北海道にお別れ Goodbye to Hokkaido

母撮影　Photos by my Mom

Japanese Style

This is for my American friends who have never been to Japan!Futon - The real futon is not as thick as you see in the US and they don't sit anywhere but directly on the floor.

Japanese homes have a storage space for futon. There's a board to devide the space into top and bottom.

This is called "zabuton", a square cousion to sit down.

Japanese bath - it is separated from the sink area. Toilet is a small room itself separated from the bathroom.

There is a space to clean yourself before going into the bathtub. You sit down on the little stool when you clean. The bathtub comes with a lid to keep the water warm as you share the same water with your family.

It also has a shower for your convenience.

Guess what this is これは何でしょう？

As it says in English, they are rabbits that keep boots standing while you store them. How cute!

La Cienega

石狩美術館の中にフレンチ会席のレストランがあるのですが、これもなかなか珍しいつくり。食事処はすべて完全個室。部屋の中には石狩川をイメージした川が流れ、料理が渡船に乗せられて流れてくる仕組み。その上、壁にはガラス工芸品が流れてくる細工がしており、芸術鑑賞しながら料理を楽しめるのです。でも、いざ食事が出るとそっちに夢中になり見逃したものも多かったのですが・・・一度足を運ぶ価値ありです。

テーブルの横に川が流れ、料理の乗った船が到着。壁には数分おきに変わる芸術品が。ピックアップしてテーブルへ。

石狩美術館 Ishikari Museum

こんな美術館に行ったのは初めて。ここは個人収集家による美術館で、ア－ル・ヌ－ボ－とア－ル・デコを代表する作品が７００点余り展示されています。とにかく、ディスプレイの方法がすばらしい。I had never been to a muesum like this before. This museum owns about 700 Art Deco and Art Nouveau works by Emile Galle, Louis Icart, Daum Brothers and Kuniaki Kuroki. The way they display lamps is absolutely gorgeous. 3フロアに展示がされており、真ん中の部分は吹き抜けになっていて幻想的な雰囲気。It has 3 floors and there's a open area in the middle, which gives a mysterious feeling to it.

エミ－ル・ガレの美しいランプ Beautiful lamps by Galle.

ルイ・イカ－ルの「2人の美人」。この絵に出会ったことがきっかけで、この収集家のコレクションが始まった。オ－ナ－はイカ－ルの作品の８５％を所有するという。Painting by Icart. This is the first piece the owner met in Paris 40 years ago and he started his collection. He owns 85% of Icart's art works.

Sapporo Beer

The capital of Hokkaido is Sapporo City, and this is where the famous Japanese beer comes from. They started brewing beer back in 1876. The first person who was in charge of starting the factory was a samurai who studied at London University.

開拓史麦酒醸造所についてのリンクはこちら http://www.sapporo-factory.co.jp/beer_museum/kaitakujsi-beer/index.html

Retro posters

The original building was made of wood but it was rebuilt with brick later. It is a museum now.

Hungry?

...But they are made of plastic. Many restaurants have displays outside to show what their dishes look like. They do look real. These are parfait. I had never seen them on the wall. These are mostly omlets,curries,pasta and some soft drinks with ice cream on top.

買い物 Shopping

今や私にとっては、日本のスーパーマーケットに行くのは里帰り中の楽しみの一つ。見慣れていたはずの光景が離れてみるとなかなか興味深い。この蟹は北海道のお土産屋にあったもの。

One of the things I enjoy while I'm in Japan is going to supermarkets. Things I was used to seem very interesting now. These crabs caught in this area are ready to be shipped to all over Japan.

Beautifully wrapped fruits. Their shapes are perfect and are carefully handled. So many kinds of teas(green/black),　flavored water, juice, etc. Pops are not very popular here.

Varieties of lunch box and chopsticks! In fact, there are more on the other side. Now you see why I'm so design/color conscious?

Colorful basins and stools for bath.

Country of "cute" or "strange"?

Members of a photography club trying to capture some nature. You'll be amazed to see these normal looking older people with super expensive cameras! Going somewhere nice? - Going to a National Park for a walk with my suits,fancy shoes and hat on! (I'm pretty sure he's not Orthodox) I hope I'm not under dressed. I've got some snack in my backpack.

Japan is a beautiful country, NOT?!

The beautiful gorge is quite developped and commercialized Who would think of building a power plant in front of the famous joints? Signs for food and gifts are everywhere

層雲峡 "Sou-un kyo Gorge" in Daisetsu-Zan National Park

ここで有名なのは「柱状節理」と呼ばれる岩体が柱状になった六角形の節理。玄武岩質の岩石によく見られ、マグマの冷却面と垂直に発達する。

One of the attractions here is a range of joints called "columnar joint", which is said to be similar to the Devils Tower in Wyoming.

山があればどこへでも登ります

I climb wherever slopes are, even with my parents!

登った甲斐あり！

The hard work paid off!

両親の新しい家 My parents' new home

今回の日本での滞在先はいつもの実家ではなく、北海道にある両親の新しい家です。北海道に移住するのは彼らの長年の夢でした。スウェーデンヒルズという名だけあって日本離れした街並みですが、海外に住んでいる私にとってはむしろ見慣れた風景。ちょっと秋のニューイングランド地方を思い出させる光景です。

My parents have been retired and they moved to a completely new area called Hokkaido last year where they'd always wanted to move to. It's north Japan and has beautiful mountains, farms and best ski resorts in the country.The community where they live is called "Sweden Hills" and the way houses are builed is very different from a typical Japanese style. It kind of reminds me of New England in fall.

Vegitable garden in the back where they grow cabages, broccoli, tomatoes, leeks, asparagus,strawberries, rhubarbs and some herbs.

Lovely western style home

...with a Japanese 'tatami' room