The Eye of Patrick / My soon to be Home in Hokkaido

My soon to be Home in Hokkaido

I am not sure if I have posted about my placement. But I finally found out where I will be going. I will be going to Shimokawa, Hokkaido. If you are anything like me, you are wondering where is that.Shimokawa is located in the nothern part of hokkaido. It is about 2-3 hours from Sapporo by train. The town contains about 4,000 people (plus or minus census source). Its primary industries are logging and farming. On the right there is a map of it so that you can have a clearer picture of shimokawa, hokkaido.Being selected to live in Hokkaido is an interesting event, as when i made my application for the JET program I had selected no place because I thought that I would get sent where i was meant to be, plus there was just to many places i wanted to go to in Japan. So when I found out I was going to hokkaido i was excited. I started googling it and ran into a lack of information. The wiki post on it just states the location and the population. So I dug even further and asked my Japanese friends to help me locate more information, even in Japanese there was not too much.

So I was happy to hear from the person I will be taking over. He called me and we talked about it. From the sounds of it, I really lucked out for many reasons.

1. I will have western toliet that flushes, this is not that common in hokkaido supposely.

2. I will be getting a brand new heater! so those winters will not be too cold.

3. I can get high speed internet, which supposely is not that common in small towns of 4000 people. I can’t imagine life without highspeed!

4. My rent will be 72 dollars a month due to my town helping me.

5. It comes more or less fully furnished.

6. My town has an Indian and Italian resturant.

So I was happy about that, plus my schools I will be teaching at are very nice too, from grade K-12 and also and adult class. He mentioned that the adults are very nice and friendly and can actually speak english. I should only be teaching 2-3 years a day, but have to spend the other time at the BOE. This means I will have a lot of time to study Japanese, which is one of the reason for me wanting to go to Japan.

He also mentioned that there is many festivals and that my town has two local festivals. One is an ice candle festival. You are probably thinking Ice candles? but doesn’t water put fire out, and yes that is the case. But in Shimokawa, hokkaido they have a special way.

This is what my pred said: “To make an ice candle you first take a bucket and fill it with water. Now leave it outside overnight, exposed to the frigid temperatures. By morning, the top and sides of the bucket will have frozen but the bottom and core
will still be liquid. So, turn the bucket upside down, and drop out the contents — they form a large ice ‘cup’ around the remaining unfrozen water. Pour out the water, wait until night, put a candle inside then light it, and voila! You have an ice candle. As I’m sure you can imagine, these are quite beautiful objects.”

He also told me that there was many opportunities to get involved in the community through events and festivals. I look forward to that, and that was part of the reason I requested to be put in a small town, as I wanted to get a unique Japanese experience.

Seeing that it is hokkaido, there is lots of skiing and from what I have heard it is just covered in them. I can’t wait to ski again, while living in Ontario I have not had much desire to ski as the hills are poor, but some of the hills in Japan are used for super G and other races so the quality must be good. Also the ski season runs from Nov to May and it is only 20-40 dollars a day, which is very cheap. I heard that many people go skiing 15-20 times in the ski season, so I hope to learn to snowboard while there.

On the right I included some photos of my apartment, I hope you enjoy them. Have any of you been to Hokkaido, tell me about it?

Patrick

Comments (23) left to “My soon to be Home in Hokkaido”

LB wrote:

keep your house clean so that i can visit you!

and please practice driving. i don’t wanna die yet. hehe

Posted on 01-Jul-06 at 6:19 pm | Permalink
risingsunofnihon wrote:

Sounds like you’re getting into a pretty good situation. Your predecessor is right about not expecting too much in a town of 4,000 people, so you are pretty lucky with what you’re getting. Good luck to you!!

Posted on 02-Jul-06 at 3:34 am | Permalink
patrick1004 wrote:

LB: Thank you, I will try to keep it clean.

Risingsunofnihon: Yes from the sounds of it there is not too much negative aspects of it, atleast no horror stories so far. Thank you for your comments. Are you in Japan?

Posted on 02-Jul-06 at 7:12 am | Permalink
S u s h i c a m - Japan Photo Blog wrote:

[...] Photo’s of my apartment [...]

Posted on 04-Jul-06 at 7:40 pm | Permalink
patrick1004 wrote:

Hello Sushicam?

I am confused by the message.

Patrick

Posted on 04-Jul-06 at 7:44 pm | Permalink
CMG wrote:

I can think of a couple things…you got a new heater because new or old it’s going to feel like you don’t have one, high speed internet because without it, you may commit suicide, your town helping you with rent, because four months into it, your going to proclaim that they should pay YOU to live there, It comes furnished because you can’t get a moving truck through the snowy pass but three months a year…and they’re not the months your moving…ice candles…ha, ice candles, ice sheets, ice toilets, ice, ice, ice…but you’ll have onsen, ramen, udon, ohhh to be in Japan…you’ll be fine, Im just kidding, prepare to ski though.

Posted on 05-Jul-06 at 9:03 pm | Permalink
patrick1004 wrote:

haha thank you CMG for oyur post, I found your comment to be funny in a sarcastic way. Do you have a blog of yourself?

Patrick

Posted on 11-Jul-06 at 8:19 pm | Permalink
Anonymous wrote:

Hey Patrick,

Thanx for the kind words on my blog. It’s funny when you do this blogging thing - you think you’re writing primarily for the 10 or 15 friends and family you badger into reading it, and it turns out that all types of people are reading it. I’m so glad you found it helpful and informative and not just a bunch of rambling.

Omedetou Gozaimashita! on getting into JET - it really is the “E” ticket way to come to Japan. As for Hokkaido - whew! I know I couldn’t do it - I grew up in So Cal and Texas and didn’t see my first snow until moving here to Shimane, so I can’t even begin to imagine the -C temps and snow you’re gonna see -but I have a friend, Dustin (link to his blog on my blog), who now lives up in Hokkaido and he’s enjoying it quite a bit.

I’ll be checking in from time to time to see how you’re getting on, and feel free to email me if you ever want teaching tips or game ideas - taishajason(at)gmail(dot)com

Good luck!
-Jason

Posted on 17-Jul-06 at 8:42 pm | Permalink
Cynthia wrote:

Hi Patrick,

I’m applying for a Jet program in Hokkaido, Obihiro. I’ve lived in Tokyo for 3 years so I can’t imagine myself living in a small town but there is something compelling about inaka. And also, as you mentioned, this is the only way you can get a unique and truly Japanese experience.
Have yo been to Obihiro? There is not much information on the internet, much less pictures!

Cynthia

Posted on 06-Mar-07 at 8:49 am | Permalink
patrick1004 wrote:

Hello Cynthina,

Happy to hear from you, and so sorry to get back to you so late. I think you will enjoy Inaka, I am not a person who had lived in inaka before and probably wont after i finish living here. but it is a good experience, and one that is not easy to find.

Are you applying as a CIR? I have not been to Obihiro but from what i have heard it is a lovely place and i will probably go and visit some weekend.

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