Journal of a Sabbatical

before snow flies

November 13, 1997

Previous Entry Journal Index		before snow flies Yesterday, we were supposed to get snow flurries in the afternoon. Instead the day was bright and sunny the whole time. Of course, since I'm still sick, I couldn't go out and make full use of the last nice day there's ever gonna be. In the depths of November, any sunny day assumes that weight of "last nice day" syndrome. All those outdoor activities that just have to be done "before snow flies" call out to me: "Janet, Janet, cut back the bushes, clean up the yard, gather acorns and stash them for the winter." Wait a minute, I'm not a squirrel, forget the acorns. Tomorrow we're due for a couple of inches (1 to 3") of snow and sleet changing to rain, just in time for driving the nieces to piano lessons. And once again the sun is shining and the yard work is mocking me. And once again, this silly cold is hanging on. I'm not getting much of anything done. I did go out yesterday to get cat food. For some reason, I have not been able to train Wilbur to do his own grocery shopping. Today I've been trying to get the Hokkaido journal entries done and organize the pictures. It's so hard to choose just a few photos for the web page when so many of them are really good. It's also hard because so few of the photos look "Japanese". My photography on this trip was very tree-intensive. Not surprisingly given this was a tree-intensive trip, but still bound to be disappointing to folks looking for tori gates and tea ceremonies or whatever. The architecture of Hokkaido is not very "Japanese" in that sense either, given that the Japanese really didn't settle there until the 19th century. I've been reading Lafcadio Hearn's Out of the East . I got a particular kick out of this passage: Indeed to give up the native dress would involve the costly necessity of changing nearly all the native habits of life. Western costume is totally unsuited to a Japanese interior; and would render the national squatting, or kneeling, posture extremely painful or difficult for the wearer. The adoption of Western dress would thus necessitate the adoption of Western domestic habits: the introduction into the home of chairs for resting, tables for eating, stoves or fireplaces for warmth (since the warmth of the native robes alone renders these Western comforts at present unnecessary), carpets for floors, glass for windows, - in short, a host of luxuries which the people have always been able to do without. Lafcadio Hearn, Out of the East, 1897 It's not so much that his prediction is off - certainly many aspects of Japanese life have changed, though not necessarily because of the adoption of western dress. It's that he clearly hadn't experienced a Hokkaido winter! The juxtaposition of this essay with the paean to the invention of the coal stove, which I encountered on a tourist info sign, replete with photographs of early coal stoves as well as ice skates and skis, in Sapporo just cracks me up! Life in Winter: For the early settlers, the first winter in Sapporo was a difficult, and at times, life-threatening experience. Through this experience, the settlers came to learn how to protect themselves against the cold and how to enjoy winter life. After many years of trial and error, a coal heater was perfected; skiing and skating were taught by teachers at Sapporo Agricultural College (the present Hokkaido University). By the 1920's, Sapporo had developed into a city with its own full-fledged northern way of life, in which winter was both comfortable and enjoyable. Info sign on Gingko Street in Sapporo, 1997 Maybe the early settlers of Hokkaido got their wardrobe tips from the Ainu instead of from Savile Row. Me? I spent the rest of the afternoon browsing the LL Bean catalog so I could at least have the illusion of preparing for snow.
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