sunset

.... wow

barbeque time

Hokudai students know how to party, haha. You see barbeques of 5-10 people happening on the campus all the time. Informal events, just a portable barbeque pit, some meat and veg, and plenty of beer. Imagine if they did that at U of C. Campus Security would be having kittens.

OMG! It's a mushroom!

Today I found a mushroom in the roadside shop costing $35.

... it's a mushroom...

look! duckies!

The classic scene on campus: a mother duck and her 7 ducklings crossing the road. It would have been so sweet if there weren't 15 people running after them with their cellphones trying to take a picture.

They HAVE wildlife here because there are natural spaces here for them. Ponds, tree-lined streets, lots of bushes and flowers.

yosakoi! soran-soran!

Today I finally got to go to the annual Sapporo よさこいソーラン祭り Yosakoi Soran Festival. Yosakoi is a kind of very active Japanese dance which involves a group, all dressed in cool costumes, dancing together, waving 15 foot flags, and making noise with 鳴子 clacker things. Usually every town or city has at least one, and they have a distinct costume, usually very colourful and bright with long sleeves. There are hundreds of these groups, not only from Japan but from cities around the world.

I did Yosakoi in Kamikawa, but I didn't go to the Soran Matsuri because I was in Thailand at the time. But I did meet up with the Kamikawa group this time, they thought it was so wierd to see Ruth-sensei again. In fact, if you look at this years memorial album, you'll see me tucked in the back row :P This picture is just funny because a cop got caught in the big flag. I giggled.

Soran is an old fishing call, like "Heave-ho!", and some of the moves include pulling an imaginary rope. I highly recommend going to this festival!

Just for randomness: Look, guys with TV screens on their heads. They were playing commercials for something.

I love Japan.

the colonel plays baseball

and apparantly he plays for the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighers.

Who wants to fight a ham, anyway?