Asahikawa

On Saturday, there was a JET meet-up in Asahikawa, about an hour away by train. I went there with Queena, my closest neighbor. She was assigned to Kenbuchi, a town about as small as mine, ten minutes away by train.

This train was only a single car! So small and quaint compared to the ones in Shinjuku.

It has a human conductor! He even blows a real whistle to signal.

 This signboard shows the next stop and the fares.

The view from the window. Hokkaido has a lot of great nature.
There are wide open fields all over the place.

We saw this chair displayed in the station. Apparently Asahikawa is known for furniture.

We had some time before the meet-up, so we got lunch at the food court.

 Omurice in cream sauce and hayashi sauce.

 We also got croissant taiyaki. An extra crispy, flaky variety of taiyaki.

These are regular custard and chocolate ones. They also had lemon, red bean, chocolate-mint, and chocolate-raspberry.

That's us!

Pictures of the main street.

A Red Cross banner featuring the sad-looking mascot Kenketsu-chan (blood donation-chan).

Asahikawa's mascot Asappy, a mix of a seal and a polar bear, with an outfit that combines the Asahikawa bridge with a hero's red bandana and ramen on his arms for some reason?

A statue of a sax man and his happy cat.

They're also drawn on this shutter.

 The snowman's mouth is the mail slot!

Another statue that was on the shutter, the sassy lady.

 And her equally sassy friend.

Pictures of cats featured in a pet shop display.

I guess this guy is a potato? That's what it says on his hat, anyway.

The beer garden where the meet-up was!

A big pitcher of beer.

Karaage and takoyaki.

We all took a group picture but it hasn't been posted yet. It was good to see Hokkaido JETs again and meet some new ones. I'll be seeing some of them in Sapporo the next couple of days.