Friday, March 28th, 2025
We left SS House just before 9:00 am and tagged along with Elizabeth Takahashi on our second excursion into Obihiro/Otofuke. The first stop of the day was to a small local wholesale foods store. This is the first time I saw larger portions of food available for purchase. While not Costco-sized, the volume of the packaging was enough to feed a family of at least four. We have found that most food items are packaged to feed one or two people. For example, we have yet to see milk available in more than a one litre carton. Elizabeth gave us a quick orientation of the area and then headed off to her appointment.
Dodi and I took a short walk down the street to the Obihiro-jinja Shrine. The recent snowfall from last night added to the quiet and calmness as we entered the shrine’s surrounding park area. There were two other groups visiting the shrine as well as a half dozen people walking along the pathways.
“Founded in 1910, this shrine in Obihiro City, Hokkaido is dedicated to three gods of land reclamation. All of them are associated with national land, and because the shrine faces National Route 38, they are also honored for disaster prevention and traffic safety. A traditional dondo-yaki event is held on January 15th every year where participants burn New Year’s pine decorations and sacred shrine ropes; these days, they also immolate votive plaques, talismans, and household altars. In February the shrine holds an event marking Setsubun, the holiday at the end of winter. They also conduct an exorcism of bad luck called yakubarai.” – Google: Japan Travel
Before rejoining Elizabeth, we managed to check out two local businesses. The first one was a small home decor business. Both of us made a small purchase after browsing through their inventory displays. Three blocks down the street, we entered an antiques shop located in an old, rundown building. To use a quote from my mother, it was chock-a-block with antiques (or junk – if you aren’t into this sort of experience). Brass samurai helmets, large hand-painted vases, framed paintings (the probable value of the frame would have been worth the purchase of the painting itself), trinkets, beautiful wooden furniture, tiffany lamps, and things I’d never seen before were crammed within the two stories. The stairs up to the second floor/attic were probably the original ones and I had to duck my head to avoid the items hanging from the rafters. If you like hunting for treasures, this was a great store.
Elizabeth took us to one of her long-time favourite restaurants called ‘Usagi’. It is housed in an old wooden house and is a family business. It had a limited seating area and a few of the customers were kind enough to exchange seats to accommodate our party of three. I really enjoyed the udon with clams Elizabeth recommended. Dodi was very happy with her selection of spicy soba.
The Friday night Potluck at SS House was a full house this evening. We were delighted to have nine guests join us. Once more, the shared food was wonderful. Our regular guests have been bringing different dishes each week for everyone to try. So much food! Kana brought her two young children along with her, tonight. They were so polite and well-behaved. The little boy took quite a liking to Dodi. They were both giggling and laughing as Dodi would put a packaged treat in one of his pockets and he would dig it out and try to give it back to her. Clean up was a breeze. Everyone pitched in – Tomomi assumed her regular position at the kitchen sink and washed everyone’s serving plates and utensils. I also realized that everyone has been packing their garbage home with them every Friday night. Apparently, this is a common practice in Japan.
At the end of the evening, we were trying to decide the best way of communicating electronically with each other. I am beginning to think that email may already be a thing of the past. Line, WhatsApp, Facebook, and Messenger were all in the mix – and no one suggested email. There was no consensus as far as all of us having a common application for communicating. Just post and share on your preferred platform.
Saturday, March 29th, 2025
It was a leisurely beginning to the day. We enjoyed a familiar breakfast of granola, yogurt, eggs, and toast and got through our Saturday morning list of chores. I went for a 7 km walk around the perimeter of the town. The afternoon was ours to relax and read and complete our journals/blogs. In the evening, we walked over to the Hatsune Bar and listened to Japanese music by artist Shogo Hamata while we had another great meal prepared by Yoichi. It was such a treat to be able to sit at the counter and chat with Yoichi while he worked away at his craft. Yoichi and his wife sent us home again with another full meal – a curried beef and rice dinner. Our Sunday evening meal (tomorrow’s) was now just a matter of heating things up – and boy was it good. Another unexpected treat.
Sunday, March 30th, 2025
Today, we welcomed two separate guests to SS House. We were first introduced to Mr. Masaharu Ashikaga during our first weekend in Shikaoi when we attended the Urimaku Talent Show. Masa (short form of Masaharu) is the ‘singer’ part of the duo who played electric guitars and performed a few English tunes at the event. I had spoken briefly with Masa at the end of their set. Last week, Masa contacted us through email and suggested we get together for a visit.
We spent a very enjoyable afternoon with Masa. He is an extremely interesting man, with many talents and a rich history of living in different countries (the USA, Mexico, the Netherlands, to name a few) during his career in taking the lead with start-up projects with Japanese car companies. In meeting with us, Masa was thankful to have an opportunity to brush up on his conversational English. Since his retirement and relocation to Urimaku, Masa said that his opportunities to speak English have been limited.
Tomoko Hirasawa (high school teacher) stopped by later in the afternoon for a visit, after spending the day doing preparation work for the new school year, which begins in April, in Japan. She popped in while on her way home to her family in Obihiro.
There are so many great things I can say about Tomoko. She is a wonderful person. The thing that stands out the most for me is that our strong bond with Tomoko is rooted in her absolute commitment to becoming more proficient in the English language. I judge that Tomoko is the single best example of the value and strength of the Shikaoi-Stony Plain relationship. Tomoko is very thoughtful and methodic in her communication with us. She begins by speaking the basic English she knows. If she gets stuck on how to say a word or complete a sentence, Tomoko will pull out her translator app. She then speaks or texts what she wants to say into the app in Japanese. Then, instead of having the app speak the word or phrase in English or sharing her screen’s translation with us, Tomoko goes the extra distance and speaks the English words translation back to us. She then looks for our feedback to determine whether we understand what she is saying and if she is sounding the words properly. English 101 at its finest!
Monday, March 31st, 2025
Today may have been the best day yet for Dodi and me. We thought we would have a chance to relax and get caught up on things during the day. About mid-morning, Glen Shimbo emailed us and asked if we wanted to go on a field trip with Mr. Yoshimura and Tomoko. They were headed out to the forested area at the base of the mountain that you ascend to get to Lake Shikaribetsu to check on the amount of maple sap that had collected in Mr. Yoshimura’s buckets. Of course, we were all-in for this experience. While Japanese maple trees are not the same species as the ones in Quebec, their sap is just as good (Maybe better – is that something a loyal Canadian should be saying? Maybe it’s because I got to live the whole ‘tree to table’ experience.)
We headed towards the mountains and turned off the main road. We drove a short distance into government land that has been designated as a research/preserve area. Yoshi (short for Mr. Yoshimura) has been given permission to tap the trees here. We took a short hike through the woods where we collected the sap from about a half dozen stainless steel buckets (Canadian-made for the maple syrup industry) that were hooked to the tree taps. Then we drove back to the high school and set up shop in Tomoko’s foods lab. The ratio of water to syrup in the sap is about 70 to 1. We strained the sap and then skimmed off the foam during the heating process. It took about an hour to boil the sap down. The sweetness of the air in the room was wonderful to breath in. During the process, Yoshi disappeared and then returned with eggs, milk, and pancake mix. Tomoko conjured up pancakes just as the maple syrup was forming. Yoshi made us tea. Some Hokkaido butter made the whole experience perfect. Best pancakes and maple syrup ever!
Our evening invite to share a meal with the Ui family finished off a memorable day. Orie picked us up at SS House. Her offer to be our English support person (translator for the evening) was much appreciated. She is also a wonderful person to share an evening with and so was the Ui family.
Mrs. Ui prepared a stunning meal. The presentation and the combinations of flavour-colour-texture were that of a high-end restaurant. We had engaging conversation and were sent home with the most beautifully packaged leftovers (bento box style) one could ever imagine.
Tuesday, April 1st, 2025.
Happy April Fool’s Day! It never came up in any of our conversations and I keep forgetting to ask anyone if there is such an observance in Japan. When I finally did remember to inquire about April Fool’s Day, two different people told me that, while they were aware of this day, it is rarely observed, mainly because it goes against Japanese cultural practices that you should never be mean or dishonest to other people.
Yuyu met with us at SS House during the afternoon to ensure that we were informed of the schedule of events for the arrival of the 40th Anniversary Delegation.
Stony Plain in Shikaoi 