It is always a delight when a place that holds no expectations, becomes a special memory. Otaru was just such a place as our reason for being there was due to it being the port where our ferry landed.
Plum House is clearly a labour of love. The couple who own it have taken great care to create a special place. This is one of the common spaces.
Another gathering area with a deck overlooking the garden. We admired the lovely woodwork throughout, the attention to detail and the serenity of the space.
This painting features the flower covered fields of Furano on Hokkaido. It caught our eye as we are going there and the painting is just like the photos we have seen.
This covered shopping street has been around for some time and sadly, some of the shops have closed. Like at home, big shopping areas outside of the city are drawing people away from city centres. Nonetheless, restaurants and small businesses still draw people here. A nice touch is this piano which is available for anyone to use. The accoustics are great and many people stopped to enjoy his playing.
After two months of staying in hotels (which has been great), we are yearning for more independence on the road. Japan is known for the excellence of their camping products, especially the quality of their lightweight tents. We are considering treating ourselves to a Japanese tent…the ultimate souvenir, which would give us the opportunity to camp the last month of our time here, with the occasional stay in a hotel.
Sapporo is a Mecca for great outdoor shops and for us, these are like candy shopsfor adults. We will check out this store and are looking forward to visiting Shugakuso further into Sapporo.
We were sitting in the lounge of our hotel having a welcome cup of coffee and before we knew it, we were surrounded by this gregarious group of deaf people. They are on a tour together and have been travelling around Japan. Watching them converse with dynamic gestures and sign language and enjoying the familiar sounds of the deaf conversing, I shared with their guide how much I was enjoying seeing their joy and how familiar it felt. I shared that my mom had taught the deaf and as children, we often spent time with her students. She shared this with the group and as a group they clapped, cheered and welcomed us into their fold. This took our .pattempts to converse with Japanese people up a notch when you throw in sign language and the rest. We spent some time with them. What a joy. I had forgotten how loud it can be when you are with people who are profoundly deaf.
