Of TV Towers & Pretty Flowers

Day 2 of our vacation ~ Much of Hokkaido's scenic spots are in the countryside, so this is one of the rare times that we come back to civilisation!  Odori Park is the main street of Sapporo and Odori means "large street" in Japanese.

Throughout the year, many events and and ceremonies such as the Sapporo Lilac Festival and the Sapporo Snow Festival are held in the park.

There were even street buskers along the Odori Park.  Some were juggling empty bottles in one corner of the park, while others were singing their hearts out for fellow friends and random passers-by along the street.

  

Across the Odori Park, there was also the Statue of "Hope", the Sapporo TV Tower and Japan's renowned broadcasting station "NHK".

An underground shopping street is also built beneath the Odori Park and is linked to the railway station.  There was even a mini aviary within the shopping centre housing many colourful budgerigars.

In the evening, we headed up to JR Tower, the tallest building in Sapporo city, where we had a bird's eye view of the panoramic view of the whole city.

You will notice that the Japanese are a bunch of very honest and righteous people.  There is a TV monitor at the ticket counter showing the current visibility from the 38th floor.  As such, tourists will can make an informed choice even before paying their tickets and will not end up feeling cheated on a rainy day with poor visibility.

We were lucky that the visibility was great that night and a beautiful sight laid out in front of our eyes at the 38th floor.  Our tour guide also shared with us that the JR Tower was a great spot for wedding proposals and he even assisted one couple in his tour group previously and the proposal was a success!

Lastly, we have an interesting tidbit to share.  It is that the male toilet at the 38th floor has urinals which face the gorgeous night scenery!  Supposedly, this will give guys a sense of domination over the night landscape while doing their business.  However, the female toilet did not have such a feature.  (Sadly, Japan is still quite a male-dominated society after all...)  

Shiraoi Ainu Village

Day 5 of our vacation ~ Since it was nearing the end of our trip, it was important to visit the minority race in Hokkaido - the "Ainu".  "Ainu" is originally an Ainu word meaning "human".  Walking into the village, we were first greeted by the giant statue of chief.

At the village, we watched an Ainu performance in a thatched house performance theatre.  The performance allowed us to experience the historical and traditional Japanese lifestyle.  There was dancing, singing and demonstration on how the Ainu villagers will preserve their salmon for winter by smoking the fish.

Traditional Ainu folk dances feature songs and dances including the iyomante rimse (a ceremonial dance for sending bears' spirits back to heaven), upopo (a song performed by seated singers), saroruncikap rimse (a crane dance), emus rimse (an epic sword dance), and an Ainu musical instrument, mukkuri (mouth harp).

The Ainu people were highly religious and prayed to many Gods such as the God who rules the deers, the Owl Guardian and Lunar deities, etc.

Aside from the religious and hunting artifacts, the Folk Art Museum also gave us a general picture of the Ainu's life, displaying precious heirlooms and household utensils.

This picture is not of a man, its actually a drawing of an Ainu woman.  The blue design around the lips are tattoos not moustache.  Tattooing around the lips was an extremely painful process but was part of the coming of age rites and supposedly to help ward off evil.  In recent times however, the Japanese government has banned this tradition as they deemed it to be an inhumane practice.

In the outdoor museum there was also a botanical garden.  However, as it was only the start of summer, most of the plants were only in their seedling stage.

There was also an animal rearing area, where hunting dogs and bears were kept to mimic the life of the Ainu people.  It was rather to sad to see the huge brown bears being kept in such small cages and prowling back and forth in frustration...

If you recognise the puppy below, that's probably because it is a movie star puppy!  It's mum and dad have acted in Japanese movies before!

Right outside the Ainu museum, there was a shop selling wood carvings.  We did not purchase any wood carvings, but the shop had a roaring business selling the remaining chipped wood pieces.  One of the members of our tour group recommended that the pieces of chipped wood could be placed in cupboards to get rid of musty smells and prevent invasion of pests.  Its a very useful tip!