Reflections of Hakodate

The two months I spend in Hakodate were the best of my life. Looking back on the experience, I think having an open and positive attitude was one of the most important reasons why I was able to fully appreciate this study abroad opportunity. Although I’m sure that my unhappy experience at Cambridge in the previous summer was key to helping to develop that attitude, Hakodate is such a wonderful little town, and HIF as a program is so carefully and precisely executed, that it really is difficult not to be happy. And I felt happy every single day I was there. There were rarely any lows, and on the rare occasions that I felt weighed down by the work, or felt frustrated by my inability to communicate effectively with my host family, the next day I would bike along the coast and the sea breeze would take away all of my worries.

Reflecting on those two months, I don’t think I learned as much Japanese as I imagined I would – I thought I’d come out of the program nearly fluent, and be able to read manga and watch simple television programs without the aid of dictionaries. I have to admit, I still can’t – the dictionary is a must. The main obstacle, above all else, is vocabulary. I don’t have a problem with what HIF has taught me, but I’ve come to realize that the study of a language does not depend on any set curriculum or textbook. Once you learn the basic grammatical structures and have a decent feel of the language, most, if not all of the progress that you make, will be dependent on your own efforts.

Two of my friends in A 組 love to sing Japanese pop songs, and they studied the lyrics of dozens of songs and can sing them perfectly. They tell me that they can find all of the grammar structures that they learned in class in those songs, and more. Saying “I love to watch Japanese Anime and drama” is one thing, but watching it with Japanese subtitles, and freeze framing and taking down the new vocab and new grammatical structures, and (I cannot emphasize this enough) actually reviewing what you learned, is something completely different. One must be interested in the material to do these things, but by the time you’re doing daily reviews using Anki, and reading and re-reading your notes, what’s fueling you cannot be your interest for the material alone. You must have a strong drive and motivation for studying the language itself.

This all sounds really preachy, but it is what I’ve realized from these two months in HIF. I still have a long, long ways to go after HIF, and I look forward to the say when I can feel satisfied not only with my Japanese skills, but by my work habits and consistency – those are the things that carry over to other fields as well.

In terms of pure Japanese skills, I think I’ve always been rather good at speaking, and I’m especially proud of my ability to interpret the implied context of the situation (空気読める). By the end of HIF, I was very confident of my ability to get myself understood in daily conversation. I could begin conversations with ease, and find alternative ways of expressing myself if I couldn’t get through to my 相手 (person I’m talking to). However, language is a fickle thing. Just after a week of not using Japanese and staying at home, that confidence has diminished considerably. Again, I am reminded that perceived language ability is much less important than having consistent study habits that will actually help you improve.

Outside of academics, I was extremely fortunate to have met my host family, who felt like real family after these two months, and I became very good friends with the Chinese 留学生たち that lived besides us (which was slightly problematic since I had another group of people to speak a non-Japanese language with). While お婆ちゃん and  お爺ちゃん  were both extremely nice to me and I cannot complain, I felt slightly disappointed that there were no young family members of my host family with whom I could converse with on a regular basis. I really envied the HIFers who had middle school or high school children in their host families. Theoretically, お婆ちゃん’s two 孫さん (grandsons) are both my age and would have been perfect to talk to, but alas, they were both at college and I did not have the fortune to meet them.

Summer in Hokkaido is beautiful beyond description. Take any scenery, and add in the crystal blue sky, and the roaring of the ocean, and the cool breeze, and in it there is born a shade of transcendence. The food is unforgettable. Snaffles cheesecakes (why did I not discover them sooner!), the melt-in-your-mouth salmon slices at 函太郎, お婆ちゃん’s crab miso soup… Hakodate taught me how to enjoy every little moment in life – it is in the air you breathe, in the next bite you take, in what embraces your eyes once you turn the corner.

I want to thank 奥野先生 for always being adorable, patient and understanding. I want to thank my host family, for treating me like one of their own. I want to thank every one at HIF, for being so considerate and thorough, and for holding this program for twenty-seven years straight. Finally, I want to thank the Light Fellowship and Yale for making my summer possible. Without your generous support, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I am deeply indebted to all of those who labored tirelessly to help me enjoy my two months in Hakodate. These two months have been nothing less than unforgettable. ありがとうございました！ 皆さん、サヨナラ – but this is not the end. I’m certain that I’ll be returning to Hokkaido, and to Hakodate in the future. Until next time!

Chris

So touched when Okuno sensei told us at the last show and tell that the 一番楽しかったこと for her at HIF was being with us... We're the ten little smiley faces at the bottom!

Me getting my certificate of attendance from 山崎先生

Feeling sad to leave HIF...

Here's the final speech that I made on behalf of all the HIF students to end this blog... It's been a fun two months and I hope you enjoyed my blog as well! :)

港祭り

August 1^st to the 5^th is the annual Hakodate Port Festival (函館港祭り). This year celebrates the 157^th anniversary of the opening of the port of Hakodate, and the 90^th anniversary of Hakodate’s designation as a city.

On the first day, there was a huge 花火大会, the scale of which easily surpassed the one that was organized by Hakodate Shinbun a month ago. I went with my Chinese 留学生 friends, and we were able to get what in my opinion were the very best seats, right out into the port besides the retired Aomori-Hakodate ferry boat (now a museum) 摩周丸. Thousands of people turned out. The entire harbor area was filled with people. There were rows of 売店, or booths, selling snacks from たこ焼き to 焼きそば. The weather was perfect. The cool evening breezing was intoxicating. As the fireworks lit up the sky, I sipped my fresh Sapporo beer and felt that I could stay forever in that very moment, it was so seamless, like the flowing of the tides, and so close to perfection.

Me and the Chinese 留学生たち！

Where we were sitting - perfect view of the harbor

Fireworks!!

The Mashu Maru at night

The second day consisted of a huge parade that lasted from about 4 in the afternoon to 9 at night. I actually ran into the parade purely by accident. I was biking home in the afternoon, when around the ぼにもりや  department store I saw crowds of people standing along the sidewalk, as if waiting for something. Then I saw the ever-so-conspicuous Cameron Breisch-san, a classmate from D組. I parked my bike, went to investigate, and was asked if I wanted to see the parade. I figured, why not?

Breisch-san was there with his host mother, and she came well prepared. As the policemen began to tape off the road, she took out a blanket for us to sit on, and FOOD. One of the things that constantly surprise me is not only the hospitality, but the remarkable interconnectedness of the people of Hakodate. In this town, people care about one another, and keep other people’s interests in mind. After we sat down, we let all of the little children that were standing behind us into the front with their mothers, and started passing around food. Breisch-san’s host mom first took out three plates of sushi out for us to eat, then a box of KFC chicken pieces, then cake, and then dried fish strip, all of which she happily offered to complete strangers who were sitting next to us. The mothers of the kids in front also took out a huge box of Snaffles cheesecakes (the best cheesecake I’ve ever had, ever!) and began offering them to people, all of whom were total strangers. As we watched the parade and devoured all of the delicious food that was offered, I couldn’t help but feel totally in love with Hakodate and its wonderful people. Who wouldn’t?

Getting ready for the parade

Cute Japanese children!

Apparently the top attraction this year was a Disney parade - the kids in front of me were yelling "Mickey! Mickey!" at the top of their lungs!

Gooby pls

Acctualy is dolan

Delicious cheesecake that I got from a kind mom!

Breisch-san and his adorable host mother

Me and Breisch-san

On the last day we finally experienced the famous イカ踊り – the Squid dance! My host family dressed me up in the perfect costume too. All of us HIFers were registered with Russian University students and actually had a spot in the parade. Here are the pictures!

At the dance/parade!

Weaver-san... Way too excited. Also, what's with the backpack?

Not sure where the sign came from...

I gave Amy-chan my armor to wear!

Nearing the End, After the End

Note: This blog post was written around a week ago, right after HIF ended. I'm bumming around at home in Shanghai now! I haven't had consistent Internet access during my time touring Japan after the program, and I've been quite lazy after getting home, so I'm just beginning to organize my writing and my thoughts regarding the past two months. Expect many more posts to come to conclude this blog! Thanks for sticking with me! :)

Chris

----------

As I begin writing this blog, I find myself on the Shinkansen line from Aomori to Tokyo. The train is stationary (perfect place to use that word – or is this where the word came from?). People are getting on and off at a stop I don’t know the name of. This is the northeast of Japan, probably not far from Fukushima, stilling living in the shadow of a disaster barely a year old. From the windows, the silhouettes of not-so-distant mountains blur into clouds.

View out from a Shinkansen window

Leaving Hakodate wasn’t easy. Although I could comfort myself in the thought that (and I assured Obaa-chan of this as well) I was looking forward to travelling in Honshu, looking forward to going home and spending time with my parents after that, and looking forward to going back to school and meeting all my friends (all of which is true), the city of Hakodate had long won my heart with its irresistible charm. Here I had the best two-month experience of my life, and although it gave me a very, very positive attitude thanks to which I could look forward to every coming day, I was sad to go. That’s how I felt when one of my Chinese 留学生 friends showed up at 6 AM outside my room to meet me for the last time before I left, when I visited Point Tachimachi for the last time to find theハナマス (Japanese Rose) in full bloom – as if the flowers had predicted my departure. As I saw Baa-chan and Jii-chan walking ever so slowly into the distance before I boarded my train out of Hakodate, the memories of the past two months came flooding through. There’s nothing to say except the most Japanese 言葉 of them all - ありがとう。

Baa-chan and a 留学生 friend at Tachimachi!

At Tachimachi for the last time

ハマナス in full bloom

In the next week, I’ll be touring Honshu with Abby. I might not be able to cover my travelling experience in this blog as well, but I plan to write another 2-3 blogs reflecting on my overall experience during HIF. Stay tuned, for now! 

海水浴と温泉！

I really, really, really should be reviewing for my test tomorrow/writing my journal/preparing for my final speech right now, but I really want to talk about my amazing weekend. This weekend I made not one, but two trips to 湯の川 (Yunokawa), which is Hakodate's most famous hot springs (温泉) hot spot. Apologies for the bad pun. For some reason, 湯の川 is actually located right next to the ocean - don't ask me how you get hot springs 200 feet from the sea. I have no idea.


The past two days have been unusually hot - over 30 degrees Celsius, or 85 degrees Farenheit. Doesn't sound like much, but combined with strong sunshine, high humidity, and no air conditioning or fan, staying at home can be uncomfortable. Now going to a hot springs might not be the first thing that goes through your head when you get hot weather, but apparently Japanese people do it a lot and it makes more sense that you might think.


I had heard from the first day of the program that Hakodate was famous for its hot springs, with more than 100 locations spread out across the city, and that many onsen enthusiasts travel all the way across Japan to experience the hot springs here, but never actually had the opportunity to go to one. So to patch up on missing experiences in Hakodate (which still includes the no.1 night view in the world, by the way), me and a dude friend hopped on the tram (市電) and headed for 湯の川. We were completely clueless and made the terrible mistake of not even bothering to read reviews for the 20-30 something onsen spots that were there. However, it might have been a blessing in the disguise, because on our quest to find the perfect onsen, we found a beautiful enclosed beach that was bustling with people. Now despite its easy access to the sea, it's not easy to find a good beach in Hokkaido, and moreover you have to be there at the right time - I'd say there's about a six week window, max, for which sea water bathing (海水浴) makes sense. You don't want to head straight into the ocean if you don't know what you're doing, as we do get some pretty strong waves here.


So here we were, standing on this beautiful beach, with a grand view, and lifeguards and cute Japanese girls in bathing suits, and the water was cool but not cold, and the breeze so comfortable, and... we didn't have swimming shorts. Or clothes to change into. Oops. We ended up standing in the water for a long time, and withstood wave after wave until our shorts were soaked and our feet hurt from standing on pebbles. I haven't had the opportunity to go to beaches all that much before, so everything seemed quite new to me. I loved how the waves would suck up the sand from beneath our feet when it retreated. The sea breeze was intoxicated. We could see the misty silhouette of Hakodate-yama from the distance. It almost seemed like it wasn't Hakodate for a while, but Okinawa, it was so nice.


After the beach, we ended up going to a tiny onsen in an inconspicuous hotel with only two indoor pools and one outdoor pool, attracted by a ridiculously huge billboard slyly placed on an adjacent apartment building. Although the onsen was small, the water was bona fide mineral spring water, scaling hot and tasted quite salty (it was not on purpose, I promise).  Conversation proceeded, and good times were had. 


Today was equally hot as yesterday, and I successfully made up for my blunder (of not bring swimming gear) the day before by going to 海水浴 went with two Chinese exchange students (留学生) from next door. We first had a fantastic buffet (食べ放題) lunch at a  huge barbecue place, and then embraced the waves at 湯の川. It was a perfect day. Two important takeaways:


1. Damn seawater's salty.


2. Going to the beach with girls = WIN.


Gotta go to work now! Sorry for the lack of pictures - I wanted to make sure that my camera survived the trip. I'll be harassing my friends for pictures though, so there still is hope on this front. Things to look forward to next week:


a) Finally seeing the night view from Hakodate-yama.


b) The huge 港祭り (Port Festival) on Aug 1st, 花火大会 (Fireworks!), and of course, the イカ踊り(THIS).


c) My final speech at the closing ceremony!


Things that I'm NOT looking forward to:


a) Leaving Hakodate - I don't want to go at all! :(


b) Saying goodbye to all my friends. I've made quite a few good friends in the past two months, and it'll be really sad to see them go.


c) Leaving my host family: I'll definitely be missing 爺ちゃん's 野菜, 婆ちゃん's delicious　料理, and their combined 優しさ.


I love Hakodate!


Chris

My IS Project

I can't believe that I have only a week left! I'll be blogging about my thoughts regarding the passing of time here in Hakodate soon enough, but before I do that, I wanted to show you guys my IS (Independent Study) project. What I did was pretty simple - I visited some famous sights in Hakodate, and painted the scenery that I saw there. It usually takes me about 2-3 hours to finish the painting on the spot, but there was one that I painted off a photo and was a pain in the *** to do. Guess which one it is. I used mostly watercolor, although my first drawing was done in watercolor pencil, a medium that's actually much more difficult to control than it first seems. I also wrote some simple descriptions of the scenes in Japanese with a brush pen - the result is a failed attempt at calligraphy. Oh well.

During my 発表 (presentation) session, I talked a little about the places I went to and the methods I used. I actually got a pretty enthusiastic reaction from the host parents and classmates that attended, which definitely gave my ego a boost. So here are the pictures, five in total (I uploaded two pictures for my last blog, I think, but this is the whole thing):

ハリストス正教会
Hakodate Orthodox Church. Located in Motomachi (where HIF is), the Russian Orthodox Church was one of Hakodate's oldest buildings and is among its most famous. From this spot you can see the hourglass shape of the city of Hakodate - there's the sea on both sides and Hakodate-yama is to the back of us.

函館の坂
Hakodate is famous for its scenic slopes at the foot of Mount Hakodate. These slopes command beautiful views of the harbor. This picture was drawn at Motoi-saka (基坂), a very pretty slope next to Motomachi Park. This was my first painting done in watercolor!

立待岬
Tachimachi Point. Lying to the southwest of Hakodate-yama, Tachimachi Point stands at one end of the peninsula on which Hakodate lies, and directly faces Aomori Prefecture at the northernmost part of Honshu. The scenery here is spectacular, but unfortunately I did not come close to conveying it.

ベイエリア
The Bay Area. The Bay Area of Hakodate is the city's vibrant heart. The red brick warehouses here (赤レンガ倉庫) are historical buildings that signify the first opening up and commercialization of the port of Hakodate. They are now mostly utilized as souvenir shops.

五稜郭
Goryokaku. Perhaps Hakodate's most famous spot, the star-shaped fort was constructed at the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate period and witnessed the last battle of the Boshin War, which ushered in the Meiji Era. The drawing was done on the top of Goryokaku Tower, a building right next to the historical site of the fort that offers spectacular views of the city.

During the speech contest on Friday, I was going to the bathroom when I ran into Li-san's host mom and her daughter, who was about five or six years old. They were both at my presentation a few days earlier, and recognized me immediately. The little girl pointed her finger at me and cried: "テイさん絵がうまい！," which means "Tei-san is great at drawing," and I couldn't help but feel like this on the inside:

Well, that's all about my IS project. One more post coming up!

Two Weeks Left!

It's pretty hard to believe, but HIF is two weeks from being over! お婆ちゃん commented how little time I have left a few days ago, and I was really shocked. It's hard to believe that went by so quickly - in two weeks, I'll probably be sleeping in this hotel while rocking it out in Tokyo in the day. After my terribly planned trip to Honshu, it's a week at home and then BOOM! - I'm back at Yale again and the clock starts to tick on my junior year.


I'm really starting to get used to life in Hakodate, the great weather, fun classes, and especially my host family, who is starting to feel like my real 親類 (folks). They are just always way too nice, and especially お爺ちゃん way too awesome (he single-handedly made barbecue happen today, in addition to being able to fix bikes (and ride them), drive like a boss, manages a huge, thriving garden with strawberry patches, a grape vine and even watermelon, and did I mention he used to drive trains for a living? - he's an 82 year old man!) that I feel like I wouldn't mind having an extra grandfather and and extra grandmother. Of course my real folks are important, and not that I'd ever give them up, but I wouldn't mind having two more. Regardless of what happens, I'll be writing back (with my still very, very problematic Japanese) and sending back photos after I get back to China. It's the very least I can do.


What else happened this that's worth mentioning? Ah yes the barbecue that I mentioned! Without further ado, here's a picture of our glorious outdoor barbecue, Japanese style:

気持ちがいいでしょう！

One thing that I've been feeling pretty strongly this late into the program is that, my interest in studying Japanese has really flagged. Not only that, but motivation is becoming a huge issue for me. I'm becoming content to just pass by in class, not taking the time to make sure I memorize the vocab, and understand all of our readings and grammar points. I also find myself do less work outside of class. I keep a small pocket notebook for taking down new vocab I learn outside of class, and whereas I was furiously scribbling something down in the notebook constantly when I first got here, when everything seemed so new and exciting and I wanted to use my electronic dictionary everywhere, in the past week I've hardly even touched the notebook at all. I'm been even reluctant to actively search out opportunities to speak Japanese (I've still not had a meaningful, thoughtful conversation about a serious topic with my host family yet), and I realize how much of a problem that is - that's why I came to Japan in the first place, goddamnit!


The good thing is that I'm still really enjoying every moment of my stay here, and unlike my previous summer in Cambridge, I really don't have any complaints about anything. Even my douchebag housemate doesn't bother me much. (A brief note about this guy - I never talk to him if I have the option not to. Most days we don't exchange a single word to each other, which is pretty rare for two people who live in adjacent rooms and who study in the same class in the same school. I treat him as if I'm seeing thin air - it's pretty hard to ignore a 6'5" guy, but I've trained myself to do just that. Not going to rant about this guy here, but to put it briefly, he always has a sour, pissed-off face on, is constantly disrespectful, and has zero social skills whatsoever (and also has negative interest in interacting with me, which I realized after two weeks of trying to communicate with him). Weird, sometimes I feel like he's speaking Marsian or something, certainly not English. Needless to say, we do not get along.)


However, if my lack of motivation goes on, it's seriously going to affect how much I'm able to get out of these two months. I might end up regretting that I didn't get enough out of this program for a long, long time. The laziness and sense of complacency is exactly what I've been battling before at Cambridge and at Yale, and something I've vowed to overcome. Now, yet again, it just seems that I cannot work efficiently in my own room, and it's becoming increasingly hard to get away from my own bed.


I'll be updating next week on my efforts to combat this issue - I went out for a run yesterday when I felt like doing absolutely nothing, and it made me feeling great. These have also been cheering me up:

The first watercolor I painted! This is one of Hakodate's famous slopes, from which you can see the harbor!

Goryokaku park from Goryokaku Tower

A view from where I was painting from!

I've been drawing a lot for my Independent Study project, and I have five paintings in total, all of famous sights in Hakodate. Being able to use watercolor (borderline competently) and actually drawing on the spot has been super fun, and I look forward to presenting my work this coming Tuesday (発表, Japanese for "presentation," is usually a dreaded word for me, but not this time! :)) So here's to that I actually get my shit done and complete my goals for the program. Now I need to go back to all the work that I've been procrastinating for! 来週も頑張らなくちゃいけないよ！

BONUS picture: we made (probably the worst tasting) Japanese food in a Japanese cooking school with the other HIFers!

一人の旅

Over this summer, I’ve done something that I haven’t been very used to – that is, traveling and exploring new places on my own. There’s many reasons for this: the first of which is that I don’t have a cell phone during my stay in Hakodate, severely limiting my ability to contact other people and coordinate group events. It was probably a good decision overall not to get a cell phone since it would have cost me a minimum of 20,000 yen over two months (funny that I’ll be spending the same amount on a night’s stay in a Kyoto ryokan, or traditional Japanese hotel, in about three weeks’ time). However, it still makes life difficult in the short term.

Secondly, unlike my previous summer in Cambridge, during which I had some of my best friends from Yale with me the entire time, this summer I didn’t have any really well-established friends going into the program besides Abby. I did make a lot of new friends, to be sure, but it’s hard to become best buddies with someone in a month, especially when you live in different host families. Plus, there are inevitably going to be people that you don’t like (ahem, my housemate, ahem). I’ve found that I’d much rather avoid people altogether than bear the presence of people that I dislike. Plus, all of us gaijin tend to cluster together, and really destroys the cultural experience, I think. Especially when you have guys wearing their baseball caps backwards and talking English and laughing loudly walking down the streets of Sapporo – you just don’t fit in.

That’s why I’ve gone a quite a few expeditions by myself. At first I was understandably apprehensive, with the inevitable dejected feeling of a social outcast. There were people I really wanted to hang out with, but there was always some obstacle – whether it was other people who I really didn’t want to be with, or simply the fact that I couldn’t find them, period. It’s quite scary and a little sad when you’re standing at an intersection and start thinking: shit, am I supposed to go solo now? When you start walking, however, everything begins to feel different.

First feeling I get – I’m fitting in! Thanks to my pretty standard Asian 顔, as long as I’m not carry a map or grasping a camera in my hand, I blend right into the crowd. I feel like a part of the city, the place that I’m in, and I feel a connection with the people around me slowly forming. People even speak normal Japanese to me (of course when I open my mouth, they realize that I’m a foreigner and start going back to the usual routine of  「中国人？たいわん人？」). I also find myself observing everything around me more closely, and absorbing more details. Exciting new opportunities abound in unassuming places, and I can explore freely. I get to goof around, linger or rush to places however I like.

I spent a good chunk of my time in Sapporo exploring the city on my own, and I went to the big fireworks festival (花火大会) around the Hakodate Bay Area yesterday, alone. Walking along the shore, with all of the houses lit up, and truly, truly 素晴らしい fireworks lighting up the night sky, Hakodate yama with its dark green silhouette standing silently in the background, the ocean breezing caressing, and myriad people excitedly murmuring in their yukatas beside their loved ones, it’s easy to fall into a semi-meditative state, in which distractions don’t exist and all sensory information blends into one communal stream that washes over one’s brain and soaks it in sweet, sanguine fluid. Sorry I turned my bullshit machine on – please ignore the last part. :p

Yes, it looked something like this. Sorry for the lack of pictures - forgot my camera and couldn't have done a very good job anyway, probably :p

It is easier to think when there is nobody else to distract you. Not that I don’t appreciate company – I really wished my friends were there with me last night – but that walking alone gives you a different feeling that is unique and valuable in its own way. Of course sometimes you feel lonely, and you will undoubtedly want to relay all that you’ve gained through your one-man journey to your friends and family. That’s another way in which being alone can be valuable, I think – it really reminds you just how important your friends are to you. I never thought I’d be missing my friends so much after just two months’ time – as weird as this sounds, I can’t wait for school!

I’ll be emailing a lot of you soon too. I’m having a great time in Hakodate, and I hope all of my friends who read this blog are enjoying their summers too!