Hiroshima to Naha, Okinawa

We took a taxi back to Hiroshima station and caught a limousine bus to the Hiroshima airport, about an hour drive away. We arrived in plenty of time and had a meal at the airport.

The flight to Okinawa was almost two hours and as we were coming in for a landing we marvelled at the beautiful blue waters. Our hotel was about a 5-minute cab ride from the airport. We had lunch, did some laundry, rested, and then went out for dinner. We wandered the main shopping street looking at all of the little touristy shops. 

April with a Shisa, one of the dragon-dogs that are everywhere in the Ryuku Islands.

Sapporo Conference Day Two

Today was an interesting day.

We had a through overview of the Futenma airbase issue and Okinawa’s unique history and its relationship with mainland Japan. By chance I had lunch with Proffesors Sato (Okinawa lecture) and Furukawa (who presented yesterday). Professor Fukukawa is actually going to be in Ishigaki at the same time as April and I so we will try to organize a dinner or lunch together. He spent a year in Vanouver and is a Vancouver Canuks fan. We also had a lecture on the changing borders in central Europe, Schengenization, and Euroregions. It was a fairly basic overview but a good refresher on the issues.

Throughout the day my goal has been to try and get a phone call in through to April. It’s much more difficult than I had thought. The nice folks at 7-11 did their best to try and help me, but to no avail—the cards were only good for cell phones. Then the folks at the university said that I should try skype. I tried it, but the wireless networks and skype did not like each other, so I am going to have to resort to a collect call. I have investigated the process online, so I will attempt a “wake-up call” for April in a few minutes, as it’s nearly time for her to get up and go to work.

Dinner was fun. A group of us walked down to find a cheap sushi place and found one. It was pretty decent and good quality. Then we wandered with wonder through the heart of downtown Sapporo. All the lights remind me of Las Vegas. It really is quite something. It is truly unlike any other place I have ever been. I now know what my mother-in-law says about really feeling you’re not at home when you’re in Japan. Sapporo (only) has 1.8 million people, so I am both dreading and excited to see what Tokyo has to offer with its 13 million people.

We partook in some touristy activities like going up in a big ferris wheel, hanging out in a video arcade, and finding a bowling alley. All were on different stories in the same mall. I can’t wait to show April around when she gets here. It will be a lot of fun. I think the most fun can be found in simply people watching.

Replica of the border marker from Sakhalin Island. After the Japanese Russian war in 1905 the Japanese took possession of Sakhalin Island below the 50th parallel. They deported all the Russians and sent in settlers. After 1945 they gave up rights to the territory and the Russians deported all the Japanese. This is the Japanese side of the marker, represented by the Imperial Chrysanthemum.

This is the Russian side of the stone with the Imperial Russian double headed crest.

Here's some silly guy posing with it.

Bathroom with the heated toilet seat

Desk and hallway

The best translation yet. I have no idea what it means but its incomprehensibility is poetic.

The surprisingly comfortable bed

Conference: Day One Summary

Yesterday was a very full day.

As I mentioned earlier, the conference started today. The purpose of this conference is threefold:
1. It hopes to bring together and bridge the various networks that study borders from around the world.
2. It hopes to introduce the resources of the Slavic Studies Research Centre at Hokkaido University to researchers around the world.
3. It hopes to bring together to introduce young researchers to each other in order to establish networks.

I can certainly say that it has been successful on point three. The centre is translating information into English, so it is likely going to be successful on point one. And, on point three, the dedication of the people who work here has lead to the establishment of the first edition of the Eurasia Border Review. Given the importance of Central Asia for natural resources and the multitude of borders in this region, I am confident that point one will be met.

We learned about the history of the Kuril islands and their settlement between the Japanese and the Russians. It is quite fascinating how

We also had lectures on the Japanese maritime borders, piracy and border island municipal governments. Dr. Koji Furukawa’s talk on municipal government was my favourite and the similarities between Canada are quite striking. The central government says it wants to increase economic activity in these areas but has no clue on how to do this. When local governments come up with innovative ideas the central government refuses these ideas. There is a great disconnect between the border areas and Tokyo and most bureaucrats in Tokyo have never been to the borderlands and don’t understand them. It sounds a lot like Ottawa! Dr. Furukawa concludes that local politics is extremely important and border governments have to take the initiative to look after themselves because the central government will not do it for them. This is a very similar conclusion to my findings on the Canada-U.S. border.
The furthest south Japanese “island” is a piece of coral about six feet in circumference. A concrete barrier surrounds it so that the water does not engulf and submerge it. Because of global warming, the Japanese are now attempting to grow more coral to increase its size. It has no strategic value whatsoever. It’s really quite comical.

We had a welcome diner at the Sapporo beer gardens where they serve all you can eat lamb stir-fry (called Genghis Khan) that you make on the table in front of you. Many others took advantage of the all you can drink beer while I had numerous Coca Colas. It was delicious and a good time was had by all. The vegetarians were relegated to a different table, but their meals looked delicious as well.
After the beer gardens we went to celebrate the 30th birthday of a friend of one of the English (England) PhD students here –a Bulgarian named Slavvy (I think it was a nickname of sorts. I had fascinating conversations about the differences between Slavic languages (We have a Macedonian, a Russian linguist, and a Russian Finn),  how the Balkan states functioned better when they were parts of larger empires and the failure of the nation-state concept in that area of the world, and hockey with the Finns.
I got back to the hotel at 1:00a.m. and this was early as most of the rest went on to find a karaoke bar. I do want to witness a karaoke bar, but it was too late for me. I am glad I didn’t continue as I heard some of the rest stumble and crash in around 4:00 a.m (the lectures start at 9:30—I think the drinkers are going to be hurting today).

Today we have lectures on Okinawa as a borderland and lectures on Sino-Russian relations, Central Asian migrant workers, and border issues in the Caucasus.

Dinner: Before

Dinner: During (Cooking)

Dinner: After (with wide open-mouth smile)

Old smokestack at Sapporo brewery