My 15-Day Love Affair

My love affair began on Sunday, June 22, 2008. Eleven flights, four countries, and 15 days later, my husband, my mom, and I had collected enough photographs, full stomachs, and memories to make us yearn to go back to the practically litter-free, modern metropolises and pristine islands of East Asia.

Highlights: the world’s tallest buildings, best night views, and largest Ferris wheels, plus the 2008 G-8 Summit location and a former Winter Olympics site… in Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.

Over the next four weeks, I’ll be taking you on my journey through these thrilling places. Come back each week to visit a new place.

Japan

outdoor shopping arcade in Sapporo

My first trip to Japan was six years ago, when I was still single. My mom and I toured cities including Tokyo, Nara, Osaka, and Kobe. Our return to Japan this summer, with my husband, took us to several cities on the northern island of Hokkaido — a slower pace and more relaxing environment than the bustling, high-tech city of Tokyo and the feverish shopping arcades of Osaka.

Perfection

Julie sniffing flowers in Odori Park in Sapporo, Hokkaido

In two words, Hokkaido is clean and green. The grass is green and lined with lovely gardens full of lavender. And you can go miles before seeing even one piece of litter. The impressive part is that there aren’t trashcans everywhere, so people truly exercise self-discipline as they look for a place to dispose of their garbage properly. The Japanese strive for perfection. As an American, you can see it in their electronics and cars sold in the U.S. And if you ever have a chance to travel to the “Land of the Rising Sun,” you will see it in almost everything they do. The customer service is the best you’ll find anywhere… and I’ve been around the globe. When you walk into a restaurant, the host/hostess and waitstaff all chime in like a choir, one after another, to greet you with polite words and smiles and bow repeatedly. Store employees welcome you with free green tea in tiny teacups. And when you leave, they send you off with just as many thank-you’s and good-bye’s. Every morning, as our tour bus left each hotel we stayed at, several staff members waited outside for us to board the bus; then they waved to us until we could no longer see them. Persistence and hard work.

fake-food display outside restaurant

We spent two days in Sapporo, home to the 1972 Winter Olympics… and Food Garden in the underground Pole Plaza shopping mall. If you’re like me and enjoy delicately-wrapped sweets and beautiful pastries designed with the utmost attention to detail, then Food Garden is your “heaven.” I felt like I had died and gone to paradise… and I didn’t want to get out. I once again fell in love with the food in Japan — as well as the fake, but very real-looking, versions almost always on display in a glass window near the entrance to every restaurant: the food is perfect not only in appearance, but in taste and quality too. The food and lifestyle are so healthy, they counter the Japanese’s excessive smoking, to give them the world’s longest lifespan. They understand the concept that it’s not only what’s on the inside that matters… the outside matters too. That’s certainly evident in the pretty, petite women dressed

kimono store in Pole Plaza

like Stepford Wives — made up like dolls and decked from head to toe in tailored dress-suits and cute hats. Japanese women are the epitome of femininity. You’d almost want to pinch our Asahi Beer factory tour guide.

G-8 Summit
We took a pleasure boat ride on Lake Toya, just a couple days before the world’s most powerful country leaders descended on its shores for the 2008 G-8 Summit. We stayed at the official hotel for American staffers and military personnel: Noboribetsu Grand. Speaking of languages colliding, I played translator for my husband throughout East Asia — going between English and Mandarin, Cantonese, and Taiwanese… but I could help with only several words in Japanese.

MUST-SEE

night view of Hakodate from atop Mt. Hakodate

1. Hakodate. Atop Mt. Hakodate, you’ll see the world’s third-best night view, as ranked by multiple sources. If you’ve been to Hong Kong, this night view pales in comparison, but is still worth taking the cable car (Ropeway) up to see the uniquely shaped land mass all lit up at night.
2. Shinsaibashi. We didn’t go this time, but in 2002 my mom and I spent hours shopping in this outdoor arcade in Osaka, which is home to an ultra-cool Sony store. It was where I discovered Starbucks’ green tea frappuccino before they came to the U.S.
3. Hot springs. Most of the hotels where we stayed had public baths with hot-spring water — where nudity was required. Don’t waste your time: You won’t find any naked pictures of me. In the rooms, yukatas (Japanese pajamas) and tatamis (low-to-the-floor Japanese beds) awaited us. At one of our hotels, we even enjoyed our own private hot-spring tub on the balcony.

our tatami hotel room at Noboribetsu Grand Hotel

4. Green tea ice cream. If you want to travel Japan like I did, you must eat green tea ice cream every time you see it — at ice cream shops and vending machines. I ate the creamy goodness several times a day, although green tea ice cream is more prevalent in the central part of the country, where more tea is grown. In Hokkaido, you’ll find more melon-flavored ice creams.
5. Two canteloupes for $65. Yes, that’s two canteloupes for US$65 — the average selling price. So make sure you get a free sample piece from an outdoor market. It’s not worth paying that much for it, but the melon is mighty juicy.
6. Giant Ferris wheels. Tokyo, home to Tokyo Disneyland, boasts the world’s second- and third-largest Ferris wheels.

Next week, come back to travel with me to the next leg of my East Asia trip… we’ll visit the tallest building in the world in Taiwan. And in the following weeks, we still have Hong Kong and Macau left to visit. Find out why Macau has surpassed Las Vegas as the gambling capital of the world and why Hong Kong continues to capture my heart year after year. Thanks for reading!