Life Post Quake

I wasn’t able to get home until a couple hours after the big earthquake… so I was kind of nervous to see my house not only post big earthquake but we already had quite a few sizeable aftershocks… AND my poor puppy Kona, AND we were dog sitting our friends two dogs...

Driving home… for the first time the gravity of the situation sunk in, and I freaked out a little bit… we had ceiling tiles crashing down on kids… would our kitchen still be together or would everything be broken on the floor, would our tv still be standing, would our bookshelves be toppled over, would the TONS of picture frames I have on the walls still me hanging?!? Worrying and freaking is no good… ever… especially not in a natural disaster situation... SO… to stop thinking about what could have happened I started making a list in my mind off all the stuff to do before it got dark, since we had no power… Still when I pulled up in front of my house I had to take a few breaths to calm my heart before walking through the door…

And then much to my surprise and gratitude my friend Sara was standing in my doorway when I opened the door!!! Things never seem quite so bad when you have a friend… apparently… after the quake Derick suggested to go check on the wives at home and make sure everyone was okay, he got the north area and I am sure other people got main base and off base… when Derick got to Sara’s house (on the 6^th floor of a tower) Derick asked if she was okay… she said yes… Derick said really cause you don’t look okay” and then she broke down and said she didn’t want to stay up there alone… Which I don’t blame her… the towers are crazy during earthquakes because they sway SO MUCH! So Derick sent her and the two dogs to our house. Our house was relatively untouched by the quake… 5 picture frames fell and a huge log I found at the beach that I haven’t done anything with yet fell over and that was it… some stuff was close to the edges of table… but not quite off… Sara’s house however was much worse off… her bookshelves fell over; glassware cabinets opened and glasses fell and broke.

So when I got home there was a pack of 5 dogs roaming my house! It was awesome! Sara and I hurried to prepare for a night without power… keeping the fridge and freezer closed as much as possible to conserve their chilling ability… digging out my grill and charcoal… gathering as many candles as possible… finding board games. And building snow lanterns to light my house!

That first night we ended up having 10 people, 5 dogs, and a crazy game of catch phrase… we grilled steak over charcoal… until it died out (there wasn’t very much) then I used old pizza boxed, and had steak & cheese sandwiches on bagels with grilled veggies… for desert we had berries with homemade whipped cream (thanks to Sara’s extreme whipping skills!).

It was the next day I went into little house on the prairie survival mode… I didn’t know how long we would be without power, how long our running water would last… and didn’t want to wait to find out. Better safe then sorry… I took our clothes that had just been washed but not dried and made a cloths line and hung them out to dry…

Since we didn’t have a big cooler I took Rubbermaid containers from a storage thing and filled them with snow from the back yard and packed everything from our fridge and freezer into the snow. I filled our big 5-gallon camping water container with water. As long as we would be getting rations of food and water I could have lasted weeks… or longer… 

The base had hot meals provided 4 times a day at the dining hall, and hot showers at the gym for anyone that needed them. I of course felt like that was cheating… and didn’t want the food we had to go bad so I made all our meals for us. We stopped by the lumber yard off base that first day after the quake and bought a couple bundles of fire wood so after that I just built fires in my grill to cook, and now I really love my cast iron skillet!

We were only without power for 3 days, two nights… and had running water the whole time so it wasn’t bad… but it was fun… I was kind of disappointed when the power came back on… Derick wasn’t… first thing he did was vacuum… not even kidding… But  I guess it is always better to be safe then sorry… a long time ago (rumor has it… and a I cant look it up cause I don’t have internet right now) that there was quake that was bigger up here in Misawa and the base lost power for 2 months with no running water for 1 month. I have learned lessons from this experience… no longer will I scoff at emergency preparedness… we need to be ready at all times for anything. 

During the Earthquake

When the big earthquake hit I was at work… we only had about 15 kids because school had just gotten out and most were still walking to the youth center. At first the earthquake was just a gentle rolling and had everybody just stay still and calm, then after about 15 seconds it got rough, I told the kids to calmly get underneath a table or in a doorway… kids were diving under the pool table, I had about 5 in the doorway with me… Doors started slamming, I had a hard time standing up because the pitching of the earth was so violent. Ceiling tiles started falling all over the building and parts of the ventilation system came crashing out of the ceiling…

I was talking to the kids the whole time… “Everybody stay calm… its almost over… you guys are doing so good… we are perfectly safe” and inside I am freaking out because this is one of the coolest things I have ever felt. About halfway through the quake we lost power… and then about a minute and half after it started it was over… kind of… over enough to walk and not fall over… we had all the kids grab their coats and go outside… since our ceiling was falling in. Outside a new group of kids had gathered… many had banged up knees from falling while walking because the quake threw them to the ground. Outside it was cold and the ground was wet from melting snow, I had my yoga mat with me and brought that outside. The kids that were freaking out the worst were sitting with me on my mat… mostly with their heads buried in whatever portion of my torso they could find and crying. The rest of the staff was walking around taking roll and comforting the kids as best they could. A lot of the kids were fine however and running around and playing, making silly dances to try to help the scared kids forget. It was so cold outside… and within 20 minutes the first big aftershock came, and during that aftershock we heard crashing like a building collapse… all the kids stopped moving, got really quiet and looked at the staff with pure panic on their faces… I knew I had to keep them calm so I just said it was probably part of the exercise that was going on base (during which explosions are not uncommon) and that seemed to calm them… while I however started to freak out just a little because that was definitely not a good sound. Sitting outside over the next hour we probably had 5 big aftershocks and countless little ones. We of course had to keep the kids out of the building, since we were not sure if the ceiling tiles would hold, and we got a buckle in our floor…

Staying in the building was not something worth risking, so we called all the parents to come get their kids, many were already on the way… some just couldn’t understand why their kid couldn’t stay… umm… our roof is falling in… about an hour and a half after we evacuated the building we got a heated bus to park in our parking lot that we could stick the kids that were left on so we didn’t all freeze to death. About 5:30 or two and half hours after the quake all the kids were with parents or emergency caretakers and we locked down our building and went home to see what was left at our houses … 

Otaru Lantern Festival

Otaru "is a city and port in Shiribeshi, Hokkaidō, Japan, northwest of Sapporo. The city faces the Ishikari Bay, and has long served as the main port of the bay. With its many historical buildings, Otaru is a popular tourist destination." ~ Wikipedia

This is the Otaru Canal. "Otaru Canal (Otaru Unga) used to be a central part of the city's busy harbor in the first half of the 20th century, when large vessels had to be unloaded by smaller ships, which then transported the goods to warehouses along the canal. The canal became obsolete, when modern dock facilities allowed for direct unloading of larger vessels. Thanks to a citizens' movement, however, a part of the canal was beautifully restored in the 1980s instead of being landfilled, while the warehouses were transformed into shops, cafes, museums and restaurants." ~Japan-guide

And now you are about to find out why this is my new favorite city on Hokkaido... maybe in all of Northern Japan... maybe in all of Japan...

Otaru Canal  

Otaru is famous for its glass works. There were a handful of shops where people were actaully blowing glass and you could make your own beads. This was one of those shops, they have the rods of colored glass to pick from then then you sit at these tables and they help you make your own beads.. this kid looks like he is making one for his girlfriend... he looked pretty stressed out! 

There were also dozens of shops that sold the glassworks. Shelves and shelves and more shelves of super delicate tiny glass things... they made me nervous... plus I had a camera bag and a tripod strapped to my back so I was sure I would crash into something... luckily I did not. 

This was on the main strip of shops, art galleries and restaurants right next to the canal... they called it snowman street because every shop had a snowman or two or three built outside... It was the cutest thing. Just imagine you are walking downtown or in your neighborhood and in front of every building there was a little wonky snowman... all lit with candles. It was so cute and intimate and I felt  like I belonged. 

This was in front of another building... snow shelves with mini snowmen and ice lanterns. This is why the festival is called the lantern festival... Because everything is aglow in soft candle light. It was so amazing. 

More ice and snow lanterns but these were located right on the main canal.

Nighttime Otaru Canal... it was so romantic

This is all on a third street in Otaru with glass floats ablaze and snow sculptures everywhere... they however weren't big like the Sapporo ones, they were small and intimate and really cool, the kind of cool that makes you think... "hmm next time is snows I am building this on my porch"

This is why this is my new favorite city!

Reasons Why I Loved the Otaru Lantern Festival:

Romantic Intimate and charming city

Really Delicious Food!!! 

Felt a personal connection like I was a part of the festival not just observing

Super easy to get to from Sapporo via Train

Reasons Why I Didn't Love the Festival:

None

Sapporo Snow Festival

The Sapporo Snow Festival is "one of Japan's largest and most distinctive winter events. In 2007 (58th Festival), about two million people visited Sapporo to see the hundreds of snow statues and ice sculptures." ~Wikipedia

The Snow Festival was cool, literally it was pretty cold... especially at night! No... but really it was. It was interesting as well... I had never thought of snow sculptures as opposed to ice sculpture but these were definitely carved out of snow. They had some ice here and further across town they had a whole exhibit of ice sculptures (post to follow). I think it was really interesting to see the juxtaposition of natural and big city, modern and childish. 

Snow Sculpture in Central Sapporo

  These things had crazy details and they were SO BIG! There were probably 10 different sculptures that were part of giant snow stages! They were crazy. I felt as though it was almost hard to relate to on a personal level. Everything was so big and imposing and overwhelming. You will see a significant difference when I post the smaller more intimate festivals of Otaru and Chitose.

"Tourism of Hokkaido"

There was a ski jump in the middle of the city! 

This is another one of those giant stages but out of ice!

This is a family of a popular japanese cartoon show. It makes me think of the Japanese version on family guy.

This was part of the International Snow Carving Competition. Countries from all over the wold came and sculpted in front of crowds under a time limit to create a winning design... it was like those sugar sculpture contests on the Food Network! Intensity!

There were at least as many food vendor as there were snow sculptures, I really liked this one cause of the floats they hanging from the roof. 

Chu-Hi in front of the Snow Temple... 

These guys were just creepy....

This was a "designated smoking area" made out of ice blocks... I thought it was gorgeous!

View of Sapporo at night from the TV Tower  

So basically I think you have to take the Sapporo Snow Festival at face value... what you see in the pictures is what it is... only alot colder. If I went back I think I would stay only one night in Sapporo, one  day and night is all you need to see everything, then I would spend a couple days in Otaro... cause its so cute and then travel around the rest of the island. I think part of an overall trip the Snow Festival would be great... but not worth the trip if that is all you do.

Reasons why I loved the Sapporo Snow Festival

Crazy sculptures bigger then I ever imagined possible carved out of snow. 

It was fun to be in a big city for a little while 

Reasons why I didn't love the Festival

I dont really like big cities

SO MANY PEOPLE... and the kept touching me

So big and ridiculous it was hard to related to on a personal level.

Sapporo Chocolate Factory

Another exciting Sapporo attraction is the Chocolate Factory! They had a little museum-ish thing and you could look down at the processing floor from above. 

Sapporo Chocolate Factory

Inside the Chocolate Factory... 

18th Century Vintage Hot Chocolate Cups 

I really really really love the colors in this room! Its kinda busy, but I like it, I would like to paint my garage (if i had one) to look like those tiles!

19th Century Vintage Tile from UK 

Family Self Portrait

The Shiroi Koibito Cookie Production Line. We got to sample these cookie, they were pretty good. They are two thin almost sugar cookie slabs with creamy white chocolate in the middle. This production line showed everything from the cooling of the cookie, introducing the chocolate, packaging, printing the best by date, and even a quick x-ray to make sure no foreign objects found their way into the cookies!

Shiroi Koibito Cookie Production Line 

And if there is somewhere you are going to eat... it should definitly be a chocolate factory! My parents and I each got hot chocolate, a white, dark, and regular hot chocolate so we could all try all three. Best Hot Chocolate of my LIFE!

Hot Chocolate & Orange Liquor

 And we got Fondue!!!! AMAZING!

Fondue at Sapporo Chocolate Factory 

Ferry and Sapporo Brewery

My parents, some friends, and I all went to Sapporo for the Sapporo Snow Festival. Sapporo is located on Hokkaido, the island just north of us on the main island. There are a several ways to reach Hokkaido, we chose to go via ferry. The ferry like all Japan adventures is interesting and fun! We weren't sure how full it would be with the Snow Festival going on (in 2007 about 2 million people attended the snow festival) so we made advance reservation (through Misawa ITT), I think this was not necessary the ferry was pretty empty, although some other people that went had different ferry experiences... It was only a 7 hour ride... overnight... but just in case you HAVE to shower it did have an onsen!!!! 

Hachinohe Ferry Onsen

An Onsen is a public bath... I was able to sneak a picture since noone had gotten in yet... There are the little shower areas where you wash off first then everyone goes and soaks in the pool of water behind. I think the Onsens are going to be what I miss the most about Japan. Most onsens including this one are only Male or Female but there are some that are co-ed. The nicer onsens have multiple baths of different temperatures, including cold baths, many have outdoor baths which are awesome in the snow, and some even have specialty baths... like wine... or coffee.. or natural sulfur water. 

View of Hachinohe Ferry Terminal... from the ferry 

 We drove to Hachinohe (1 hr) to take the ferry to Tomakamai (7 hr), and then a bus to Sapporo (2 hr). My parents wanted a private room so we got a first class room, that comes with four beds to a room, a sitting area, green tea, pajamas, and toothbrushes. Some of our friends however got the 2nd class room with bed, which was also really nice, there were 18 people to a room but only 4 beds were in each little section and they all had privacy curtains. The third ferry option is the tatami mat room... thats what I did over the summer, for pictures of our summer Hokkaido trip click HERE.

2nd class room with bed on Hachinohe Ferry

There is a bit to do in Sapporo besides the snow festival (which is next on the blog agenda) including... a brewery and chocolate factory. The Sapporo Brewery founded in 1876 is located in... Sapporo... shocking I know. They have a museum, tasting area and a restaurant.

Sapporo Brewery 

And even though I hate beer, I figured I had to have at least one... since I was in Sapporo and all... so I got a Sapporo Beer... it was gross... but they gave me cheese too so I was happy!

Sapporo Brewery Tasting 

After my super awesome beer (not) we went next door to the restaurant for a bite to eat. The buildings of the brewery were really pretty... especially at night. 

Sapporo Brewery Restaurant 

The restaurant was Yakiniku style... which means it served raw meat and veggies with grills in the middle of the table and you cook the food to your liking... dip it... and eat it! Delish!!!! Kendall and I had lamb and mixed veggies. 

Yakiniku 

Not only did we have a delishous Yakiniku dinner at the Sapporo Brewery... we were also serenaded! This guys was busting it out! This picture also shows the whole atmosphere of the restaurant, low light, kinda smoky from everyone burning thier food... it was cool!

Piano Accordionist at Sapporo Brewery 

And a final shot of the Brewery before we headed back to our Ryoken.

Sapporo Brewery