On Saturday, March 23rd, our local Block Advisor organized an in person meetup for the JETs in my area! We’ve had a few online game nights this year, but this was the first time in a long time that so many of us gathered in one place. I met a lot of new people, some old, some new, and I’m quite sad it took me three years to see some of the older ones. Nevertheless, I’m glad it happened, and I had a lot of fun!
A friend who lived near me was driving to Otaru, and offered rides to people on the way, so I gladly took him up on his offer. We picked up another friend along the way, arrived at our lunch reservation restaurant around 11:15. Our reservation was for 11:30, but we didn’t want to wait in the cold, and the restaurant let us sit down first.
Yakiniku is a great go-to group meal, because who doesn’t like yummy grilled meat (My apologies to the vegans and vegetarians)? Turns out, most yakiniku places in Otaru don’t do lunch, so Gyu-kaku, a national chain, it is. We opted for their standard all-you-can-eat plan, and everyone went with the all-you-can-drink soft drinks.
I think this was actually my first time at a Gyukaku. The selection on this plan was pretty inclusive, with sides, beef, pork, chicken, and a variety of yummy marinades. Everyone gets one dessert, and they noted those orders at the beginning. I ordered the Gyukaku matcha ice cream, which was matcha ice cream with black sugar syrup on top. The rest of the orders were done on an iPad, which was very English-friendly for our group.
While the food was yummy, our main complaint was we would order something, and it would take ages for it to come. In the end, our Last Order time was up, and when the waitress came to ask if dessert was ok, we told her some of our items never showed up. Neither of us made a huge fuss, and they gave us the items we deemed missing. Ice cream was very soft and melty, and the syrup was probably unnecessary. That’s a user error. My friend said she could taste what brand of ice cream it was.
We finished lunch around 2:30 (finally!), and then headed over to Wing Bay. We had a mölkky reservation for 4:30 (we’ll get to that later), so we did bowling for an hour. 1 game is 680 yen for a standard adult, and rental shoes are 300 yen. I ended up with a score of 55 and a slightly chipped thumb nail (sorry for the visual).
What the heck is mölkky? Well, most of us going didn’t know either. Turns out, it’s a Finnish field game, kind of like if bowling, criquet, and a beanbag toss had a baby. After getting used to the rules, it was pretty fun! Definitely harder than you think. On weekdays, it’s first come first served, but reservations are required on the weekend. It is completely free to play though!
Fun fact: the 2024 World Championships were in Hakodate!
McDonald’s started their spring line recently, including a seasonal pie! Everyone was down to grab some McDonald’s, so we headed over to grab an afternoon snack. I just went for the new pie. I wanted the seasonal peach lemonade fizz too, but the Otaru location was out. Sad.
The pie is a pink pie, and filled with chewy mochi, red bean paste, and strawberry jam. It was nice and warm and crispy, with all the ooey gooey fillings on the inside. Very yummy. (Upon further inspection, turns out I had this pie two years ago. The packaging was different, but I feel like the inside was the same.)
We headed out around 6:30, and I got home around 8. Thanks again to my friend for organziing, and my friend for driving!
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