十四 – Hokkaido in Spring

I’m back in Asahikawa (Yay!), and it feels really good. This is my eighth trip to Japan, and I’m not sure if I’ll make this trip again due to various external factors, so I intend to make the most of this visit.

Napier to Asahikawa

To get to Japan, I first took an afternoon flight from Napier. I had a front seat and was wedged in beside the guy in the above photo. I couldn’t resist capturing the view.

After flying in from Auckland to Narita Airport, Tokyo, I was able to take a direct flight to Asahikawa, rather than first having to transfer to Haneda Airport. This was thanks to a new route opened up by Jetstar Japan. Narita and Haneda  airports are quite a distance apart and to travel from one to the other usually requires a couple of train trips, or catching the Limousine Bus.  Having the option of a direct flight from Narita was too tempting to ignore. I was a little worried, however, about my timings. If my Air New Zealand flight ran late, and if Passport Control and Customs at Narita were especially busy, then I would be cutting it fine to get to Terminal 3 in time for my Jetstar flight. As it turned out, I had plenty of time as we arrived early, and the airport wasn’t busy.

The flight to Asahikawa took just under two hours and was uneventful. I had purchased a premium booking with a ‘meal’, luggage of up to 30 kg (way more than I needed), and the option to change flights at short notice. The ‘meal’ turned out to be a hot drink and a piece of apple-filled pastry in a celophane wrapper. If I had to rate it, I’d say it was ‘just okay’, but I didn’t really mind, I was just pleased to have connected successfully. The skies were clear and I was afforded a clear view of the spectacular mountainous scenery, especially as we drew closer to Asahikawa.

Items that are hard to find at home

My main purpose for visiting Japan is to catch up with my daughter, her husband, and my two grandchildren. But I while I’m here I also intend to purchase some bits and pieces that I’ve come across on previous visits, and that I’ve wished I’d purchased at the time.

Japan does particularly well at producing useful items that you didn’t know you wanted until you saw them. I’ve spent a great deal of time in New Zealand looking for exactly the right kitchen or bathroom item, to no avail, and often when I do find a suitable product, it’s either ‘not quite right’, or its seriously over-priced.

If you were to look at my list, you’d see a bunch of trivial items: a very small digital kitchen scales (you’ll think I’m weird, but sometimes I’d like to know how much hot chips I’m eating, or just how heavy a date scone is); a cute little mini vacuum cleaner to clean up crumbs (or other small debris) off a table; a second super light-weight feather quilt for those summer nights in New Zealand that are too hot to be covered with anything, but when you just want ‘something’–I purchased one last year and it was perfect; a set or two of versatile shelving and/or containers that can either be stuck, or screwed to tiles or a wall, or attached to a magnetic surface.

I always look for  products that have been made in Japan, but many everyday items,  while of Japanese design, are produced elsewhere, most commonly in China, or Korea. Japan produces its own premium items, of course, and for the visitor, these are definitely worth purchasing when you can, due to their superior quality and thoughtful design. Linen,  paper products, writing materials, ceramic items, knives, glassware, cakes and candies, technological wares… the list goes on and on.

Snowy roads and pathways

There’s a lot of snow lying around in Asahikawa compared with the last couple of years that I’ve visited. And it’s colder, according to the weather app. I’m glad. I would feel short-changed if there was no snow. It’s very beautiful, even with the heaps of snow discoloured by the muck on the sides of the road. I can ignore those and just focus on the pure white mountains piled up everywhere else.

I know that the snow will disappear quickly, with every day that climbs above zero degrees, but so far, the gardens are completely dormant, the plants still sleeping under their white blankets. Out of curiosity I visited the garden section of DCM Homac,  a hardware / DIY chain, to see what they were selling, but as far as outside plants were concerned, all I saw were trees—flowering cherries, dogwoods and magnolias. No perennials yet. And not much else, either.

As I grow older, my body has begun to display issues associated with the wear and tear of a lifetime. I currently have a problem with my right knee (synovial chondromatosis); it isn’t such a big deal, but it does mean that my knee becomes quite painful when walking, or more so if I have to walk up or down stairs, or up or downhill, and this will affect how much I can get out and about. If you’ve followed my blogs in the past, you’ll be aware that I usually like to take long walks—this time I fear my walks will be much shorter, but I’m determined to get out as much as I can. I’m seriously looking forward to the first signs of Spring.

Spring, donuts and nostaglia

A few days ago it was Vernal Equinox Day 春分の日(Shunbun no Hi), a public holiday to mark the end of Winter and the beginning of Spring. This day was originally an event relating to the Shinto religion, but after WWII, and in line with Japan’s post-war constitution, it was repackaged to separate religion and state, becoming a public holiday in 1948. The main thing I noticed were the kids off school, and more people out and about.

Yesterday I went out to look for a birthday present and ended up  visiting Mister Donut for lunch. I prefer not to eat too many sweet cakes, so chose a ホットドッグ (hottodoggu) to go with my Sakudo blooming donut (Yes, really healthy!) Japan loves seasonal themes when it comes to popular food, and sakura is the flavour for Spring. I couldn’t resist the donut as I was curious about the flavour. I wasn’t disappointed; it was lightly sweet with a delicate floral quality. Perhaps it did taste like the fragrance of sakura. I certainly remember as a child, the sweet smell of the snowy white blossom on our Mt Fuji cherry (Prunus serrultat ‘Shirotae’).

While I was munching away, Michael Jackson’s 1972 song, ‘Ben’, started playing in the background. I used to love that song. What a flashback! I would have been 15, and I still know the words off by heart. It reminded me of riding my bike with my neighbour Lynette, listening to pop songs and being the age where my whole life stretched out ahead of me.

South Head to Napier

Once I’m back in New Zealand, I will no longer be writing from South Head. In February, we made the move to Napier, in the Hawke’s Bay. So, I’ll be writing about quite different things and posting photographs of quite different scenery.

One of the reasons for the move was the amount of physical work on our South Head property. We have been finding it difficult to keep up. Our new house is a charming cottage, built in 1875. It is fashioned entirely from kauri (Agathis australis) a golden timber, native to New Zealand. The property has a much smaller land area and a much more manageable garden. We should also experience a few frosts, so I’ll be able to grow flowers that couldn’t cope with the heat of up north.

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The joys of air travel