Hakodate and Tohoku: Day 4

When I checked out of my hotel this morning, the skies were blue and nearly cloudless. I went in to a shop to purchase a couple of gifts for friends, and 20 minutes later I walked out into a moderate snow and completely overcast skies!

Today's main event was the ferry from Hakodate back to Aomori City, and it snowed the whole time. It was too windy to let anyone out on deck, so I put my shoes in a little cubby and settled down on the floor in typical Japanese second-class passenger style. Since it's a weekday in December, there were hardly any other people on the boat. In fact, about halfway through the 3.5-hour journey I got up to walk through the hallway for a little bit and though I knew other people were there, it seemed so empty that it was eerie.

From the window of the ship: towards the beginning of the trip it was so foggy that the horizon line disappeared

     
The huge gusts of wind that accompanied the snow storm made the ship roll tremendously.  Objects were rolling across the room at one point, and I had to turn my luggage on its side. I've taken my fair share of journeys by boat, and today was the closest I've ever come to getting seasick.  I had to either be kneeling on the floor looking out the window or lying down flat to keep my stomach from turning.

Looking through the rain drops on the window pane. This was just before the worst of it;
I wish I'd gotten a picture that showed the hills and valleys of the biggest waves, but this is the best I've got...

    
Surprisingly, we arrived only 10 minutes behind schedule, and I promptly made my way to Aomori Station. I knew I still had another 45 minute train ride ahead of me, but wanted to stop at a couple of my favorite places first:

           
Especially the apple shop. Some of my students know the story about the first time I went here: it was during my first trip to Aomori in 2012. I'd been warned several times before leaving Tokyo about how difficult it would be to understand the dialect they speak here (Tsugaru-ben).

One afternoon I stopped here to buy a couple of the apples that this prefecture is so famous for, and the elderly woman who runs the shop came out to talk to me. We chatted for a few minutes, and eventually she asked me where I was from.  I told her that I was from the US but was living in Tokyo, and suddenly she burst out, "I'm from Asakusa!" For our whole conversation I had been so proud of myself for understanding her accent so well, and it turned out her hometown is about 40 minutes away from where I live in Tokyo...

At any rate, they sell fantastic apples, they're very friendly (even to foreign tourists, which is a little rare), and their shop is just outside of Aomori Station.  Make sure to stop by if you're here!

Christmas lights outside Hirosaki Station

       
My next stop was Hirosaki, where I'm spending the night. Even though I'm further south now, it's much colder and there's a lot of snow on the ground here. The purpose of my stay is so that I can catch a resort train with beautiful views of the coastline on my way to Akita City tomorrow (see pictures from my trip this past spring), but when I got to the ticket window at the station tonight they told me that that route might not be running in the morning because of the storm.

So that was that.  The only thing left to do was console myself with a bowl of spicy vegetable curry (and later, a donut sprinkled with black sugar). But it was delicious, so I guess you don't have to feel too sorry for me.  :)

     
Next time: Will Melanie make it to Akita? Stay tuned to find out...