Page 1 of 1

Hello from the Frozen North!

Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2018 3:49 pm
by rekrab
Hello everyone, I just find it about this forum today. I've been living in the northern part of Hokkaido for the last 18 months. It's been an absolute dream come true after living in Los Angeles for over half my life! I'm an ALT for Interac, but when I'm not teaching I enjoy skiing, hiking, photography and driving around Japan's northernmost island. There aren't a whole lot of foreigners up here so if you have any questions about Hokkaido and specifically about Rumoi-gun, Teshio-gun, or Soya-gun, I'll do my best to answer. I still haven't explored all of Hokkaido, heck is say I've only driven through about a quarter of it and I haven't even made it South of Sapporo!

Anyways, thanks for having me, I'm looking forward to getting to know you all.

Re: Hello from the Frozen North!

Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2018 6:36 am
by Zasso Nouka
Thank you for signing up to JSL, we really do appreciate the effort.

You might well be our most northerly member, I do envy your summers up there. No suffocating humidity or heat that feels like it's going to melt you and winters must be starkly beautiful. Would love to see some of your photography at some point if you have an the inclination to share it.

I am curious what winters are like up there, down here we count a few millimetres of snow as a heavy downfall, how much do you get there ? Must be quite interesting to have such large seasonal variations.

Re: Hello from the Frozen North!

Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2018 9:45 am
by gonbechan
Hokkaido is an incredibly beautiful place to drive around, and you do have some of the best roads in all of Japan.

Lovely to have you here rekrab.

Re: Hello from the Frozen North!

Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2018 6:09 pm
by rekrab
Zasso Nouka wrote:Thank you for signing up to JSL, we really do appreciate the effort.

You might well be our most northerly member, I do envy your summers up there. No suffocating humidity or heat that feels like it's going to melt you and winters must be starkly beautiful. Would love to see some of your photography at some point if you have an the inclination to share it.

I am curious what winters are like up there, down here we count a few millimetres of snow as a heavy downfall, how much do you get there ? Must be quite interesting to have such large seasonal variations.
Glad to be here! Sorry I took so long to respond, had a few crazy weeks.

Yes, the summers here are really amazing. It can hit 40, but that's pretty uncommon. Definitely better than down south.

The winters can be charitably described as brutal. Last year the snow piles in front of my apartment were cleared out three times when they reached 2 meters tall. I had to shovel the snow in front of my garage at least once, most often twice a day. For 5 freaking months! There were at least three total blizzards that created white-out conditions. There were plenty of times when I couldn't drive to the ski hill because the snow and wind were so bad that I couldn't safely drive anywhere.

But really, I wouldn't trade it for anything. The lifestyle up here is amazing. If I get a chance I'll share some photos!

Re: Hello from the Frozen North!

Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2018 6:07 am
by Zasso Nouka
No worries at all,

We take life in the slow lane here so please don't feel under any pressure to post super regular. Your winters do indeed sound savagely brutal but also quite interesting once you've adapted to them.

If you do get some free time then please do feel free to share some of your pictures, would give us southerners a view of what it's like up there.

Re: Hello from the Frozen North!

Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2018 5:36 pm
by Eric in Japan
rekrab, as a former Minnesotan, and someone who lived in Kushiro for 4 years, I think you should try snowshoeing and cross country skiing as well. Lots of fun in the snow when you can't drive to the ski hill.

Re: Hello from the Frozen North!

Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2018 1:31 pm
by rekrab
Eric in Japan wrote:rekrab, as a former Minnesotan, and someone who lived in Kushiro for 4 years, I think you should try snowshoeing and cross country skiing as well. Lots of fun in the snow when you can't drive to the ski hill.
I really prefer letting gravity do the work >.>