from princess to biker to backpacker in less than 3 hours

So today I went looking for wedding dress shops. Earlier I'd gone with Aiko and Erika in Asahikawa and I'd found a nice one, but I still wanted to have a look around to see what Japan had to offer. The current style in Canada is... big, stiff, and strapless. Not really what I think I'd look good in. So I wanted to get one that was more suited to my style. Unfortunately, Japan's style is big and floofy with either feathers (yes, feathers) and ruffles. Seriously, tons of ruffles. Entering a shop is like entering　the Land of Floof. And the dresses are sometimes coloured, like pink, yellow, red or even black. Very Disnee-esque and princessy, but the style was different enough　that I didn't give up so easily. I tried looking in several stores, but I couldn't find anything I liked. And the store ladies were terrified of me, I could tell, I doubt they got any foreign women looking for a dress there. They would shove a catalogue in my hand and run away silently screaming.　But occasionally I'd get tea, too.

I was trying to find a store I'd looked up on the Internet, but I couldn't find the store nor the building it was supposed to be in. So I was about to give up when I saw the store name "HANY　WEDDING" nearby. Not the store I was looking for, but what the hell. The hot pink and verrrry rufflled dress in the window almost turned me off, but then I heard the friendliest "Hello! いらっしゃいませ　Irrashaimase!"　（Welcome to the store!) I've heard in a long time.　Hany （翅仁衣）, a young woman in her mid-20s, sat me down, gave me a refreshing cup of iced apple tea, and gave me a few wedding magazines to scan through. I said I was looking for a dress, I drew a quick sketch of what I was looking for. She said she didn't have anything like that on hand, but she could design it. She gave me a very good estimate, giving me a discount for a) having a simple dress design and b) being her first foreign client.　Well, first I have to ask James. But he can't see it... So no picture.

After deciding on a dress design, Hany showed me some pictures of her client's weddings. They were all set in very... um... churchy churches. Like so churchy-looking you know they're fake. Usually located in hotels, these wedding venues are only for photography purposes. Japanese couples, who aren't Christian but want a Western-style wedding, get married in these places. Sometimes there are all-in-one wedding places that offer everything from start to finish for the couple for a hefty price, they include both churchy church setting or a traditional Japanese ceremony. It's common for a bride to have a traditional Japanese ceremony in the white kimono, a waxed wig and that headpiece to cover up her 'horns', after which she changes into a white wedding dress for the reception, and then again into a colourful cocktail dress for the afterparty. (There was a picture of one of the afterparties, where the groom was dressed as a giant beer bottle. I wonder if if Hany could design one for James ;-)

Back up to the station I went, to buy my bike!! I bought this beautiful bicycle from a JET in 上湧別 Kamiyubetsu who is heading back to Canada later this year. It is black, very light and sturdy, with the works included　- amazing shocks, 4 carry-bags for bike-hikes, and a nylon bag so that you can disassemble it, pop it in the bag, and take it on the train. But unfortunatly, the transaction took place at 8pm, leaving me 2 hours to get home, grab my backpack （thank goodness I'd packed the night before）, lock up the bike again and catch the train back to Sapporo Station just in time to catch the 10pm overnight express to ... 青森県　AOMORI!

Some background stuff, first... from when the Aomori group was in Calgary for the workshop, they invited me to jam with them. Well, when I did go to the JR desk and ask how much a round-trip ticket would cost, even the local train was well over $300 from Sapporo. However, just a few weeks after that, JR came out with a Tohoku/Hokkaido rail pass for only $100, a 5-day unlimited local train pass. It also included the 'Hamanasu' overnight express directly from Sapporo, through Hakodate, under the world's longest undersea tunnel. Good thing too, because even on the express which makes about 8 stops, it still takes a good 7 hours from Sapporo to Aomori. And knowing how cramped, bumpy and AC-less the local trains are, a 10+ hour ride just didn't appeal...

So with my pass in hand, backpack on my back [with my バチ bachi (drumsticks) and 足袋 tabi (rubber soled split-toe socks)] I headed to Sapporo Station to board the Hamanasu overnight express. Now one would assume that an overnight express would have maybe a sleeping car with bunks, or maybe reclining seats, and at the very least AC. None of the above. We set off at 10pm, and with the 30 year old train grinding to a bumpy halt 8 times (complete with jerky brakes and high-pitched squeals), it's no wonder I didn't sleep at all.