Having been in Hokkaido earlier this year for the Snow Festival made me want to return this fall. And so here we are and for the most part, so are the beautiful vibrant array of fall colors! It’s a much different vibe; the weather is perfect; people are walking everywhere both at street level and below in the labyrinth of underground pathways. It feels safe, it IS safe, children, adolescents, mature adults and senior citizens all make for a visually pleasant menagerie for people gazing. It makes me feel old to see so many vibrant youths, but I’m out there with them which beats the alternative. Many things are the same; some are different. Thank God for Daiso, thank God for Donkey (Don Quixote).
Still only a smattering of westerners, mostly Japanese found living the life. Hokkaido Food Festival provides hundreds of stalls to taste an immense variety of Japanese culinary choices, plus a few from other worlds – Indian, Italian, etc. The food in Japan is of course typically outstanding and if we needed to, we could live on the food sold at any 7 11 for the rest of eternity.
When I first travelled to mainland Japan (Yokohama), everyone on the street was in tailored suits and ties, the women were dressed impeccably, and the formality and the does and don’t were firmly imbedded and palpable. Fast forward to the present, at least in Sapporo, individuality and comfort rule the day. Even those wearing suits may not include ties. But many wear t-shirts or loose-fitting shirts and pants, baggy low-lying shorts, and nondescript sweatshirts and hoodies. The women are also dressed casually. Loose fitting garments, dark or dowdy colors, dresses that reach the ankles or even lower, pants and t-shirts, etc, etc. There are still some fashionably dressed and then there are the teenage girls dressed in whatever is acceptable for their peers, some fancy, some fanciful, some a little outrageous!
While Gerri loves to explore every item in every aisle in every Diaso and the impossible task of repeating this routine in the Mega Don Quijote, I really enjoy walking the streets, looking for the fall colors, exploring the architecture and landscapes, and people watching. We also visited some beautiful sites in the Daisetsuzan National Park, Biei and Furano. But this time I also wanted to know how Japan can keep so clean and orderly. Indeed, I believe you can even perform heart surgery on any street in Japan and not worry about contamination or secondary infection….
In the US, it is axiomatic that if you wanted to encourage the proper disposal of waste in public spaces, you would place garbage bins in enough locations to discourage those likely to default to littering anywhere and everywhere. It works for the most part but never completely and even in Hawaii, litter can sometimes be found but nothing compared with where littering is King in places like New York City. Japan has a unique solution to littering – eliminate garbage bins altogether and place the burden on the individual to collect and dispose of litter after returning home. So there are virtually no garbage bins anywhere out in the open….if you had a wrapper that you wanted to discard at 7-11, the attendants will willingly accept it assuming it was generated from a prior sale.
And it’s remarkable that even in Haneda Airport, thousands of travelers from all over the world contribute to keeping it the cleanest airport in the world! Enough signs and individual expectations placed on those transiting the airport as well as a dedicated staff of housecleaners patrolling the common areas looking to correct the occasional refuse infraction and scouring areas on the carpet or tile that look stained. Even in the Food Festival that we attended, where tons of refuse would be expected to be generated, instead of garbage bins, there were Garbage Stations! You would surrender your garbage at these stations, and the small army of volunteers would process them into the proper category for disposal or recycle, etc.
Not everything in Japan is hunky dory. I’m still miffed at the requirement that requesting for a one-hour extension on check out of your hotel will generate a cost. And even if your room is ready at 2pm, you won’t be able to access it until 3 or 4 pm depending upon the hotel. This aspect is not as friendly or inviting as hotels in the US or elsewhere. It’s still a small price to being in one of the most inviting places on earth to visit, filled with an endless landscape of sites and activities, safe and respectful, with a homogenous, kind and considerate populace that prides themselves on proper human interaction and helping others. More on Japan in the next chapter – next may when we venture on the Japanese cruise ship, the Mitsui Ocean Fuji.
One last item. Yesterday we went to a famous Ramen Shop - Sapporo Ramen Haruka. It was quite an experience. Always a line to wait before entering this tiny enclosure with only counter seating for about 10 people. We had to wait about 30 minutes to allow three others in front of us to gain entrance. A nice gent from Singapore added to the entertainment until entering. The room was very cozy, half the size of my hotel room, and there were tiny stools that were meant to fit the average Japanese derriere, and not the plus sizes of many American tourists. Everyone was crowded in like sardines waiting patiently for the hot bowel of ramen to be served. You witnessed the process as the three working there were busy mixing the various ingredients into each bowel, vats of smoldering soup waiting for the ramen to cook to complete the process and then the fun began. My selection was a cheese ramen dish that I had never heard of before, but it was truly delicious and satisfying. Gerri ordered the miso butter corn selection that was also excellent. The experience was a memorable one that I enjoyed immensely!
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