Week 3: Odori Park

Week 1 and 2 entries should be up soon. But while you're waiting for those, enjoy this video clip I made today.



I stopped to record the fountain because it reminded me of the Bellagio fountains, sans the music. But I ended up recording this little girl playing with the pigeons, which I realize now is probably more interesting than the fountain. Near the end of the video she yelps because the birds flies close to her face. After I ended the video, she and the parents began to leave but she was lingering behind, still wanting to play with the pigeons. Reluctantly, she said "Bai bai" as if they were her friends.

To get to school, I ride the subway from Asabu, the northernmost stop, transfer at Odori and then take a westbound subway to Maruyama Park. I got into a routine and didn't think twice about checking things above ground but today I made an exception; had to pay extra $2 for another subway ticket but I think the pictures were worth it.

I think I could equate Odori Koen as the Hokkaido or Sapporo equivalent of Central Park. 12 blocks long, artificial, and in the middle of a bustling city. Only difference is that it's broken up by streets, and there's less grass but more flowers. Still salarymen, highschoolers and the elderly alike sit, relax, talk and loiter. The delicious smell of roasting corn was in the air. I desperately wanted some, but I knew I would have a big-ish dinner waiting for me once I returned home.

As I suspected, the ends of the park were the most decorated and carefully attended to. The middle parts, not so much, it was also less crowded there. In the middle there's a lot more concrete and open area where it's easier to set up for matsuri's or festivals. I think they happen pretty periodically.

Why GAO GAO?

Even though I had many possible entry topics lined up before I started this blog, I didn't want to start without an adequate title. It does set the tone after all. I couldn't think of anything clever, witty or cool, so I busied myself with anything I could get my hands on, namely a N64 controller and old school SuperSmashBros. It was also to make myself look like I had other things to do than brush up on my Japanese. I watched 4 Rocky movies (so good! Mr. T's freaking awesome), started planning for an orchard in the backyard, which included knocking down the only tree we have left (which sounded fun) and lastly, getting the most I could out of Netflix while I could by watching streaming videos.

In doing so, I stumbled upon the series Air TV. I was drawn in initially because of the animation's Spirited Away-ish quality and the quirky character Kano Kirishima and her pet stray dog Potato. In the end it wasn't worth my time because the plot pretty much sucked and didn't make much sense. About something absurd like people with wings who are kind of like angels but not. Apparently among the anime sommeliers it's a top-notch anime. I don't get it.

Here's a taste of the dialogue.

Kano: "Hey you must be Citizen #1 of Dilly-Dally'ers. I'm Citizen #1, and Potato here is Citizen #3."

Potato: "Piko Piko" (kind of in a Pikachu voice)

Yukito: "So what do the Dilly-Dally'ers do all day?"

Kano: "Alas, that is the sad fate; they are in forever search of something to do, dilly-dallying their way around the world."

Anyway, the central female character is equally quirky and often says GAO when she's upset, which is the Japanese onomatopoeia for ROAR. She also loves dinosaurs. She even owns this shirt.

Okay, so what's a Japanese icon that roars?

Godzilla of course! whom I think is a dinosaur..

and then everything sort of just clicked. I love Japanese onomatopoeias. Zaa Zaa for the sound of pouring rain, Noro Noro for the sound of driving slowly. Zuru Zuru for the sound of something being dragged. And I too want to go to Tokyo like the fellow pictured here:


I thought about the animal wheel kid toy where you pull a string and an arrow spins around. When it lands on an animal, a generic voice says: the dog says: woof woof! or something of the like.

I tried to find a picture of such toy, but everything I searched for came up empty. Closest thing I found was this guitar thing. I'm not entirely sure what you're supposed to do.

Not the same girl as in the anime but here's what Japanese roars sound like:

Okay time for bed. Updates coming soon.

Departure: June 14th

Dear Friends and Family,

I will be studying in Sapporo, Japan from June 17th to August 13th. I will be learning Japanese language, culture and history through the Yamasa Institute. It is an intensive program that focuses on fluency in grammar and conversation. After my program ends, I will be spending a week in Tokyo, Japan and surrounding prefectures. I will be returning to the States on August 20th.

If you would like to see the local time and temp, simply click here.

I will for sure be taking a voluminous amount of pictures for you to live vicariously through me. I think I will post both on Facebook and probably set up a Flickr account. Links will be posted shortly.

Please check back periodically. While I can't guarantee that I will have regular access to the internet I will be writing on my laptop at least once a week on what has happened so far. So that means you are guaranteed at least 8 entries! Also, as I hope to become proficient/fluent, don't blame me for my bad grammar and poor sentence structure. I only hope to come back FOBby. I think.

Lastly, lovin' the free wireless at the Las Vegas McCarren Airport. Come visit me!