The Culture
The first thing I think of when I think about how Japanese culture is different from American culture is that the Japanese can load an airplane like nobody's business. (I suppose this tells you about the kind of person I am as well.) Seriously though, it was impressive that they could start boarding a 737 (roughly 150 passengers) 15 minutes before take off and have everybody loaded and seated with time to spare. So yes, the Japanese are efficient, but there's something else as well. I'd like to think it's a sort of awareness of the impact of one's actions on the people nearby.
The biggest cultural difference was obviously the language. I can get by reasonably well in the Romance languages French, Italian and Spanish. They use our alphabet, have similar grammar, syntax and, obviously, etymology. Oh yeah, and they use the same alphabet, too. Japanese, of course, does none of this. To make it more confusing, Japanese actually uses three "alphabets" plus the occasional use of Roman characters. All four can be found on this sign:
Mercifully, many signs, especially those in major cities, were displayed in both Japanese and Roman characters. Getting around a ski area in another language wouldn't have been a big deal, but taking a train into Tokyo would have been.
Of course, mis-translations and misspellings were rampant. This is a good place to point out that Japanese does not use articles (the, a/an).
In addition, many, many people spoke at least some level of English, which made it possible to get by on the most basic language skills: "ohayo gozaimasu","arigato", "birru". Even places that were not touristy, we found people that spoke English, sometimes quite well.
Japanese culture was also very interesting in that they have been able to incorporate so much Western culture, while maintaining their inherent Japanese-ness. This is in stark contrast to, say, the French and even more so the Quebecois, who both actively work to distance themselves from American ways. Perhaps it is because Japan and America are so different that they can appropriate our culture without feeling overrun?
As an example, some hotels offered both Western rooms (with beds) and traditional Japanese rooms (with floor mats). We stayed in Western style rooms exclusively and they all had a funky console on the bed that controlled the alarm clock and room lights. This one even had a radio.
Slippers. Always slippers. Often too small for my feet.
Tiny cars. This was the smallest we saw. It was practically a go-cart.
Hot rooms. Hokkaido is pretty cold, and all our hotel rooms were hot. I spent about a half hour wrangling with this beast to turn our heat down to 19 degrees Celsius (66 degrees Fahrenheit). It had been set to 25 degrees.
Many places would have vending machines, rather then a person to take your order. You put in your money and get a ticket for the item or items you want, and then present the ticket to the person at teh counter who would prepare your item. The one pictured here let you buy ice cream at the Milk Kobo in Niseko.
A couple of our hotels gave us robes in addition to slippers. Katie is getting ready to head down to the onsen (mineral hot springs) at the Green Leaf Hotel in Niseko.
The Japanese have embraced coffee culture to the point that you can get a cup of coffee pretty much anywhere, including from vending machines (both hot and cold). Sometimes though, it is expensive. This cup was 500 yen (about 5 dollars).
The Food (and the Drink)
Japanese food is far more than sushi. On Hokkaido, especially, they eat a lot of ramen. It's not the cheap stuff, but real soup made from real ingredients. The traditional ramen of Hokkaido features a miso-based broth and it's pretty funky. Fortunately, there were other styles as well.
In addition to ramen, there's soba noodles made from buckwheat, which can be served both hot (in broth) or cold (alone on a plate). We finally found some excellent soba noodles in Tokyo. Oddly enough, the place was one of the most traditional places that we encountered and it was located in Tokyo's ultra-modern and chic Shibuya district. This was the only place that we went that didn't at least have a picture menu. Did the owner speak flawless English? Of course, she did.
In Sapporo, they love their jingisukan, which is grilled lamb and literally translates as "Genghis Khan". According to Wikipedia, it is so named because it was thought to be the preferred dish of Mongolian soldiers. According to our guidebook, the notion of eating massive quantities of grilled lamb was thought to be so outrageous that the Japanese named it after the most outrageous person they could think of and who better to choose than the man who built an empire that stretched from the Pacific Ocean to the Caspian Sea. Whatever the reason, this portion of his legacy is delicious.
The cold ocean waters around Hokkaido are renowned for the crustaceans they produce. These things cost $150! I should also note that I ate crab legs for the very first time and they were tasty. I'm sure it helps that they were fresh -- boiled, then chilled and dunked in some kind of vinegar-based sauce.
Yes, we ate sushi. Yes, it was delicious. In Sapporo, they keep it pretty simple -- lots of sashimi and nigiri, and some pretty basic rolls.
The conveyer belt sushi restaurants are typically lower end establishments, but this one was not. Located inside a department store (which was more like a mall), it was run by the chef of a well-known sushi restaurant. We showed up for a late lunch and had to wait for a solid 20 minutes.
Maybe just one more?
One of the best meals we had in Japan was at Restaurant Yo! in Hirafu. Fixed menu, 8 courses. Katie had the seafood course and I had the beef shabu shabu course. Beef shabu shabu is very thinly sliced beef boiled in broth along with traditional Japanese vegetables.
Katie's seafood salad.
Sashimi plate.
Why are you making me wait to eat this?
Shabu shabu broth, simmering at the table.
Shabu shabu waiting to be cooked.
Well, that was delicious. How about something to wash it down? We're on Hokkaido so how about some:
Sapporo classic is only sold on Hokkaido and it was my favorite of the three Sapporo beers. Yes, I did try them all.
I'd like to conclude this post by telling you about the greatest bar in the world: Bar Gyu+ in Hirafu. This is the entrance, no sign, just a tiny refrigerator door covered in stickers.
Inside. Little tables, warm lighting, jazz deep cuts hand-picked by their DJ and killer drinks.
Katie's Yuzu White beer. Japanese microbrews were hard to come by. Yuzu, by the way, is a Japanese citrus fruit. Katie's second drink was a very excellent Calvados sidecar (Calvados is a French apple brandy - sidecars typically call for Cognac.)
Mars Shinshu Spanish Oak Single Cask. 12 yrs. Tasty! My second drink was a homemade, barrel-aged plum whiskey. Tasty again.
