Otaru was my second day of measurements in Hokkaido, and from yesterday's Yoichi and its Fugoppe cave we moved on to Otaru and the Temiya cave. There I again was given such help and hospitality, this time by Mr Ishigami Satoshi. The Temiya cave's rock is also from late Jomon times (300 AD), but differs in several ways from Fugoppe.
It is not really a cave, to start with, as it was found in 1866 when mining rocks at the Otaru coast west of the city. It was then protected for a century only by an open air wooden shelter, which still was lucky as it may as well have been destroyed. The layers covering the rock art also has almost no cultural remains, and the rock in itself is harder than at the Fugoppe site, producing deeper but rougher figures. Still, the erosion was less here (even though the rock gets lots and lots of water in winter) then at Fugoppe. I also got a lot of good advice from the curator of nearby Otaru Museum, Mr Ishikawa Naoaki.
Having done that, I now enter a stage of data analysis, but basically the data collection is done and I can therefore say my trip has been a success here in Japan (and Korea), regardless of the results, and I feel a great relief as it was quite an honor to get the scholarship from SSAG. The immense help I have gotten here in Hokkaido has meant the difference between potential failure and the current success. AT the center of all stand Mark Hudson who went to a lot of work to help an unknown PhD student from the other side of the world. Without him I would not have come in contact with helpful Professor Jeff Gayman who facilitated the contact with my excellent guide and translator, Miss Iki Shuka.
Shuka-san and her mother has shown my the image of Japanese hospitality and opened their home to me during these few days, for which I am very thankful. Miss Iki has an excellent grasp of English and I would recommend her as a guide and translator if you are in Sapporo and she has time to spare from her university studies (sorry Shuka-san if I am putting you out on the job market here, I just had to tell them how good your english is ^_^).
Anyway, after finishing up with the measurements, we walked down to Otaru center. Otaru is the kind of famous tourist spot that Japanese and foreign visitors go to to walk along picturesque streets with small stores, a water canal, and maybe for a romantic weekend. It used to be the central (and large) port of Hokkaido and it has a city plan that consist of quite a lot of small streets and such. If you come to Sapporo for vacation, Otaru is simply one of the places to go.
In the evening I got invited to the home of Shuka-sans family for dinner and an overnight stay (again, the hospitality,eh!). Her mother has her own atelier and the family has a tradition of creative work, her uncle for example doing very beautiful mosaics. I got treated to all different kind of local tastes, it was really good (oishiiii!).
Otaru city center
Covered arcade
Miss Iki showing me the food stalls
Old railway turned to a green corridor in a quiet and soft neighbourhood
Crisper chicken is hard to find. They actually sells the chicken by telling how good the outside is.
Naruto is the name
Temiya museum
We killed some time at the local hardware store. Which sold pets. Kawaii!
If you look at this extremely cute hamster he looks like he prays when he is drinking
The rock art at Temiyu
(Click here for the next day)
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