travel – Stony Plain in Shikaoi

April 11, 2025

Spring 2025 Long Stay – Submission #7

Friday, March 28^th, 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 29^th, 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 30^th, 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 31^st, 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 1^st, 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 40^th Anniversary Delegation.

March 24, 2025

Spring 2025 Long Stay – Submission #2

Monday, March 3^rd, 2025

We started the morning with a walking excursion to another part of town, towards Town Hall. We visited an electronics shop, two convenience stores, and the third grocery store/all-purpose store in Shikaoi. This store is just a couple of minutes-walk from the SS House. In fact, you can see it outside our kitchen window. The sun was shining and the temperature was just below zero, but the westerly wind was sharp enough to make your face freeze. Visibility was really good and the mountains that form a horseshoe around Shikaoi were covered with a fresh snowfall at the higher altitudes. It really is quite a gorgeous panoramic view.

Our big event of the day was the Welcome Lunch, organized by the Shikaoi Town International Friendship Committee. We were picked up and driven to the Shinti Itten Restaurant, across from the Town offices. This venue specializes in tempura and the food was oishii! One of the members in the welcoming party was Hideo Mogami. I think that both me and Dodi teared up the moment we saw him. We hadn’t communicated with him since my last visit to Shikaoi (pre-COVID). Hideo’s wife, Katsuko, had passed in the interim. They were phenomenal hosts to us. Their generosity and kindness are integral to our fond memories of previous trips. As Hideo speaks no English, we greatly appreciated Glen Shimbo’s translation skills.

The Shikaoi delegation made us feel very welcome. Those in attendance who shared the meal with us include Mayor Kii, Glen Shimbo, Deputy Mayor Matsumoto, Chairperson Ueshima, Superintendent Watanabe, HS Principal Nakagawa, Mr. Mogami, Department Manager Hakuta, and Yuyu Matsuda.

For the remainder of the day, we were on our own. We both took advantage of this time by continuing to adjust our bodies to the Japanese time zone.

Tuesday, March 4^th, 2025

Later on in the morning, Glen Shimbo took us to visit Urimaki Junior High School. The community of Urimaki is about a ten-minute drive from Shikaoi. It is the area where the Riding Park (horses) is located. We met principal Watanabe at the front entrance and he took us for a tour of the school. We were then invited to participate with the grade nines in their English class. Ms. Monica ran an exceptional class where we engaged with the students in a variety of activities – all in English [having to draw a picture based on your partner’s oral description; explaining to your partner why you would prefer to either read a book or play a musical instrument; generating word lists, with words spelled correctly, based on a prompt]. The students were totally engaged and relaxed while doing all the activities. The teacher’s sense of humour was appreciated by all.

This particular school has a total of 40 students enrolled from grade seven to nine. It runs a unique program, with many kids coming from outside of the Shikaoi area.

We were just sitting down to lunch at SS House when our neighbors, Taeko and Takanori sent us an email inviting us over to their home for a visit. They indicated that they wanted us to meet a couple of their classmates who also attend the Thursday night adult English Conversation Classes. What we thought would be a nice afternoon visit turned out to include an invitation to dinner, as well. We were treated to share a traditional Japanese meal with the group. It was such a wonderful experience. Canadian suppers in the McCann household are often made up of four items served in medium or large portions. The traditional stew we ate came with six items. Then there was rice, kimchi, broiled pumpkin, a type of very fluffy/light omelette, and additional add-ons that provided more flavour.

The welcome and hospitality of this community continues to be both overwhelming and touching. Everyone who has reached out to us has a genuine interest in wanting to hone their English language. They are very patient as me and Dodi are slowly increasing our Japanese vocabulary. Everyone is generous in trying to answer all of the questions we have about all that is unfamiliar.

Wednesday, March 5^th, 2025

We awoke to a light shower of snow which persisted throughout the day. Our big event for the day was an invitation from the Yamamoto’s (Taeko and Takanori) to travel with them to the town of Shintoku for lunch at a community centre. We were joined there by another English Conversation classmate of theirs, Masame. Masame was accompanied by her friend, Shinobu. Shinobu studied for a number of years in the southeastern part of the United States. She was a wonderful conversationalist and a very good interpreter for the group. Lunch included miso soup, rice, salmon, forest vegetables, a pickled vegetable, gyoza, French fries with ketchup, and cabbage with mayo. Each portion was served in its own dish. Together, is was a full meal.

After lunch, we were invited back to Masame’s home where food and tea was plentiful. Masame’s home was beautifully decorated with a variety of art, much of it her own. We were delighted to be offered a tour of Masame’s home. Masame has a collection of intricate dolls that were gifted to her by her father when she was a one-year old. Every March third she takes the full collection our of storage and displays them for Girls’ Day. This is a day of significance in Japan

“Hinamatsuri, also called Doll’s Day or Girls’ Day, is a religious day in Japan, celebrated on 3 March of each year. Platforms covered with a red carpet–material are used to display a set of ornamental dolls representing the Emperor, Empress, attendants, and musicians in traditional court dress of the Heian period.” – Wikipedia

Thursday, March 6^th, 2025.

A significant amount of snow had fallen during the night, so my day began the same way it often does in Stony Plain – shovelling. On her way to work, Tomoko (a high school teacher who stayed with us when she visited Stony Plain) stopped by with her shovel. She insisted that she help me with clearing the fresh snowfall.

Mid-morning, we payed a visit to Shikaoi Junior High School. There are 120 students at this school. We met with the principal and then were given a tour of the school. We were then invited to join a grade eight English class. The day’s lesson was similar to the previous class we attended at the Urimaki school. Me and Dodi gave a brief photo presentation about our family and living in Canada. Then we participated in activities where we directly interacted with the students.

Our afternoon included a visit to the grocery store. While fooling around with the Google Translate app on my iPhone, I accidentally discovered that, if you pass your camera over the packaging, it changes all of the labelling into English! In a flash, one of our biggest struggles with being in Japan vanished. Shopping for food on our own suddenly became quite bearable.

We attended our first English Conversation class in the evening. There were about fifteen attendees and we were split into three groups, half adults and half students. The theme for the evening was St. Patrick’s Day. Throughout the night the students were encouraged to engage in English conversations through a series of prompts. The time passed quickly.

March 20, 2025March 20, 2025

Spring 2025 Long Stay – Submission #1

Wednesday, February 26th, 2025.

Me and Dodi headed to the EIA in the morning to catch our first of three flights that would take us to Sapporo. Right off the bat, I committed one of the cardinal sins in travel. It was as we were passing through Devon that I realized my passport, credit cards, and cash were still sitting on the kitchen counter. We managed to get back home and through airport security in good time, however.

It was a long, rather smooth and uneventful trip to and through Vancouver customs, over Alaska and the Pacific Ocean. We were right on schedule to land in Tokyo when the pilot informed us that we had been placed in a holding pattern. While circling north of Tokyo, we were gifted the most incredible sight of a red sunset over Japan with a clear view of Mount Fuji silhouetted in the foreground. Got to see it twice before the sun finally went down. This delay caused us to miss our connecting flight to Sapporo, but we were seamlessly placed on the next flight out and arrived in Hokkaido’s largest city about 90 minutes later than originally planned. After a 40-minute train ride from the New Chitose Airport to Sapporo Main Station, we walked over to our hotel for a full night’s sleep, before starting our final leg to Shikaoi.

Friday, February 28th, 2025.

We caught a train bound for Obihiro but got off in the town of Shintoku, which is the closest community to Shikaoi on the line. Temperatures were the same as when we left Stony Plain, but the snow… there was a lot of snow! Where it wasn’t ploughed or shovelled metres high, the snow looked like it was at least waist deep. Between the snow-covered Hokkaido mountain ranges, the open flowing rivers, the kilometres-long train tunnels, and a bright blue sky, the two-hour train ride east from Sapporo felt like we were in a dreamlike movie.

Two of Shikaoi’s town representatives were at the station to greet us. We went for lunch to experience the region’s legendary soba noodles before arriving at the SS House (SS – Stony/Shikaoi) for a full orientation and luggage drop. Having someone to go over with you all the working dials that are in Japanese (furnace, washer, toilet, microwave, TV, etc.) is something you don’t truly value until you are on your own.

We made a quick trip over to the high school where old acquaintances were met and new ones began and then our two guides took us to the grocery store for our first shopping

experience. Like the appliances, having two guardians to take you through buying groceries for the first time is a godsend.

Saturday, March 1st, 2025.

It was a privilege to have been invited to Shikaoi’s grade twelve graduation ceremonies this Saturday morning. Graduation always happens here on March 1st, no matter the day it falls on. I shook off the symptoms of jetlag and dressed up to attend this event. It was well worth the experience. So many similarities, but lots of uniqueness that can be attributed to Japanese culture and the ceremonial traditions. Bowing from the waist, respect, reverence, silence, and gratefulness dominated the morning. Albeit in Japanese, all the speeches talked about the same things you would hear at an MCHS graduation. Achievement, the future, appreciation for parents-friends-staff, and lifelong memories made.

Sunday, March 2nd, 2025.

What we thought would be a day of rest didn’t turn out that way. I began the morning with a FaceTime interaction with my 92-year-old mother. I gave her a virtual tour of our Shikaoi home for the next six weeks and she had many questions. Shortly after, we had a local couple come knocking on the door to introduce themselves (Yes, they came with a gift in hand). They live just a couple of blocks away. We had a wonderful visit as both have a reasonable grasp of basic English. Me and Dodi have no knowledge of Japanese except for a vocabulary of a couple dozen words and phrases. The translators on our tablets and phones are a remarkable tool in bridging the moments when communication is lost.

When this couple said goodbye, they indicated that they were going to Obihiro for the day to do some shopping. A short time later there was another knock on the door. One of the couple had returned to inquire if we would like to join them to attend a talent show for the afternoon. This couple graciously offered to take us to a community event in lieu of their planned day in Obihiro. We spent a grand afternoon at the Riding Park auditorium where everyone was entertained by the many local talents of individuals and groups ranging in age from five to ninety-four (a gentleman who sang karaoke).

We’ve made a few meals on our own since arriving. Dodi’s creativity in food preparation is a marvel. Thank goodness washing dishes is the same as what I do in Canada. Recycling is a nightmare, however. So many things to separate and deconstruct.

The first few days of our adventure have been pretty darn good. I’d judge that we are settling in quite nicely while taking the surprises and uncertainty of living in Japan in stride.