well, it snowed about 2 feet overnight and it's still snowing now.  it's kind of weird that they don't clear the snow off the roads at all, they just drive on it.  that probably explains why hokkaido has the highest accident rate in japan during winter...

the hostel i'm staying at is probably the nicest hostel i've ever seen.  very spacious, clean, and the owners speak great english.  it's a mother and father, and they and their kids (7 and 10) live in the other half of the building.  the oba-san (grandmother) is also here, and i'm not sure if the oji-san is here too.  japanese hostels are more expensive than hostels elsewhere, but they have western-style showers, which is nice, and even washing machines and a full kitchen, free internet, etc.

i had my first real japanese sushi yesterday, at a sushi bar (where the sushi goes around on a conveyor belt and you pick what you want.  the plates are colored to indicate the price.  for breakfast today i'll probably eat at a ramen stand.  i also need to go down to the mall and find a store that i can buy the camera and gps unit for my psp.  i'll also either find a rolling luggage bag or ship home some stuff.  i brought a bunch of hard drives with me, but they're just too heavy (they weren't included in the weight of the main bag as they are in the small backpack).  my shoulders are bruised from all the weight... if i had to guess, i'd say the second bag weighs about 20-30 lb which, added to the ~42 lb main bag is just too much (and the second bag doesn't benefit from the nice padded shoulder straps and waist straps that the main packpack has).

the hostel owner suggested a place to stay in hakodate, but he said that the owners don't speak much english so hopefully my pidgin japanese will suffice.  it's kind of funny, the way i learned most of the japanese that i know means that my pronounciation is great, and i've gotten several comments about how good my japanese is, but i just don't know that many words.  

it's christmas back in the states so i'll be making calls once the other people in the room wake up and i can dig out my gloves as it's freezing cold outside.  i was supposed to call around 11pm here, but my alarm didn't work so it'll be around 6-8pm when i call everyone.  i've been pretty impressed with how well skype has been working, so that's good.