I know, I know! Sorry! It’s been thirteen days since I last posted and I definitely left it on a sour note, but I am back and I finally have some good stuff to show you!

Besides finally getting over my temper tantrum with the Hokkaido University, I’ve been pretty busy. Busy in a sense that, I had some interesting things going on, but mostly a whole lot of nothing consuming most of my time. I plan to change that in the next few days, but for now you must deal with the next few posts playing catchup.

I am now in 札幌市 Sapporo, 北海道 Hokkaido spending four weeks at a program organized by Hokkaido University. I will be here until July 18th in which I will promptly return to Tokyo for a 10 day vacation before I return back to the United States July 28th.

So what have I been doing? Lets start with June 22nd and my field trip to the 大倉山ジャンプ競技場 Ōkurayama Jampu Kyōgijō (Mt. Okura Ski Jump Stadium) in Sapporo and the 北海道神宮 Hokkaido Jingu (Hokkaido Shrine).

Now when I think of Japan’s natural landscape and Japanese tourist groups the first thing that comes to mind is steep mountains with un-guarded drop offs that you can’t see from the overgrowth, and people being shuffled around so fast you can barely get a shot in with your camera. I and my colleagues experienced both of those that day. Fortunately those were not mixed, otherwise we would have lost a few students by now. It’s unfortunate, but it seems to be the fashion that this program is taking. We see some cool stuff, but the time management was done poorly, so we are speed walking through everything. It’s like a family trip where one of the parents wants to see everything and not waste a single second sitting when instead they should just relax and soak in the surroundings. A very big pet peeve of mine!

Lets start with the Mt. Okura Ski Jump. With the time that I had, I soaked in as much of the stunning view as I could. It was my first time on a ski lift… and I suppose, the first time being on a ski lift in the summer as well. lol. I just had enough time to snap these shots below, and have a coin stamped with my name and date on it before I was on my way back to the bus. We were there for a total of 25 minutes. New Japanese touring record!

Another cool thing about the ski jump is that I can see it off in the hazy distance everyday as I head home from school. Pic of this will be provided at a later time.

Now how about that Hokkaido Jingu! I was rather excited to check out this place, but again we were treated like a flock of sheep. So much so that I was only able to walk in, take some snapshots, purchase a Shinto charm, and walk out. Although, we did get to sit down inside the temple to see an informal performance, and then in another building to briefly educate us on what 神道 Shinto religion actually is. At the end of our lesson we were given some pretty cool gifts that are shown below.

These gifts remind me of an important point I need to make here… When we were given these gifts, one of the students was rather reluctant to take it. Although he was trying to be polite about it, his point was very clear. “I am of [take a wild guess] religion. I refuse to take this from you because I am of [repeat your guess] religion.” Let me make this clear. Don’t go to another country if you are that closed minded!!! There is nothing in your religion (I’ve read the book) that says you can’t take a gift from another without consequences from your supreme being. You can always throw it away after or practice some form of cleansing at your religious gathering at a later date. Be polite people, and open your mind! It’s not that hard! Need I remind you that this is coming from me, a very strong atheist who hates any form of practice on external spiritual enlightenment. lol