This is the view from my office building.
The driveway into the office building.
Lots of snow...
The city of Wakkanai.
That's one of the high schools where I teach, up there on the hill!
People have to shovel their cars out after a night of snowfall.
I have no idea why John made this face. He's a nearby English-speaking friend... though he speaks weird South African English ;).
A road near my house.
Look carefully and you will see Azarashi! (sea lions!!)
Azarashi
They're all up along the water edge on those wave breakers.
One poked his head up out of the water! And, you can see a few others laying around by the wave breakers.
They actually make funny sounds and stuff.
Can you see them along the water edge?
This one was swimming up to say hello.
Soya Misaki. These are two random Americans we met wandering around Wakkanai one day. They are nature lovers and we on their Spring Break from Kansai Gaidai... and decided to come freeze up in Hokkaido...
The road....
Soya Misaki (Northernmost point in Japan).
We are doing yakiniku. You cook your own food.
Testing some chairs in Home-Ac. This was a very difficult decision for Moraya...
My kidssss. They are in a band.
Soccer club.
Brass band.
Volleyball girls.
My pillow... I have new clue why I ook a picture of that...
A snow sculpture of RelaxBear at the Yukimatsuri in Sapporo.
Yay RelaxBear!
Egypt... and a giant beer... All the big sculptures have corporate sponsors (of course).
They are giving out bags, gloves, and tongs for people to pick up trash they find in the park. If you can fill up one bag, you get some kind of prize.
Explaining about keeping the environment clean.
Those are the tongs and gloves on the table.
There was a little ski slope in the park that snowboarders did tricks on. However, at this point, they were just raking the snow.
They're strapping ice shoes on that guy so he can climb up.
It's all in your toes.
Painting the lines on.
Domo-Kun!
I love him.
This is a yukidaruma! (Japan's style of making a snowman).
Mmm, yummy!
Azarashi!
Giant anime character with large breasts...
Hugs! You could pick up all of the little shapes next to this sculpture and take your picture with them.
Robu-robu.
An-Pan-Man. My students love this character.
cute!
Reclining buddha.
RelaxBear!
Ka.... that is just a letter from the alphabet... I think it MIGHT mean "power" though, alone.
This is the mascot for Mister Doughnut in Japan.
The other Mister Doughnut mascot.
And... there was a Starbucks igloo.... just in case you lost your caffiene high during your walk through the park. Japan is soooo caffienated....
I have no idea what they were doing... but they were yelling a lot.
An-Pan-Man again.
cuuuute
This is some kind of mascot for Hokkaido that I have yet to understand. His name is Marimokkori and I guess he is supposed to be some kind of ball of algae which grows in the oceans off Hokkaido. If you wondered, YES, that is an erection he has. I kid you not. I could not make this up. I can't even pretend to understand it. It's even on Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marimokkori
Kapiparasan! This is my absolute favorite character in Japan. Soooo cute!
This is where you can go to sign a petition to take back the Northern Territories. Eh... Japan and Russia don't get along to well....
German food! Sapporo is actually a sister-city to Munich. You can get mulled wine (gluwein) here and Sapporo even has a German-style Christmas market in November.
I was trying to get video of how cool the train looks when it curves around the tunnels, but it didn't turn out so well, and i am in idiot for taking it sideways.
Soup Curry. This is a popular Hokkaido food.
Ski-jo in Wakkanai! Or Essashi... I forget.
picture taken on the lift
Ready to bust my ass boarding.
There aren't any pictures of me actually boarding because it is hard to snowboard and take pictures at the same time.
I are snowboarding champion.
John gets stuck in big piles of powder....
The ski-jo in Nayoro. It is pretty much the most kick-ass ski-jo in Northern Hokkaido. They have a cool half-pipe and lots of jumps. (L->R) Chris, John, Jenna, Me!
Hells yes.
Black coffee and cigarettes... This promotion was called the "convenience pack" in the store.
My foot!
My view whilst taking a rest at the top of the hill.
