Yuki Matsuri

17 JETs from Fukushima and one from Miyagi all went, by Ferry, up to Sapporo. The boat took 13 hours but we managed to entertain ourselves with karaoke and drinking games (which unfortunately ended up in illness for one of our compadres… which we managed to pass off as sea sickness after one of the cabin crew found the sick-covered futon which myself and another JET had cunningly “hidden” in the middle of the corridor).

When we arrived in Sapporo we had the afternoon to walk around our area before heading off to the beer factory. Gemma, Jen, JD and I checked out the ice sculptures after scoffing down a healthy and very Japanese McDonalds. The ice sculptures were cool (bit of a pun for you there) and were incredibly detailed in their carving. One even had fish frozen in it and another which was advertising a brand of noodles, had ramen slapped on top of it.

The beer factory was the standard fair of all you can eat/drink meat and beer. Personally, I thought the meat wasn`t the best quality so didn`t eat very much. I like to be able to chew my food without pulling out fatty gristle every ten seconds.

After that, our group joined up with some other Fuku JETs, who were in Sapporo, for some drinks. With the exception of only a few we all crashed a small beer bar which had beer from all over the world- the English selection was a bit lacking with only Hob Goblin on offer. Two guys got a beer for 5,000 yen- that is about 30 pounds to you and me.

The next day was our only full day in Sapporo so we got up early ready for a full day of sightseeing. First thing we did was check out the snow sculptures. They were truly awesome and my disappointment in the lack of size of the ice sculptures was made up for by the huuuuumongous snow sculptures. They were the size of buildings; photos really can't capture how impressive they were. We spent the morning walking around checking them out- saw some of my favourite Ghibli characters and also got to hold a gigantic plastic fish. Successful day I do believe.

After some tasty miso ramen lunch (Hokkaido is famous for its ramen) we headed to the out-skirts of the city to go up Mt. Moiwa and see a great view of Sapporo. It was stunning and, again, photos on my rubbish camera really don't capture how awesome it was. From one side we could see all of Sapporo and from the other we could see beautiful mountain ranges. Being responsible, mature adults we felt the need to partake in a small snow fight too, which even involved Brent attacking some nearby American children. But the highlight of the mountain was a group of Malaysian tourists that we happened to ride the ropeway with. The leader of the Malaysian gang wanted to connect with us fellow foreigners (that, or take the piss) so serenaded us with “I can't get no satisfaction". Problem was, he only knew 'I can't get no…' and ended up singing the same line again and again. Then, Mark decided to teach him the rest so jumped into the middle of the Malaysian group with the crazy gang leader and had a quick sing and a dance with him. I say gang leader because he definitely looked like he could be part of the Malaysian Mafia.

Mark dancing with the man only spurred him on to then give us a quick belly dance, get our photos with him and then hand out his business cards… which had pictures of naked ladies on them.

In the evening we went to Otaru to check out some snow carvings which were on the bank of a canal lit up with tea lights. I didn't have my camera on me so you will just have to trust me that it was very pretty and very romantic (if only Chris had come!).

On our last day we only had the morning to do anything so we got up early to find the snowman army which would become part of our plan to conquer the world. Unfortunately this quest ended in failure as no one had bothered to build the army this year. Poop.