2015 - Hokkaido, Japan

Day 1 - Sapporo, Japan - June 12

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We arrived in Chitose around 9 pm on the 11th of June and took a cab to our hotel. It was a nice hotel. We didn’t sleep well though because the time is completely opposite here. We were REALLY ready to leave and get our rental car to pick up Mike! We picked up our car around 8:30 am. Dave had been stressing this moment for months! But he did really well. The only mistake he made was using the windshield wiper instead of the turn signal. We arrived at the mission office around 9:30 am. As soon as I got out of the car I saw Mike through the glass doors. It was incredible! I opened the door and got to hold him and see him. I missed him so much! We got to meet his mission president and wife and everyone from the office. It was super cool. It seemed very surreal, being in Sapporo with Mike. We had him change out of his suit and then we walked to a nearby store to buy some breakfast and snack items. We then drove to a park in the city and ate some food and walked to a shrine in the park. The park was beautiful, and it was so neat to hear Mike explaining everything about the shrine area to us. He was telling us all about Japan and its custom and words and everything. It’s so cool to see him read the Kanji and be able to translate everything for us. After we left the park we went to Mt. Moiwa. We took the pretty winding road most of the way up and got out and hiked about 10 minutes to the top. There is a beautiful view of the city below us. We also ran into another missionary that was leaving. He was there at the top of the mount with his family as well. We ended up running into him later in the city as well. After we left the mount, we decided to see the Sapporo temple that is being built right now. We parked at a family m art nearby and walked all the way around the construction site. It will be a big temple, and very beautiful when it is finished. It is a very powerful place. The temple was nearby Mike’s area of Shiroishi so he told us a few Shiroishi stories and we drove past the apartment he lived in. We then drove to Odori Park. It’s a mile long park in the center of Sapporo. We walked for about ½ mile to the clock tower, bought a cool key chain for Josh, and then we watched some dances performing for the festival this upcoming week. For dinner we went into the train station, which is also a huge mall. Mike took us to a ramen section of the mall and we had ramen for dinner. Oh my goodness it was delicious! I failed big time with my chopsticks, but I managed to eat most of it and got really full. We had planned on going back to Mt. Moiwa to see the city lights at night, but at this point dad and I were really tired, so we drove to our hotel. It was about a 45 minute drive out of town to some really pretty green, hilly areas. Our hotel is on a hot spring so there were onsen in the hotel, and our hotel was amazing! It’s like a mini Japanese house. And the coolest part of all is we had our own little onsen in our room. It’s like a sauna room off of our bathroom and there is a hot spring bath in there. It was heaven!

Day 2 - Muroran - June 13

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Our hotel had free full breakfast, so we went down and it was delicious! We had eggs, rice, miso soup, vegetables and fruit and pastries. We then checked out of our hotel and drove to Muroran, about a 2 hour drive through gorgeous green, jungle like hills and tunnels. We stopped along the way for drinks. The drinks here are really good, and a have a much bigger variety to choose from then back home. My favorite so far is called Calpis. It’s white, made from some kind of milk, but fruity tasting. I also had a grapefruit sports type drink that was really good. When we arrived in Muroran, we drove over the long bridge over the bay, to the south shore area and stopped at a place on the coast. We walked along the coast for a few minutes, rang he happiness bell, and went to the shop that sells bolt men, and bought some for the kids back home. Mike then took us to a beautiful coastal road that he biked a lot and stopped at few scenic overlooks. We saw a cemetery on the hillside so we stopped and walked through it. It was really pretty! He also took us down a trail to a secluded beach that he went to on a couple p-days. Then we drove to a light house, but the fog rolled in at that point and we couldn’t see anything. Mike said it’s a gorgeous view of the cliffs and ocean, so we hope to go back tomorrow if the sky is clear. We drove into the city and Mike showed us the apartment he lived in, and we stopped at some shops. We bought some chopsticks for the kids and Mike got a Japanese outfit, like lounge wear and sleep wear that he had always wanted to get. He also wanted to meet up with the Elders serving in Muroran so we called them and met them at a donut shop and bought them donuts. We visited for about 45 minutes, and then they had to leave. We went to dinner at a restaurant that served hamburger steaks with rice and we loved it. I had a stuffed cheese and mushroom steak with a brown gravy and mushroom sauce. We also all ordered strawberry milk. It had crushed strawberries on the bottom, with the delicious, creamy Hokkaido milk on the top. It was delicious! Mike said he lived 5 minutes away from the Hokkaido milk factory of Otofke. We then drove to our hotel on Lake Toya. It’s a beautiful lake with a mountain in the middle of the lake. I was so tired so climbed into bed. The boys stayed up to watch the fireworks that go off over the lake every weekend all summer long.

Day 3 - Muroran, Lake Toya - June 14

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This hotel also has free buffet breakfast, which I wasn’t expecting, and it was really good, although it’s more like lunch or dinner than breakfast. I had rice and miso and nikujaga (like potatoes and carrots) and some French toast. It was a beautiful day so we wanted to take our drive along the coast line again and actually see the scenery from the look outs that we stopped at yesterday. Our first stop on the drive was at the light house. There were gorgeous views of the cliffs and ocean. There was another happiness bell where we had pictures taken, and met a cute young Japanese couple with a little toddler walking around in squeaky shoes. So cute! We then stopped at 3 overlooks. Dave didn’t know what a stop sign looked like, so he ran one and then pulled off on the wrong side of the road at a look out. A cop was sitting there and asked Dave to get out of the car. Fortunately Mike was with us and helped them understand that dad didn’t know any better. They took pity on him and told Mike to be sure and teach dad about the rules of the road, and let him go with a warning. We also stopped at a beach that mike would sometimes go on p-days. The boys didn’t want to walk in the sand in their church clothes and shoes, but I was wearing sandals and a skirt so I left them behind with my shoes, hitched up my skirt and walked in the water for 10 minutes. It was Sunday, so we went to the church in Muroran in Mike’s first area. Everyone loved seeing Mike again and made many comments on how great his Japanese was. They asked him to speak for a few minutes and he went first. Elder Bateman in the ward tried to translate for us but he is still not as good with Japanese as Mike and couldn’t follow all he was saying, but he gave us the main idea of what Mike was saying. Then Mike sat back down with us and translated the rest of the meeting for us. After the meeting everyone wanted to talk to Mike, so we were in the foyer talking and taking pictures for an hour. Then the counselor in the bishopric asked if we were hungry, and wanted to share his lunch with us. He took us into the bishop’s office and we ate some Japanese rice mixture. It was really good. We headed back to the hotel afterwards and changed our clothes, then went to Mt. Uzusan to take the cable car up the mount. Mt. Uzu is an active volcano and you can see steam all over the mount. We took the cable car to the lookout and then we walked up another 100 or so steps to get to a higher look out. It was very beautiful and the top and we could see the lake and surrounding areas. We wanted ice cream cones near where we parked, and got in line to get some. Just then 30 Chinese people came crowding in for ice cream and pushed us out of line, so we left. On our way back, we stopped in Date for some ramen dinner. It was just a small family owned place and she was so grateful that we came in to eat her ramen. She said she loved watching us white foreigners eating her ramen. It was sweet. Each night over the lake is a firework show. The counselor in the bishopric that shared his lunch with us brought his daughter and met us that evening to watch the firework show.

Day 4 - Hakodate - June 15

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We drove to Hakodate this morning. Our first stop was at a park that used to be a fort, shaped as a 5 pointed star. We walked through the park for about an hour and stopped to get some ice cream. It was the Hokkaido milk ice cream and was different than any other soft serve I have tasted. We absolutely loved it! It has a really good flavor. There is also a tower next to the park, so we took the elevator to the top to see the views of the fort and city. For lunch we stopped at a burger place that serves burgers about a foot tall. Dave and mike both got one. I got a regular cheese burger. Mike was able to finish his tall burger, but Dave and I couldn’t finish ours. We then drove 20 minutes to another really beautiful park in the city. It the most beautiful park I have ever seen. There were wisteria tunnels, but most of the flowers were gone already in June. It would have been amazing in the spring. There were ponds and pathways through beautiful trees and bridges. I loved it. There was also a Japanese old style traditional house, that the park built around it and it now belongs as part of the park. We were able to walk inside and see what it looked like 75 years ago or so. Then we found our hotel and checked in. We had some time until we wanted to go to Mt. Hakodate so we plugged the laptop into the TV and watched Frozen. Mike liked it. When the sun started setting, we walked to the train station. It was less than a mile from our hotel. We took the short train ride to the top of the observatory. The 6 Hakodate missionaries happened to be up there as well since it was p-day, so Mike was really excited to hang out with them for about 30 minutes until they had to head back. We ended up staying there about an hour watching it get darker and more lights from the city below come on. It was a gorgeous view. It got very crossed up there the longer we were there. Fortunately we arrived early enough that we had a good view in the front.

Day 5 - Otaru - June 16

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Today we had a 4 hour drive up the coastline to go see Cape Kamui. It was a beautiful drive, with lots tunnels which Dave loved. We stopped at a couple out looks along the way. Cape Kamui was a gorgeous cape with a light house. There were several trails along it and one that went all the way to the end with the light house. We walked along the cape for about an hour. The water was so blue and there were flowers all over the mountainside. It was such a pretty place. We then had another 2 hour drive further down the coast to Otaru. We drove up to Mt. Tengu and got some nice views of the city below. We also fed some chipmunks and rode the mountain slide. My favorite part was our 30 minute hike/nature walk along the summit. We checked into our hotel first once we drove back down into the city. Our hotel is next to an out door mall and several eating places. We found a tempura restaurant that was so good! It was just a tiny place, where we sat in a half circle and the owner cooked the food right in front of us. I loved it. We also stopped for more Hokkaido milk ice cream. Back at the hotel we watched a movie called Survivor, and then the boys watched motocross while I fell asleep.

Day 6 - Asahiwaka, Biei, Furano - June 17

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Today was another beautiful day. The scenery and weather were great. We first went to Asahiwaka to meet the missionaries there. We met 4 Elders, 2 of which were previously companions of Mike, including the companion the Mike trained, Elder Horne. We treated them to lunch and ice cream at the train station/mall. The restaurant we went to was called shabushabu. We got a plate of vegetables and noodles and then they brought us plates of sliced pork. On the table is a pot with one side a soy sauce mixture and the other side a soy milk. You put your noodles, vegetables and meats in the pot and cook it up yourself. There are some different dipping sauces and rice. And it’s a buffet so you can get more vegies and noodles and they will bring as much meat as you want. This is where the missionaries wanted to eat and wow, they can eat and eat a LOT! They kept going back for more food and requesting more meat. I was actually rather surprised, but happy that they seemed to enjoy it so much. I sat at a table with 2 elders and Mike & dad sat at a table with 2 elders. I’m still not good with chopsticks so I would get my food into the pot ok, but I was having a really ahrd time getting it out. Thankfully the elders at my table took really good care of me by getting more food that I wanted and getting it out of the pot and into my bowl. Mike really enjoyed spending time with his buddies. After we left eh missionaries we drove about an hour to a place in Biei called the Blue Pond. It was a beautiful place in the mountains next to a mountain stream. The chemicals in the water make it look like a chalky blue color. It was really pretty. We then drove another 45 minutes to Furano. We stopped at a place called Farm Tomita which is famous for its lavender fields. Unfortunately the lavender was only just beginning to bloom. We needed to come 2-3 weeks later to see it in full bloom. But there were lots of other flower fields and it was really pretty to walk through. We also tried some of their lavender ice cream. I was uncertain that lavender ice cream would taste good, but it was delightful! It made the whole trip worthwhile, even if we didn’t get to see the full lavenders in bloom. We went on to our hotel on the mountainside and watched How to Train Your Dragon 2.

Day 7 - Otofuke/Obihiro - June 18

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Today we were in Mike’s second area of Otofuke. He first took us to a curry restaurant for lunch that he went to several times while serving here. It was next to a grocery store, so we stocked up on more drinks and snacks. Dave loves a melon cream soda here. We then drove by Mike’s apartment he lived in here and noticed the Elder’s bikes were there. We knocked on the door and talked with them on the porch for awhile. Dave wanted to see the red couch that Mike found on the street and carried back to the apartment for 2 miles. So the boys went inside and I waited for them outside in the car. Then we drove into Obihiro and stopped at a park. This park has the world’s longest bench in it, ¼ mile long. It was a large and beautiful park and we spent over an hour here walking around. Mike really wanted to visit an investigator here that he calls his ice cream grandma. When he lived here he would stop by her ice cream shop a couple times a week. She loved him and his companion and always gave them free ice cream. We stopped at her shop and she was so happy to see Mike she cried almost the whole 2 hours we were there. Mike was thrilled to see her and hear how good she was progressing in the gospel. She told him that she prays for him every night. Mike called another friend of his here, the ward mission leader, and he invited us over to his home and offered us dinner. It was really cool to be in a Japanese house with a Japanese family and having a Japanese dinner. They served us shabu-shabu and it was delicious. We really enjoyed our time in their home.

Day 8 - Akan National Park - June 19

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Our drive to the lake district took us about 3 hours. It was another gorgeous drive through the mountains and hills and forest. We had stopped at a seico mart for some pastries for breakfast. We checked into our hotel around 1:00. It is located right on the shores of Lake Kussharo and we have a beautiful view of the lake from our room. There is a coin op laundry facility here in our hotel so we took care of some laundry first, then drove into the nearby town of Teshikagawa for lunch. I had more ramen, the boys had some meat/tofu/gravy over rice. It was very filling so we ended up skipping dinner. It was a late lunch anyway. Then we drove to a couple lookouts of Lake Mashu. It is said to be the clearest lake in the world, and no one is allowed to go down to the water. It was a very beautiful lake, but it’s hard to see how clear it is from way up above from some look outs. The drive along the shores were windy and foresty and Lake Mashu is a at pretty high elevation so we saw several nice views of the surrounding valleys and volcanos. Our next stop was at a volcano called Iozan and it had several sulphuric steam vents that we were able to walk around. It was such a cool place. The smell and the steam started to irritate Dave’s eyes so we couldn’t stay very long. On our drive back to the hotel, we stopped along the shores of Lake Kussharo for a little while at sunset. Back at the hotel, Mike showed us several videos of him and Elder Strachan that we hadn’t seen yet that were super silly. We also watched Cinderella and Blended.

Day 9 - Abashiri - June 20

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Today we drove into Abashiri, which is on the Eastern coast. We first stopped at the Abashiri prison museum. It was built in the 1800’s and was in use until 1984. The prison had 5 wings all going out from one point so the guard could stand in the middle and look down all wings. We walked through the prison and all the surrounding building for a couple hours. It was very interesting. Mike then took us to his favorite Indian restaurant for curry and naan and it was delicious. After lunch we drove to the coast and out to Cape Notoro. It had a light house and was a very beautiful, serene area. We enjoyed walking around on the paths. We then went to a place that was supposed to have sunflower fields, but either they didn’t plant sunflowers this year or it was not blooming time for them. Then we went back to our hotel where we watched more of Mike’s mission videos and also Man of Steel.

Day 10 - Obihiro, Sapporo - June 21

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Today was travel day. It was a gorgeous clear sunny day so we decided to stop at a look out area of Lake Kussharo. We had driven by it a couple times, but it was so foggy we never stopped. It was a beautiful view of the lake. Then we drove into Obihiro for sacrament meeting. We arrived right when the meeting had started so we sat in the back. A member of the bishopric saw Mike and came and asked him to speak for a few minutes. Mike was the first speaker again and the Otofke elders translated for us. Mike then translated the rest of the meeting for us. The men in the ward had to leave right after the meeting for a meeting in Sapporo, so Mike wasn’t able to visit with a lot of the members, but we did stay and visit with the 4 Obihiro missionaries for about an hour. Mike then took us to a Cotts restaurant for lunch. It is breaded pork served with rice, and also more soft serve ice cream. We then drove into Sapporo and went to our hotel. We had free dinner at the hotel, and we watched Maleficent.

Day 11 - Sapporo - June 22

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Today was our last day in Japan. Mike wanted to spend it visiting and saying good bye to his friends. We first stopped at his favorite place to get a haircut. They cut his hair and gave him a shave. We then drove to a restaurant in Ebetsu where we were meeting the elders he had been serving with when he ended his mission. It was like a buffet restaurant and a grill at your table that cooks your meat. We stayed there for over 3 hours, talking and eating. Mike really loves the 3 guys. He had a lot of fun serving with them the previous 2 transfers.

Misc. videos from our Japan trip - June 2015