Day 2 (13/12) - Edo Wonderland (Part 1)
Seen on a hair-dryer in the room toilet: 'Please do not use for the other purpose except for drying your hair'. I wonder what the other purpose is. Damn Japs.
Part of the bathroom mirror was heated, so it didn't fog up.
I only saw Chinese, Japanese and Korean (CJK) tourists in Hokkaido, and most signs, if subtitled, were only in those languages (if they didn't have enough space they had English and Japanese only).
At breakfast one guy brought a metal flask to the buffet table and starting scooping porridge into it. Probably a PRC.
The first stop of the day was the Noboribetsu Date Jidai Mura (Edo Wonderland) - a theme park recreating a town during the Edo period. Surprisingly, given the lack of non-CJK tourists, the signs and pamphlets were almost all in English as well as Japanese. Unfortunately the staff were not similarly competent, and the shows were only in Japanese.
We had a form of snow this morning, but it wasn't the good type, rather being the styrofoam ball type of snow.
Staff at the entrance
For some reason I only saw a couple of stray pussies, but no stray dogs in Japan
'The popular souvenir shop for foreigners' - Read: ripoff. I wonder where the popular souvenir shop for locals was.
Romanticisation
'Splendor. Vitality. Daring.
A step into Noboribetsu Date Jidai Mura is a step back in time to the glorious days of the Edo period.
This theme park is a timeless world where you can relive one of the most exciting eras in Japanese history through costumes, martial arts and entertainments. The spacious grounds recreate the sights and sounds of the Date fiefdom, the largest in Northern Japan. Let yourself drift back to a more relaxing, exotic time as you stroll along with samurai and townspeople down streets lined with reproductions of traditional buildings'
Yes, and peasants ran the risk of being beheaded by irate Samurai. Relaxing indeed.
There was a Ninja House, with things like floors tilted 45 degrees (which were surprisingly disorienting):
Shitting ninja
Ancient auto-door. I've always wanted one of these.
Haunted house (it sucked. the other one was better)
Then it was a Ninja Show (wordless, thankfully):
Announcer
Ninja ritual
Ninja ritual
Ninja sparring preliminaries
Ninja sparring
Stick sparring
Ninja sparring with swords
Reflexes test
Rappelling
Duel
Flashing combat
Curtain call, and the audience tries to kill them by throwing projectiles at high speed (it was a custom during the era to wrap coins in white paper and throw them at the stage if the performance was good)
The ninja show showcased a lot of hidden compartments (the altar could slide aside, the ceiling became a staircase, walls were actually swivelling doors etc), but these were used too quickly for me to capture.
Temple dedicated to the stupid cat
The temple was a haunted house in disguise.
Proof that cats are evil
Proof that cats are evil
Skewering evil cats
Presumably the stones are to walk across the stream, so why did they block off access to them?
No Wonderland is complete without cigarettes
Then it was the Geisha show.
Geisha show
The Geisha show wasn't that good, unfortunately, not least since it was all in Japanese (with occasional Korean and Mandarin translations by tour guides). It was also like a Jap variety show, with all the shouting and screaming. I don't think they were like that in Ancient times.
Museum. They had some swords there, as well as a wacky video which featured mascots in suits beating up ninjas
Pond outside museum
Unused mascot suit. I don't know where the man was.
"Spirit of Samurai
The fighting instinct of a human being is universal and natural.
Japanese tried to control and manage this rough instinct of a human being.
This is called ‘bushido’.
Once, it controlled and gave energy to the Japanese society and made the Japanese realize something holy hidden behind.
Even though the feudal system has vanished nowadays, ‘bushido’ still exist within the Japanese people’s heart and those who embody are called 'samurai'.
The reason why ‘bushido’ is said to be the unique Japanese idea is because it was strongly influenced by Zen and Confucianism.
There were various types of samurai according to the times and also because ‘bushido’ was influenced by two different schools of thought of those periods. Therefore both Tokugawa Ieyasu who was known as a patient man,
and Miyamoto Musashi who lived to fight are called samurai
The two have nothing in common with each other’s life.
The only common they had might be their soul... the spirit of samurai.
- Ryoichi Yuki"
Uhh
Prayer wheel
Watch tower (for fire), and buildings
Bridges
There was a recreation of the artisan area (?) of a village:
Tattooing
Alley
Well
Fire tower
Me
The place wasn't all like Disneyland - there were exhibits (like the one on Samurai swords), and also one on ninjas:
Various types of Shuriken
Ninja tools. Besides black costumes, they also had brown, yellow-red and dark blue. Surprisingly, brown worked best in the dark.
Street
Their staff. They're very proud of them. They even included their birthdays and blood types.
Chocolates featuring their mascot
One-eyed Samurai