TTT2019: Day 37--Sapporo to Morioka

We caught the Super Hokuto from Sapporo to Shin-Hakodate.  My bento on the train:

Bought a full brunch before getting to the platform, but right there was a stand making noodles.  So I got exactly the same soba with egg and tempura I had for lunch yesterday to add to the pork and beef plates.  One of my better train meals on this trip.

Saw more snow, but what caught my eye was all those plastic fishnet floats:

There were thousands, several on every beach.  No one picks them up.  They're all about the size of a volleyball.

I recall so fondly back in my Kauai days in the early to mid-1960's when my wife I strolled along its northern beaches and picked up fishnet balls made of glass.  Many softball size, but occasional volleyball and basketball size.  We found one one day that was even larger.  All usually greenish color.  Not sure what I did with them.

In the current issue of Hawaiian Airline's Hana Hou, there is an article by Rosemary Camozzi entitled Sphere Joy.  It reported on people like Amos Wood, who wrote in 1967, Beachcombing for Japanese Glass Floats.  You can get a copy from Amazon for $74.

How many glass balls were produced?  Just in 1966, 6 million.  He estimated that around the time of his book, 10 million glass balls were circulating.  He described how these glass balls travel mostly in a clockwise pattern around the North Pacific Ocean.  It takes a little more than six years for half of them to make a complete cycle, and half reach land or break each time.

Oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer is now the world authority with his book:  Flotsametrics and the Floating World.  You can get a Kindle version for $6.99.  

He calculated that 100 million glass balls escaped into the ocean, so that after 6.3 years, half would remain....leading to, perhaps, millions out there today even though the fishermen converted to plastic floats half a century ago.  The last glass ball might be found as far into the future as 2177.  So go out there and beachcomb for them.

Back to 2019, in Shin-Hakodate we transferred to the Hayabusa (peregrine falcon), the bullet train to Tokyo.  This section began operation in 2016 and passes through the Seikan Tunnel, the longest undersea tunnel in the world at 33.5 miles.

We got off at Morioka and checked into the Morioka Grand Hotel Annex,  ideally located close to cherry blossoms.  My interest was in the Rock-Splitting Cherry Tree, Ishiwari Sakura, located a block from our hotel.  It is 360 years old and growing out of a crack in a granite boulder in front of the district courthouse.  It was proclaimed a national treasure in 1923:

Just another block away is Morioka Castle / Iwate Park.  No Blue-Bars, but a lot of crows:

Mind you, there were other flowers:

Across the street was Hinoya Curry, where we had our dinner:

A very relaxing day.  Tomorrow?  Don't know.

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TTT2019: Day 36--Return to My Roots...Utashinai

I've had numerous postings on my roots searches for Kenjiro's grandmother, rumored to have been a female samurai somewhere around the mid-1800's.  I have unofficially passed on future searches to Mateo Takahashi, for he is the last male Takahashi to be born.

However, this could well be my final visit to Hokkaido, so I decided to again take that arduous trip to Utashinai, where Kenjiro Takahashi left at least 120 years ago to educate himself in America.  I have a well-documented official copy signed by the Secretary of the Territory of Hawaii describing him coming to Hawaii, and how he was a supervisor for the construction of the Wainiha Hydropowerplant in 1906.

In case you were wondering what that colorful symbol is above, I took my family mon (kamon, crest) and played around with it on my computer and ended up with what you see.  What it means is that for the world to attain universal peace, we all need to take the high road to cooperation, and Takahashi means high bridge.  I then felt compelled to advance peace, so my very first Huffington Post article was a 10% solution.

You, of course see that colorful emblem on the cover of two of my three recent books.  Below, SIMPLE SOLUTIONS FOR PLANET EARTH.

With that backdrop, this morning we caught the Lilac from Sapporo to Takikawa.  My snack was a breakfast burger from Lotteria, with a Coke:

What did we see?  SNOW....SNOW SNOW.  Here, with May soon to come, there are snowbanks all around:

See that arrow?  It snows more than 30 feet/year in Utashinai, and that sign points out the end of the road when covered with snow.

From Takikawa Station, it was a one hour bus ride to Utashinai.  We dropped off at Yumetsumugi Museum, which opened in 1997:

We were met by a staffer who gave me his card, but it was in Japanese, so I thought his name was Yumetsu Mugi.  Apparently, not, but here he is pointing out where Kenjiro might have begun:

He said they have a complete set of archives and, if he finds anything, he will send it to me.  Otherwise, the museum exhibited artifacts from the past, including a Subaru:

Tennessee Ernie Ford's 16 Tons is shown in a display:

I was born one mornin' when the sun didn't shine
Picked up my shovel and I walked to the mine
I hauled Sixteen Tons of number 9 coal
And the store boss said, "Well, bless my soul"

Anyone know what #9 coal is?  Well, just click on this.

Sorachi Coal Mine opened in 1890, around when Kenjiro's parents moved to Utashinai.  Japan Railway stopped coming here in the later 1980's, and the coal company which was the whole economy, closed down inn 1995.  There is still a lot of coal, but it is cheaper to import from Australia:

In 1948 Utashinai had a population of 46,000.  Today, 3500 and declining.  It is already Japan's smallest city.  The town has tried to re-build itself with a Swiss theme, featuring skiing and onsens.

Our personal guide spent two hours with us and even walked us to the bus stop, which was just outside the door:

Yes, that's snow.

Back in Takikawa we had a hot soba lunch with water:

Walking back to the train station, it actually began to snow.

Sometimes I wonder how close I was to oblivion, for Utashinai lost its coal industry and sugar disappeared from Naalehu, my first job.  If Pearl had a child there, I would have stayed in the sugar industry, and might still be in Kau.  If, somehow I was born in Utashinai, I might have been handling the touring assignment for that museum.  No hydrogen economy...no blue revolution.

So, back in Sapporo, we had an excellent pork tonkatsu dinner.  All those sauces, where you suribachi your own sesame seeds.  What an experience:

There is something soul-satisfying about returning to your roots.  However, glad to live in Honolulu, for the weather last night in Utashinai  showed 30 F and snow flurries.  Tomorrow, on to Morioka and more cherry blossoms.

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TTT2019: Day 35--Sapporo Cherry Blossoms and Crab

Our Super Hokuto ride from Shin-Hakodate to Sapporo took around three and a half hours:

We are staying in the Nikko Hotel adjacent to Sapporo Station.  I was surprised to see cherry blossoms in the lobby, as they are not supposed to bloom for another week or two:

I thought maybe they had come from Morioka or thereabouts, but, apparently not, for on our way to Odori Park, there were cherry blossoms at the iconic Clock Tower:

Starting at the Sapporo TV Tower, where those flying colored carp are in advanced celebration of Children's Day, the final day of Golden Week, May 5:

 

We were greeted by my Blue-Bar Pigeon...and his friends:

These are the healthiest Blue-Bars I've ever seen.  Wonder how they survive the winter?  Cherry blossoms were in abundance, although perhaps a week away from peak.

After a walk of about three-fourths a mile, looking back from the other end, my Blue-Bar said goodbye:

You just got to have seafood when in Hokkaido, so we decided on a crab restaurant, something I have avoided for a couple of decades.  I'm allergic to crustaceans.  However, the hotel concierge confirmed that the crab served there for dinner was alive that day, and if so, it is safe for me to consume it.  A five-minute walk from the hotel was Kani Honke:

We were just a bit late for the lunch menu, which showed sets as low as $35/person, so we had to order dinner.  However, there was a senior special for $33, which we had with Sapporo Classic beer and green tea:

With some anxiety I began to nibble on a some crab meat.  Frankly, I was a bit disappointed because all the crab came cold.  I ordered a chu-toro plate:

My two favorites were the sashimi and crab porridge:

We finished with a fruit/yogurt dish, which was excellent.

The best part of yesterday was this morning, when I awoke alive and well.  That crab dinner did not induce any upset stomach, rash or anything bad.  This morning, on to Utashinai.

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