Hokkaido is a beautiful place. It doesn't look anything like the rest of Japan. In fact, you could imagine that you're in the American northwest or even Alaska.

I liked the place so much I decided to apply for a job. I needed some dress shoes. I was wearing US 9 1/2 at the time and couldn't find any big enough to fit! I squeezed into a size 9, went to the job interview and got rejected. I ditched the shoes right away. Of course now most Japanese teenagers are bigger than I am so getting larger sized shoes would be no problem today.