日本旅Spirited Away in Japan Episode 4

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稍微繞了一下稚內, 看了一些滿有趣的東西

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我醒來的時候, 太陽也剛起來了. 我覺得好像已經睡了很久結果我看了時鐘反而被嚇一跳. 3am. 三點就日出了. 我也開了窗戶照下了這奇景. 不知道是否我很吵的原故, Deidre也醒來了.

3AM!

早餐是吃旅館的西式早點. 抱歉, 沒有照片.

早餐完後我們兩個跑去爬山. 在稚內的山上有一個滿顯眼的塔所以我們把它當成目標. 在過程中, 我們經過了一個看起來還滿新的神社. 我們接著走到了一個覆蓋著花的廣場.廣場中有立了一個碑紀念這因戰爭而死去的年輕廣播員. 事情是這樣的.....1945年8月, 日本已經向盟軍投降但是蘇聯軍還是繼續的往當時屬於日本的庫頁島(就是北海道北方那座長長的島)攻打. 到了最後, 戰敗已經來臨.....於是那時候的9位年輕女廣播員廣播了他們最後的留言. "各位, 這是最後的(廣播). 再見. 再見." 播報完, 9人就服毒自殺.戰爭果然好悲慘.廣場還有另外一個紀念此事的紀念碑. 1988年, 昭和天皇來到了此公園落淚的威懾9名女子祈福. 然後立了一座碑和雕像. 這個廣場也有紀念南極遠征的樺太犬的雕像(就是木村之前演的). 走了大概1個小時後, 我們到了那座塔. 原來, 這座塔是紀念稚內建立100念而立的塔. 當天, 他並沒有開放給觀光客所以像我這樣鐵塔迷感到有一點點失望.

戰爭是不好的/War is no good

之後我們走回到岸邊. 離我會機場還有一段時間所以我跟Deidre就坐在堤防上聊天. 他跟我說他其實不是LA人而是附近的鄉下來的人. 他跟我說他曾經去過埃及做過考古然後他說了懂得繪圖軟體是一件很吃香的事. 聊著聊著, 時間也到了. 我又跑去坐那班往機場開的紅色公車. 到了機場時, 我跟ANA人員說我有東西要領. 那位小姐一開始還不知道我在說什麼, 他大概愣了幾秒才想了起來. 她從櫃台拖出我的行李,就是我那個好久不見的紫色行李. 我也沒檢查看東西有沒有都在因為我還要趕回稚內港搭船到禮文島.

於是我就這樣的領回我的行李. Air Canada 你這個大爛公司. 食物難吃, 空姐難看就算了. 結果你們還搞出這種事. 你果然是世界上最爛的航空公司之一.

 我也有驚無險的到了稚內港. 一開始我還找不到人結果大家其實已經上樓準備搭船了. 在排隊事, 我看到了昨天在一起的人才終於讓我放下心來. 在同一時間, 我也注意到在我們旁邊站了一位亞洲女生. Deidre跟我說那位女生跟我一樣是台灣人. 喔~~~~~原來他就是那位陳小姐! 我跟他自我介紹而他也被嚇到了因為他不知道這團隊還有其他的台灣人. 不久後, 有位流著長長捲捲的頭髮的女生遞給我一張船票. 我那時候覺得那個女生講話好像有點怪.....可是又不知道是哪裡怪.......

Ferry

於是我們就這樣上了船. 開往到我們目的地, 禮文島.



續

***我在這裡必須先更正一件小事情....上篇我寫說我們是吃飯前去郵局領錢可是我對了一下我的照片發現領錢是吃完拉麵後發生的事.

***Need to correct something in my previous post....I wrote that we went to the post office before lunch but after looking at my photos, I realized that it was the opposite.

Anyways

We arrived in Wakkanai and walked around the city for a bit.

Back to the story

I woke up after what I felt was like a 10hour slumber(!) but I looked at the clock to find that it was only 3 in the morning. The sun was already up at 3.....I never thought this would be possible. Heck, when I went to bed, the sun was still up....maybe the sun never went down to begin with.

After a few hours, Deidre and I went to eat breakfast at the hotel. The breakfast was not anything spectacular, just bread and some coffee/juice.

After the meal, we went for a little hiking. There is a tower in Wakkanai that can be seen by everyone in the city since it is on a hill/mountain. We decided to hike there before I had to leave for my luggage. On the way, there was a shrine and I think it is the main/biggest shrine in Wakkanai. We stopped there for a few minutes and it definitely looked newer than the shrine from yesterday. We then ended up at a park filled with monuments. The most notable monument was the Memorial monument to the nine maiden telephone operators who their lives at Karafuto (that was a long name.....)

In the August of 1945, the atomic bombs were dropped in Japan and Soviet Union had just declared war against Japan. Russia invaded Karafuto (present-day Sakhalin) and within days, Japan faced an imminent defeat. 9 young telephone operators broadcasted a last message, "Everyone, this is the end. Goodbye. Goodbye." After the message, they committed suicide by taking poison. What a sad story.....war is so terrible and it made me realize how lucky I am since I was born in a peaceful period (at least in the places I've lived before).

War is unforgiving.../戰爭好殘酷...太殘酷了

Finally we got to the tower. It turned out, the tower was built to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of Wakkanai. Besides, the tower and a mini garden...there were not so many other things on top of that hill hahaha

We went down to the anti-tsunami dome area and sat at the dock. We still had a bit of time before I had to catch the bus so we just sat there and chatted. We talked about a lot of things from school to where we came from...etc. 

Well, eventually I took the bus again back to the airport. I got to the airport and talked to the ANA staff. The girl was like huh? What are you talking about? It was not until a few seconds later something in her clicked and she to back of the counter and brought my suitcase. 

Dear suitcase, I felt like I have not seen you in a long time. How have you been? Has anybody violated you? Well, I did not have the time to check for that because I had to catch the bus back to Wakkanai Port. 

When I got to the port. I did not see anyone I recognized...I thought, "oh sh*t...did they already leave but I still got time!?" Then I realized there was an upstairs for boarding. I went up and found my friends and breathed a sigh of relief. sigh*

When I was lining up, I realized there was another Asian girl near us. First, I thought what is she doing? She's a little close to us, the foreigners. Deidre then told me the girl is also part of the dig and she happens to be Taiwanese too. So I realized that girl from the email was the girl standing next to me. Yay, a Taiwanese person I can relate to~ She was surprised that another Taiwanese and that really made my day and of course, getting my luggage was pretty awesome too.


Few minutes later, a girl with curly hair handed me my ferry ticket. She spoke English but there was something odd about her like something really strange but for the time being I had no idea what was that feeling about. 


We boarded the ferry and being our journey to Rebun Island.


To be Continued...