JamieJakov Blog

Sapporo Snow Festival

February 11th, 2015

SnowFestival

Every year a bunch of snow sculptures are constructed in the Ōdōri park in Sapporo. This year is the 66th Sapporo snow festival and we (Amy and I) had the opportunity to experience it first hand.

To start of, I would like to say that with big events like this, it is important to book hotels and flights early. I booked everything around the middle of November and that was apparently too late by Japanese standard. All the affordable hotels in Sapporo city were booked out, so the best I could find was a Toyoko Inn in the nearby city of Tomakomai, which is 1 hour away from Sapporo by train. But that was ok and well worth it in the end.

On leaving Japan

February 2nd, 2015

Kagoshima_Sakurjima

My 10 months in Japan is almost over and it is time to pack up and fly back to Sydney. What can I say, it’s been a wild ride. A lot of events, celebrations, and great experiences overall. But now its time to say goodbye, time to leave Japan for a while, time to go back to my proper studies in UTS.

It’s a strange feeling. On one hand its sad to leave Japan and Kagoshima, as it is a nice place to live once you get used to all the quirks of the culture and social interactions. Then on the other hand, my mind is already in Sydney settling down in my new house in Rhodes, setting up my new iMac and just getting ready to go back to university.

There are a lot of things that will be greatly missed: like the fast and convenient trains; the ability to go anywhere by bike; the delicious, healthy and cheap food; the safety; the rejuvenating waters of the onsen; the fast and unlimited internet; and just life in general. But then again there are a lot of things that I have to look forward to, such as: variety in food, delicious meat, cheap and juicy fruit; the ability to pay with my credit card everywhere; not having to deal with stacks of paperwork every week; next semester of uni and new challenges.