August 2 - SANSA!!!

Insect count: a couple small flies

T5B: 1) I made it in time to be in Sansa in spite of us missing our train. 2) Being in Sansa - it was SO fun! 3) I had my Lunette with me on the train. 4) I had brought plenty of tylenol in my purse. 5) I had time to run home and grab something I had forgotten (my drum straps). And 6) I'm getting caught up with my blog! Sorry everyone for getting behind!

When we got up, first thing we did was have the hotel breakfast. There was toast and soft boiled eggs. This is the second time I have had sliced white bread while in Japan. Once was at Limor's. But for Japanese breakfast!? I was surprised. In any case, after breakfast we checked out of our hotel and went down to the train station. We put our bags in a locker and got tickets for the trains. Then we head out to the fort! This is a cannon (and me).

This is a hand organ - isn't it gorgeous!?

Here is the full cannon in its glory.

AHAHAHA! We had to wait for children to move and then got in. I wanted to be the squid. I had to bend down pretty low, but WORTH IT! Tara said she was making her "tower" face. LOL

Here is some history for the fort and the port in Hakodate

This is how the fort is laid out - so cool!

Here is it again with information

That says Goryoukaku ~ not sure about the last kanji. Maybe fort?

The full stone

Really cool arch in which the trees were interwoven (grown in)

me and the Magistrate's Office in the fort

Abbey and the Magistrate's Office

About the office

A picture of the front

This was just inside reception. We had to pay to get in, but considering they hadn't charged us to get into the fort and we had read it cost online, we weren't upset. (We paid less than expected!) The only thing we didn't do was go up in the tower. That cost more money than seeing this office. Also it turned out we wouldn't have had time. (Also, we got to the fort by taking the bus even though there was a tram. The bus got us there much closer so I argued for that.)

This is the lavatory! (there is a better picture of the other one further down)

Here is the plaque for the Ohiroma

Ohiroma

view to the left of the Ohiroma

view looking back (and Abbey)

I'm assuming this was for drinking water. There was no sign.

The other lavatory

Omotezashiki

Omotezashiki

Weapons storage

Looking down the hall (next to the Ohiroma)

Nakaniwa

Picture of the Nakaniwa (naka means middle and niwa means within ~ though niwa might mean garden in this case ~ I don't know the two kanji so I can't say which it is.)

History of the port and the fort

The structure of Goryoukaku

Other star shaped forts in the world

St Martin in France (a star shaped fort)

Artefacts

There were four journals entries they found about life in the fort. I wish I could read kanji! These four pictures are scenes depicting what the journals described. There was a cute little Japanese girl who kept popping her eye into each box and exclaiming "Sugoi!" and then moving onto the next one at a rapid pace. LOL

another journal scene

journal scene

last journal scene

Invasion of the Shogunate

The weapons

Here is another view of the Nakaniwa

Taikoyagura! The plaque says there is record of one being hit by a ship's cannon fire! (They were kept on the roof)

Ashigaru tsumesho

Small scale replica of the building

Abbey and Tara checking out the joints (the woodworking)

The wood joints - they were super cool!

Here is an example of the wood itself

The last wood joint

There it is in wood :)

The side and front

Me and the tower (Goryoukaku Tower)

A scene in the giftshop

Me as a samurai. "Am I covered?" "Yes!" -- No. No I am not. Oh well.

The Seikan Tunnel (From Honshu to Hokkaido)

The deepest part of the tunnel (and me)

Me in my Sansa gear!! (My yukata)

Ok so this is the story of yesterday (since today is the third). We took the "10 minute" tram from the fort back to the station. The girls had decided they wanted to stay longer but I wanted to shower before the show and get my stuff together and not be RUSHED. Well, the 10 minute tram took twenty minutes. And it was HOT. So we rush off, we run to the station (I was overheating and unhappy since I don't care to be rushed), and I get stopped at the gate. This guy wants to see ALL my tickets. So I hurry and grab out everything I have and as I'm running back... the train pulls away. I burst into tears on the platform. I was NOT happy. I was stressed, frustrated, overheated... just not good. We went and changed our tickets and found out I was going to get into Morioka right before I had to meet everyone. So I had to let them know I was going to be late (got flack for that, but I'm doing the best I can!). The girls went to see their thing and I stayed in the station. I was determined not to miss another train (even though we had an hour and a half). I also needed to cool down. I bought an electrolyte drink and settled in. Later the girls got back and we got our stuff out of the train locker. We had about 30 minutes but I told them I was waiting on the platform. Luckily I was paranoid as the guy wouldn't let me in the gate. He wouldn't or couldn't tell me why either. He sent me to the ticket desk. Then they had to get a girl who spoke better English than the girl at the desk to help us. It turns out we had all the right tickets but she mixed them up. She gave one of my tickets to Abbey and one of my tickets to Tara. Sheesh. Woman! So by the time that was settled, it was time to get on the train. BUT we made it! YAY! I was worried about the trains as the other tickets had said the journey from Hakodate to Shin-Aomori was 2 hours and 14 minutes. That meant we had FIVE MINUTES to get to our next train. I warned the girls to be ready to jump off the train and hurry to our next one. In the meantime, my period officially started. Seriously!? After a week of cramps I get MORE!? *sigh* So I dealt with that - in a tiny train bathroom (that was fun, lol)! In any case, luckily our train was faster and we had 15 minutes to switch trains and it took 10.

When we arrived since the girls felt badly for me missing my train (they stopped at the giftshop on the way out, but the tram was the really slow thing), they got a cab to my place. The driver had to take a circuitous route because of all the Sansa stuff, but he turned the meter off early. I thought that was really nice of him. It also was a lot cheaper than we thought it would be. As it was because of traffic I only had time to wash myself a little with a washcloth, cool down and hurry and grab my stuff. I was still 15 minutes late and then I had to go back because I forgot my drum straps (I was in so much pain and in such a rush I forgot them!). Oh - I also fed Donut as soon as we walked in. He was ok and had blown a ton of bubble in his water. He's doing it now again. Tara, who had a beta, says it's a "I'm ready to mate!" thing. Well.. sorry buddy. You're a fighter fish. I'm not going to put another fish in with you! Plus I don't even know how to tell the males and females apart. He loves his plant though. He's chilling under it right now. :)

One more thing about Hokkaido and the onsens. I had heard from one of the elders that there's a horse fat shampoo. He said it was all natural. They had it at the onsens. So I took advantage and used it. It smelled good (which made me wonder if it was REALLY all natural) but it made my hair very thin. It was weird. I think that it stripped my hair. :/ I've been using all natural shampoo for more than a year and a half now and my hair already feels better now that I've gone back to my shampoo. I don't believe that stuff was all natural. However, I can say that I used horse fat shampoo!

Ok back to Sansa. I got ready and dressed at the hall (they had a little female area.). Ann helped me with my yukata and obi and then Alice helped me fix it when I ran back for the drum straps. Then everyone sort of hung out/practiced/talked about the performance. I stood around feeling nervous and excited. Finally around 19h30 we went out to our gathering area. We had a little group pep talk (no idea what was said but I cheered with everyone every time there was cheering). One of the girls was really rude to me (non Japanese). Sheesh. One girl who is investigating the church though (Miyuki) is super great! At first I was on the edge and then I felt like it was too much pressure and asked to change with another girl. She gladly took my place and I moved up one row and in one. (So there was one guy between me and the masses of people.) I got to stand next to Miyuki. I told her how I had gone to the onsens and she said my skin looked really good. :) I thanked her. Then off we were. I was SO nervous but my brain switched off and my hours of practice (muscle memory) took over. But I had that moment, "I didn't think someone could forget so many lines without a severe blow to the head." I was like, "I don't remember anything!!" But it was fine when I switched my brain off. :) I saw all the elders and sisters. I saw Abbey and Tara (Tara got a good video of me - I saw it), and there were teachers from my Deaf school. After the parade (and we went on forever and ever - SO fun but a real workout. I'm so glad it was 20h00 by the time we started) we make two circles and citizens join in the dancing. Since I only got to work on that other rhythm one practice I didn't know the dance but I knew the drum beats. I asked Ann if it would be ok if I were in that circle anyway. She said she thought so (I just didn't want to miss out if I'm not here next year). So I joined that circle. After that, four teachers (including Kawai-s) from the Deaf school came over and were excitedly talking to me. I told them about my trip a little and they told me how awesome I had done! It was SO fun to talk to them! :D I got to practice more Japanese. :D It was just a fantastic night. Even though I had to wait forever to take a shower since Abbey and Tara both had to shower first when I got home. Hope you all had an equally (or will have) awesome Friday night! I'm dancing again tonight (8/3) so I can do it again but also so Amber can see. :D XOXO, A