Iwaonupuri in the autumn. Upon learning that I had received a grant enabling me to visit Asia for the first time and spend ten months in Japan, I immediately fell into an enchanted reverie at the prospect of exploring an exotic culture, and visions of the mysterious East floated in my imagination. Then I landed in Sapporo - a busy, modern, Western town complete with L.L. Bean and Tower Record stores and nary a kimono in sight. My first impressions were wrong. I like cooking, hiking, and the arts, and Japan has brought the thrill of novelty to all three.
Japanese food is as good as any in the world, and it's best on our island of Hokkaido.
Nearby farms provide fruits and vegetables at their seasonal peak, fish stores sell crabs that smell of the Sea of Okhotsk, and nowhere are potatoes and strawberries so good. With ingredients that fresh, even a novice can dazzle in the kitchen, and I've tried my hand at everything from atsuyaki-tomago to zaru soba and have become a fanatic soybeaniste. Japanese take cuisine seriously - fifty percent of all television programs concern food. The Center's Hayashi-san is our resident expert, and he promises to teach us the fine art of tempura. Hokkaido's unpopulated stretches of natural beauty offer superb hiking possibilities, although the first mountain I climbed was within Sapporo's city limits.