonist of the story, who has questions about his own life choices and happiness in his marriage, to solve the mystery of her husband’s actual identity. The narrative, using multiple points of view, delves into the question of how we define our lives. Even if you don’t plan on a visit to Japan, put it on your reading list.
A nonfiction book, that provides excellent historic background for the first time visitor is Tokyo Junkie. Penned by an American, Robert Whiting who’s written extensively about the role of baseball in Japanese culture, the author took up residence in Japan after his military service there in the 1960s. His memoir provides an unvarnished perspective on how the Japanese view foreigners and how the culture has changed and evolved after World War II.
Our family started and ended our visit in Tokyo, but I’m going to focus this first Japan post on our visit north to Hokkaido, Japan’s second largest island. A wonderland of ice and snow, the largest city is Sapporo, 1972 site of the Winter Olympic games. 1972 was the first time the winter Olympics were held outside Europe or the Americas and it is a gorgeous setting. North of the 40 thparallel and north of Vladivostok, the weather is undoubtably cold. Pack long underwear, warm socks, and sturdy boots if you plan to visit. Twenty to twenty-seven degrees Fahrenheit during the day, the strong winds make it feel colder. From Tokyo, Sappora is a 1.5 hour plane ride or 8 hours by train.
For a child raised near the equator, snow is an exotic treat. My grandson was eager to try and make a snowman. Just walking on snow was an adventure.
Special Attractions include Observing Hokkaido Brown Bears at the Noboribetsu Bear Park
Light displays and a Christmas market, German themed, the region is famous for beer and good food in addition to winter sports. A winter park with sleds, tubing and cross-country ski rentals was one of our excursions. Another day we braved our way to the Noboribetsu Bear Park to see the Brown Bears that only live in Hokkaido.
Two bus rides, a climb up an icy hill, steep steps and then a ride on a gondola delivered us at the mountain top park situated in front of Lake Kuttara. Similar in many respects to the American Grizzly, the Hokkaido brown bears are the largest species of animal on the island and they range in size from 440 to 660 pounds .
According to the Bear Park website, there are approximately 2,000 brown bears in Hokkaido and the number is reported to be on the decline. Observing, protecting and studying a group of eight brown bears started in October 1958. Now there are over sixty bears that can be observed from outside raised pavilions and by entering a “human cage” where the bears can be observed from behind plexiglass.
Homeland of the Ainu People
The Hokkaido prefect was once the homeland of the Ainu people who also reside in southeastern Russia. Their worldview of nature and animals saw all creatures as interconnected spiritual messengers, called Kamuy. Messages from the “creators” could be transmitted through animals and the gods sometimes took animal form. They considered the brown bear to be one of their most sacred creatures. The Ainu word for the Hokkaido Brown Bear, Kamui, literally means god.
It’s a familiar story of an indigenous ethnic group being pushed into assimilation by colonization, forced to sacrifice their native language and traditional methods of hunting and fishing by the dominant Japanese culture to the south. Down to only a few hundred native speakers at the turn of the century, in recent years an effort has been recently made to actively preserve native Ainu language and traditions.
I know this because at the bus station, two thirds of the way towards the Hokkaido Brown Bear Park, north of Sapporo where we were staying, is a small educational display showing native Ainu costume. Also on display are several books with folktales translated into English I took the opportunity to read two while waiting for the next bus. The Ainu stories reminded me of Native American and Eskimo stories. Similar in certain respects to Inca designs are the patterns on the Ainu kimonos. Repetitive swirls and angles form a measured balance of shapes.
Japanese Food and Drink
Sapporo is also the name of a beer and the place they make the famous beer. The brewery was founded in 1876 . Founder Seibei Nakagawa learned the craft of brewing in Germany and locating operations in Hokkaido was a boon for their economy. The beer was first exported to the United States, in 1964 and is the number one selling Asian beer in America. A tour of the Sapporo brewery museum is a big tourist attraction and several adjacent restaurants offer plenty of beer on tap and dining options.
For Christmas Eve my son’s research told him that many families celebrate with a special meal of Kentucky fried chicken. You can watch a video on the subject here.
Evidently the marketing by KFC has gone so well that by the time we physically made contact with the KFC conveniently located across the street from the hotel in Sapporo where we were staying, they were completely booked and sold out.
Thankfully, in my humble opinion, we got to go to another type of restaurant for Christmas Eve, one that specialized in Okonomiyaki, Japanese savory pancakes. There are various types and varieties. Some feature thinly sliced pork, beef or chicken, while other versions contain prawns, scallops and vegetables. One type has plenty of bean sprouts. The Hiroshima Okonomiyaki has soba noodles. One things they all have in common is egg, flour, cabbage, fried bonita flakes, a special Okonomiyaki sauce and what is known as Kewpie mayonaise which is more “sauce like” and has a slightly different flavor from western mayonaise. When I work out my own version of how to make these at home, I’ll post it on this blog.
At a Okonomiyaki restaurant in Japan the pancakes are cooked in front of the diners on a hot driddle with their participation, You share by cutting the pancakes in quarters and truing different flavors. A fun food to enjoy, our holiday got off to a great start.
More on Japan, next week. Thank you for reading and feel free to share your comments and any questions. If you enjoyed this post and want to support my writing, consider purchasing my little chapbook filled with short essays and poems, RECIPES FROM MY GARDEN .
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Originally published at http://nadjamaril.com on January 5, 2025.