Monday, May 29, 2006

Sergeant Frog!

It's the last few days before I head back home and I’m really starting to get p*ssed off now.

I decide to spend a good part of this morning in Odori Park and the surrounding area to the North. I’m hoping to take to take a few final photos and do a bit of scouting around in preparation for my return trip (hopefully sooner rather than later!) The weather is overcast, but at least it’s not raining.

I noticed on an earlier trip (to my disappointment) that the area North of the park is nowhere near as lively as the area South, but I thought I’d have another look around as I may have missed something interesting before…

Stopping off for another cup of tea in Mc Donald’s, and accepting yet another packet of free tissues (That must be about the 20th packet that I've picked up while I've been here) from a smiling (but rather bored looking) girl I head back to the park to sit down and have some lunch.

As I wait at the crossing, a coach stops almost opposite me. A young girl of about 12 years old sitting on the back seat looking out of the window suddenly notices the strange Western man (me!) outside smiles and starts to wave. I laugh and wave back. Her head disappears into the dark interior only to return 5 seconds later with various other heads and arms smiling and waving! The traffic lights change and the coach moves off. Little arms still swaying in the rear window as it drives off into the distance.

(I did have an earlier encounter with a group of high school kids earlier in the week as I was walking through Odori Park. As they approached, one of the girls said “hello hello” to me. “Hi” I replied as I passed, causing simultaneous bowing of heads and lots of giggling amongst them!)

After another nice relaxing lunch in the park, I head back to the Donki Shop to try and find the movies I was looking for yesterday. Trying to remember where the DVD/Music section was from when I went there with Yuki, I accidentally stumble upon the section full of Japanese capsule toys.


After about half an hour searching through all of the neatly bagged figures, I take several to the till, before heading off to find the section that I actually came in here to look for. Once again, as with the shop I looked in the day before, even finding the section that I need to start searching in is nigh on impossible, so I resign myself to failure and decide to look for the movie on the internet when I get back to the UK.

As I was nearing the end of my time in Japan and I’d managed to accumulate an humongous amount of small change, I thought I’d try to lighten the load rattling around in my pockets by spending it. Now, I’m pretty sure that Mr Japanese shopkeeper will be most annoyed to find out that I’m going to pay for something that’s worth 10,000 Yen all in 100 Yen coins, so I decide to go into the arcade nearby and dispose of some in the UFO grabber machines.

Locating one containing a prize that I want to win, I stick my money in the slot.


The first couple of attempts are pretty pathetic, the mechanical claw just nudging the toy like a surly cat playing with a dead gerbil. I stick a few more coins in and with a sharp eye to line up the claw with the toy and a bit of luck I claim my first prize! (Not sure what the Japanese name for the character is, but here he’s known as Sergeant Frog!) This run of luck continues for the next twenty minutes or so until I’ve accumulated a small haul of about fourteen prizes. Three Sergeant Frog characters, seven cute squishy dolphin (at least I think they’re supposed to be) toys in various colours and four assorted robots)

Just as I start to look around for the next machine to play, I notice that the arcade has become very crowded. I think school has finished for the day as the place is suddenly filled with dozens of high school girls all heading for the Purikura machines. I think this is a good time to leave before I drown in a sea of high pitched giggles and crêpes…

The rest of the afternoon is spent just wandering around and taking a last look at some of my favourite parts of the city.

Back to the hotel to have a bit of a rest and a cup of tea. This evening I’m going to meet up with Eriko and Naoko again.

I meet Eriko in the hotel lobby (I’m slightly late because I was engrossed in a Japanese drama on the TV! Hahaha! Sorry Eriko!) and we head off to a tiny bar in the Tanukikoji shopping arcade. When I say tiny I really mean it. It’s probably one of the smallest places that I’ve seen. It’s also very empty as there is only one other customer in here. The centre piece of its cosy interior design style is a pigs leg in cling film in a kind of vice like contraption lovingly displayed on the bar!

We have one drink here before heading off to meet Naoko in one of the underground walkways underneath the arcade and then make our way onto the second and final place for the evening.

This is a more traditional looking place with small booths containing a low table and even lower chairs. We leave our shoes outside and settle down.

Eriko and Naoko explain some of the items on the menu and decide to order a few different dishes so I can try some things that I've never tried before.

We order some drinks and I opt for a rum and coke. Ten minutes later the rum and coke arrives. Unfortunately the rum and coke is missing a vital ingredient, namely the rum!

We drink, eat and chat. The evening has been a lot of fun and I’m glad I was able to meet some great new friends while I was here! :D

Unfortunately, time flies and it’s soon time to go. Eriko and Naoko point me in the direction of my hotel (hey, Sapporo looks so different at night. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!) and disappear in to the night.

Back in my room I make a cup of tea and switch on the TV…

One more day to go.

Sh*t.


:(

2 Comments:

Blogger Eriko said...

Good try in Kingyo-ro restaurant!
I'll bring you to a decent Susi restarurant next time. You can not have anything but Suhi! Depressing, isn't it?

8:18 PM  
Blogger Colin said...

Maybe I can take some uncooked potatoes with me so I can have sushi fish and chips!

Hahaha!

:D

2:24 AM  

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