August 8th

August 8th Reflection Part 1:
Today was our last day in Hakodate! I feel like I miss the area already!
Today was very leisurely, I think it was planned to be our break form the last hectic days of our schedule in Hakodate. The Japanese Executive Committee and the American Executive Committee heard our complaints that were were working too hard and moving around too much. Many of our delegation had become sick from coping with the time lag and the hot and humid weather of Tokyo as well as the foreign diet.
Today we met at 9:45 am after eating breakfast at the hotel. The breakfast consisted of a buffet style meal of rice, assorted breads, seaweed, sausage, boiled egg squares, raw egg, squid sauce, cooked fish, and salad. “Egg” in Japan is served as a sweet dish. They are either cooked to look like omelets or tiny square loaves. The loaves are served cold and they are the perfect size for chopsticks. The cooked fish is usually a tiny boneless fish fillet with the skin. They are lightly seasoned with salt and you eat them cold with your rice. As far as the squid sauce goes, I have not yet worked up the courage to try it yet! It looks really slimy….It seems as if the dishes I should be familiar with, like breads, always have a surprise in them. For example, I bought some rolls forma conviene (Japanese way of saying convenience store) and they had butter built in the inside. It was a good idea that actually made the product better to me. The rolls from the otel had a red bean sauce built in them. Red bean sauce is an authentic Japanese sweet. Its subtle sweetness has a consistency like apricot preserves. The paste has a very distinct, earthy flavor that is muted. The past itself is a dark red color, like a burgundy. I think my favorite red bean paste food thus far has been the green tea and bean paste ice cream sandwich. It was really good! I have only had one so far. The sandwich part is like a vanilla sandwich cookie. The ice cream is green tea flavored and it is topped with the red bean paste. The flavor is kind of sophisticated sweet. It is not sugary at all.
My breakfast this morning consisted of seaweed, rice, fish, and salad. It was delicious with a cup of green tea! I ate with Mari this morning. Yes, Mari, you heard me right. Mari and Maryuma are very popular names in Japan it seems. Many of the prominent leaders and alumni I have met thus far are surprised when they hear my name!
Our delegation planned on seeing the Blue Impulse Sky show today- a sky show performed by the Japanese Military Air Force, however, due to the clouds, the show was cancelled…Oh well…
So, we explored the city and went to a really cool sushi restaurant for lunch instead.
Hakodate City is much more relaxed than Tokyo. It is a quaint fishing city with historical and artsy touches. There are many little cafés and boutiques. Also, its great public transportation system helps it attract tourists and move its citizens all across the city. So, the city is filled with pedestrians. Though, instead of using buses, Hakodate uses cute red trolleys.
No matter where you travel in the city, you are never far away from sand and the beach. Hakodate is located in Hokkaido, which is the large northern island of Japan. Hakodate is historical because it is known as the first port city open to Westerners. Since it is a port city, it is known for its amazing seafood as well. Ika or squid, is extremely popular here! There are so many squid dishes here! I have found things as exotic as squid ink ice cream!
For lunch, we went to a sushi restaurant that specialized in its squid. This restaurant was so unique to me because it served the freshest seafood. There were literally tanks of fish in the middle of the restaurant and you could watch chefs reach into the tank and slice a fish right in front of you. In a few minutes, the sushi would be transported on a conveyor belt to your table! The conveyor belt traveled all around the restaurant, and when you saw a dish you wanted, you just pulled it off of the belt. The price of the dish was determined by the design on the plate. Prices ranged from 130 yen (1.30 $) to 880 yen. Each dish had about 2 pieces of sushi. The conveyor belt also transported some fried squid. I ate Whale soup (from a real whale!), eel sushi (weird flavor, good texture…), octopus (absolutely delicious! Tasted like calamari!), and tuna sushi. I only purchased the sushi plates that were about a dollar, so I spent about 8.20$ and was well contented.
So, enough about food already!
After lunch we had an RT meeting, or Round Table meeting. We discussed our Final Forum plan for about 4-5 hours. Final Forum occurs our last week in Japan and we present our research to the public. Also, Final Forum is a time when RT’s present any capstone projects they might have worked on. Our capstone project is still TBA at this time. However, we did create a schedule for our Final Forum Presentation. Also, we debated what information we would discuss.