Having returned from Hokkaido, the end of summer is on the horizon. I neglected blogging in the summer, so an update is overdue. The heat did nothing for my desire to blog.
July
July brought the notorious Japanese summer heat and humidity, so fewer trips occurred. Nevertheless, we attended the Gion-matsuri festival, a Shinto festival with traditional Japanese decorations. The night before the parade, the “floats” (?) are lit up on the streets of Kyoto, and the alleys are full of food tents and other carnival-style attractions.
August 5-11
Summer vacation began in August with a visit to Tokyo, so I worked in a visit to The Pit Inn in Shinjuku. I wanted to catch a straight-ahead combo without the ticket price of a headline ensemble, so I chose a Monday matinée.
The Yukiko Hayakawa Quintet—drums, bass, saxophone, and trumpet, with eponymous Yukiko on piano—played. They played two sets with a 15-minute break between. The numbers represented a variety of modern jazz styles, including, lounge, cool, bebop, bossa nova, and avant-garde. The sets included original compositions as well as standards. Fans of the hard bop jazz of the 60s, such as that played by Wayne Shorter or Sonny Clark, will enjoy this group. It definitely satisfied my yen for jazz—”Straight, No Chaser.”
This year, Fender guitars opened its first brick-n-mortar store in Harajuku, Tokyo, so we stopped by after the concert.
Not having had Mexican food since California, we topped off the night at Casa de Sarasa in Shibuya for a ceviche, elote, and a taco sampler. The ceviche and elote were both excellent. The tacos were a little dry, but they were still OK.
On Tuesday, we visited Yokohama to find Chinese BBQ pork we couldn’t get at the Chinatown in Kobe. It seems that the red BBQ pork, with hints of Chinese cinnamon, belongs to the dim sum style of Chinese cuisine, and we couldn’t find it in Kobe. Yokohama delivered.
Mid-August
On August 16th, I visited Kyoto for an event called Gozan no Okuribi, also known as Daimonji. Large kanji are created with controlled fires on the mountains surrounding the ancient capital city. It marks the end of the O-bon summer holiday, which celebrates relatives who have passed away in a fashion similar to the Mexican Día de los Muertos holiday.
August 21st-31st — Hokkaido (北海道)
My brother-in-law is from Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan, so we joined him and his family for a road trip that began in Sapporo, the largest city in Hokkaido, famous for its eponymous beer. I had not visited Hokkaido, but I knew that the prefecture enjoys fame for its seafood, ramen, snow sports, and a native culture.
Hokkaido has a lower population than the main island of Honshu, so it feels less crowded. While driving through the countryside, I often forgot I was in Japan. The wide roads, the farms, and driving style feel like any part of the American Midwest.
As shown in the pictures, Hokkaido hosts numerous cornfields and dairy farms, and boasts the best milk in Japan, from which you can get Hokkaido ice cream, yogurt, and other milk-based products. The stores also stock a special recipe of Sapporo beer that is only sold in Hokkaido.
We separated from my brother-in-law’s family on the 27th and returned to Sapporo. This gave us time to see more of the main city and visit the Ainu museum.
On the first day, we visited an area called Otaru, known for its scenic canals (below) and fish cakes.
Below are some pictures from Maruyama and Nakajima parks, both in the Sapporo area. Maruyama also has a large shrine.
The Hokkaido trip ended with a trip to the new Ainu museum, in Shiraoi, which was established in 2018. We had to take the bus from Tomakomai station because the train stopped running due to the rain.
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