Asahikawa

First, a word about this photo: here we have Ridge and Holt proudly showing off their early Christmas present from Anah and G-paw (Aaron's mother and her husband, Mike). They boys were very excited and can now be warm and toasty on their daily walks to and from pre-school!

Aaron, the boys, and I finally ventured beyond Nayoro and Monbetsu. In our search for Samuri Hair (the hair that Holt is wearning in a Halloween picture), we decided to extend our range of shopping to include Asahikawa. I'm afraid I'm a bit late with this post, as we went on our little jouney two Saturdays ago (November 26th).

Asahikawa, a town of about 300 thousand, is a 2 hour drive from Nishiokoppe. With sketchy directions that may or may not lead us to the Toys R Us and a map I found buried in a cabinet in the house, we set out Saturday morning. Our attempt to leave by 8:00 met with marginal success and we pulled away from our beloved Seicomart at 8:20. The boys had a bag of books and we prepared to tackle the snow road. Twenty minutes into the drive, Aaron was having serious doubts. The road was not plowed and the snow was smacking into the windshield in a rather unsettling fashion. In a last ditch effort to save our trip, Aaron pulled into a gas station to see if we had any other wiper blades in the trunk. Fortune was with us, and Aaron quickly set about replacing the blades. Before I knew it, he was joined by the white-gloved gas station attendants. Between the three of them, the blades were replaced and we resumed our trip with a heartfelt, “arigato gozaimasita” to the attendants. After Nayoro (a 40 minute drive), the road improved dramatically. The road was plowed and the snow was slowing down.

About half an hour out of Nayoro, we stopped for a bit of a break. Aaron pulled over into the parking lot of a mom-and-pop looking shop sporting a large Japanese pumpkin (“kobocha”). Inside we found clean restrooms (that seems to be the norm here), a cozy fire, and various treats made with kobocha. We visited briefly, bought some cookies with pumpkins seeds in them, and returned to our snowy car. Around eleven o’clock, we drove through a tunnel under a mountain and passed into the Asahikawa city limits. Guided by my scrounged map, we were able to quickly make our way to the shopping area featuring Toys R Us. When I first heard that there was a Toys R Us, I couldn’t believe it. I actually wrote it down on the chalkboard of the school I was currently at, just to make sure there wasn’t any sort of translation error. Nope. He said Toys R Us, and he meant it. So, into Toys R Us we ventured, accompanied by two young children. Sounds like a set up for disaster, right?

Actually, the boys did great. We found what we needed, poked around a bit, and left before there were too many, “I want’s”. Then we popped across the street and checked out the grocery store. It was on the expensive side, but also carried some items I had not been able to find elsewhere: fresh limes and lasagna noodles! Aaron took a picture of the Italian food section. After a little shopping, I drug the boys upstairs while Aaron paid. We were now nearing Holt’s threshold for patience and I needed to call in reinforcements, so to speak. We went to the arcade. It never fails to work. The boys are always mesmerized by the lights and a little overwhelmed by the sounds. It’s hard to hear in a Japanese arcade. You must compete with buzzers, loud music, flashing lights, and games the likes of which we do not have in the US. Ridge and Holt immediately found this train. For only 200 yen (less than $2), the train took them around twice. We stayed until my ears were ringing with the noise, then stepped across the hallway to drool over the newly released Harry Potter movie. Unfortunately, there is no way for us to see it. We can’t take the boys, we have no babysitter, and this – the nearest movie theater – is two hours away from Nishiokoppe. Aaron keeps telling me I’ll live even if I have to wait for the DVD.

As we now needed to feed our children in order to avoid having them turn on us, we loaded up and went to a resteraunt. Thanks to my little jaunt to Kitame with Kurata, I recognized this chair of eatery. A steakhouse, of sorts, Victoria was a nice change from homestyle Japanese food. Aaron ordered their largest steak. It weighed in at about eight ounces. Fortunately, our meal came with soup and salad, so we filled up with no problem. Holt happily ate nothing but an order of fries while Ridge tackled a small hamburger patty with a fried shrimp on the side. I am sorry that I didn’t take a photo of the salad bar. It had some of the usual American veggies: tomato, lettuce, and cucumber. It also included things like seaweed, pickled daikon radish, pickled bamboo shoots, and a variety of other items that I could not identify.

After eating, we drove a bit and found the pedestrian shopping area that I had seen on the map. Parking was a little confusing, though Ridge tired very hard to give his opinion on where Aaron should park. It went something like, “Aaron, you should park the car now. Aaron, I want to get out. Can we go there? Aaron, you should park the car. When are you going to park, Aaron? I want to get out. Can we get out now?” I think you get the picture.

So, we shopped a bit, found some expresso, and did a little “happy dance”. We have not had a mocha or latte in three months. Ridge and Holt were heartily admired by a trio of high school girls eager to practice their English with us. Holt was very obliging and giggled unendingly as he played chase with one of the girls who was clad in her grey tweed school uniform mini-skirt. They laughed and took pictures with their phones. We seemed to be very amusing to them.

We headed back sometime after dark. The weather was much better and the car was quiet, as the boys took pity on their parents and slept the whole way home. Before falling asleep, Ridge asked, “Will I still be asleep when we get home?”

The photos:
Italian Food Section
Ridge and Holt on the Train Ride
Kid's meal
Close-up of kid's meal - It's Big Boy!
Michelle and Holt
Colonel Sanders. KFC is pretty popular here!