I am sorry for the delay in my updating schedule. I now feel much more grounded now that I've returned to the AIU campus. As I mentioned in previous posts, last week (through Tuesday of this week) was "Golden Week," a ten-day conglomeration of numerous national holidays. Most Japanese have vacation during this time and go traveling, making this time a bit hectic when trying to plan traveling (and a bit heavy on the wallet).
For my Golden Week, I traveled with six other International Students to Sapporo, the largest city in Hokkaido (the northernmost island of Japan), and home to the famed beer of the same name (Hokkaido map). As an overview, we spent Tuesday April 29 as a travel day to Sapporo, and then spent the next three days exploring and enjoying the city. On Saturday many of us began parting ways for other trips, and I took a day trip with two of my friends to Toya-ko (Lake Toya) to explore the lake and resident volcano, Usu-zan (Mt. Usu). I will save my day trip to Toya-ko for Sunday's update, and instead focus on my stay in Sapporo for this entry. But before that, a quick lesson in Japanese Language:
Japanese Language Tidbit: Suffixes
I've been throwing out names with suffixes like -koen, -ko, and -san/-zan. In Japanese we use "honorific" suffixes and attach them to names much like we use titles in English. -koen designates a park or forest (Senshu-koen = Sensuhu Park), -ko is for lakes (Toya-ko), and -san/-zan is for mountains (depending on the preceding letters either an "s" or "z" is used). To add a nice twist, -san is also used like "Mr." and "Mrs." with people's names, so my name could be "Jason-san" or "Diaz-san." Usually the context will make it clear. In addition we use -ken for Prefecture (State) (Akita-ken = Akita Prefecture), -shi for city (Akita-shi = Akita City), and -eki for station (Akita-eki = Akita Train Station). To be consistent, whenever I am using a suffix I will use a hyphen "-" to set it off to make it obvious, and I will also give the English equivalent in parentheses the first time I use it in a post to serve as a reminder, but not again afterwards.
Sapporo Day 1 - Tuesday April 29
The day began at 4:00am, when I rolled with difficulty out of my bed. I was quite groggy but fortunately a shower woke me up a bit. I had already packed everything I needed the night before (all in my backpack, a feat I was surprised to achieve), so I felt relaxed and ready to go, gathering together the last few things I needed. I almost got myself a coffee on the way to the Komachi lounge, but got hot chocolate instead (as a rule I don't drink coffee because I hate the idea of being dependent on it to feel awake in the morning; I do, however, indulge in rare cases where not having a stimulant would be detrimental, like catching up on work late at night, or very early in the morning before traveling or taking a test). It was about 4:45 am when I stepped outside. It was already light grey, the sun having risen over the horizon some fifteen minutes ago. The air was slightly damp from the daily downpour that we had yesterday, and slightly cool in the still warming morning. The weather seemed to mirror the cool anxiety and excitement that I always feel before traveling, a kind of nervous excitement that rolls in my belly when I am making a long trip and not totally sure of its outcome.
One by one my six compatriots joined me outside the lounge with their modest luggage: Shih-Ming (pronounced loosely as Shu-Ming) of Taiwan, Rachel Smith of Australia, Hans Petter Wiken of Norway, Leo Ladenhauf of Austria, Anders Rekve also of Norway, and finally Hye-Jin (loosely Hey-Jing) of South Korea. Most of us were surprisingly chipper at this ungodly hour, with the exception of Rachel who is most definitely not a morning person even after coffee. I, on the other hand, am very much a morning person given at least 30 minutes of consciousness, so I tried to keep the energy down lest I instigate negative feedback from the less perky members of the group.
We would be traveling by ferry boat to Hokkaido today, and we already had the tickets reserved. The ferry was due to cast off at 7:00am, and the port asks travelers to arrive an hour early. Since we weren't entirely sure how long it would take to get to the port we had arranged the night before for two taxis to pick us up at 5:00am. The taxis had already arrived by the time I had stepped outside, and by 5:05 we were on the road.
Conversation was expectantly sparse was we tried to maintain consciousness on the forty minute trip to the port. I was pretty excited because the only other time I had been on a boat of this size was when I went on a family cruise vacation a couple of summers ago, and I couldn't wait to have the Japan Sea beneath me.
Hye-Jin can speak Japanese pretty decently, so we had no trouble at all securing our tickets and moving to the waiting area. The ferry was already in port, looking very much like a down-sized cruise liner (the interior also gave this feel). About twenty minutes before casting off we were allowed to board. We had paid for the cheapest tickets, which meant we had a communal room for our luggage. The higher-priced tickets got you a private room with a bunk. The room we were alloted were first come, first serve, and each could fit about 12 people. There were closets for luggage, as well as blankets and pillows for napping on the semi-cushioned floor. It was actually fine for a day trip, but if you are planning a ferry trip overnight I suggest upgrading to get a decent bed.
Another Shin Nihonkai ferry coming into port as we made our way to Tomakomai.
The prow of our ferry, as well as some of the Akita harbor in the background.
Most of the gang hanging out in the lounge watching the TV. From left to right: Hye-Jin (she's slouched in the chair), Anders, Rachel, Leo, and Shih-Ming.
Lunch time on the ferry. Pictured left to right: Hans Petter, Rachel, Hye-Jin.
The ferry trip was about 10 hours, depositing us in Tomakomai-shi. The ferry was equipped with two restaurants, a nice lounge on the main deck, a small game room, a small theater where they showed two movies during the trip, and other minor diversions. I enjoyed standing at the prow (forward area of the ship) as we cast off, and then watching the Akita coastline as we moved out of the bay and into the Japan Sea. The trip was overall uneventful and pretty comfortable, with napping, reading, games and movies killing the time in between.
Upon arriving in Tomakomai-shi, we took a bus to the Japan Rail (JR) station, where we got tickets for the next train to Sapporo (1hour 15minutes). We finally arrived in the city around 8:00pm, and took the subway to the exit nearest the hostel we were staying at. We finally checked in around 8:30pm, quite exhausted and also quite hungry.
The "backpacker's hostel" we were all staying at was called "Ino's Place" and it was very nice. The rate was pretty cheap (3400 yen per night, which is about $34 a night) and the facilities were very clean, new, comfortable and inviting. We were staying in dormitory style rooms (segregated by sex), but there were full shower and bathroom facilities (including a Japanese style bath), a kitchen, laundry, and a very comfortable common space with lots of books, movies, and puzzles. The staff was very friendly and spoke very good English. All in all, I was very happy with the place and would definitely go there again the next time I'm in Sapporo.
Ino's Place main entrance on a typical morning.
The kitchen. Like most hostels, there were plenty of dishes and cooking ware available, as well as storage for your own food, which meant breakfasts and lunches could be cheap as they were do-it-yourself.
The boy's dormitory on the last night we stayed in Sapporo (10 beds total).
Left to Right: Hans Petter, Me, Rachel, Anders, Hye-Jin, Leo. Orange soda not pictured, ha ha.
Our waitress giving us a crash-course in Grilling 101.
We returned to the hostel, where more drinking ensued (I abstained) and much merriment was had by all.
One by one my six compatriots joined me outside the lounge with their modest luggage: Shih-Ming (pronounced loosely as Shu-Ming) of Taiwan, Rachel Smith of Australia, Hans Petter Wiken of Norway, Leo Ladenhauf of Austria, Anders Rekve also of Norway, and finally Hye-Jin (loosely Hey-Jing) of South Korea. Most of us were surprisingly chipper at this ungodly hour, with the exception of Rachel who is most definitely not a morning person even after coffee. I, on the other hand, am very much a morning person given at least 30 minutes of consciousness, so I tried to keep the energy down lest I instigate negative feedback from the less perky members of the group.
We would be traveling by ferry boat to Hokkaido today, and we already had the tickets reserved. The ferry was due to cast off at 7:00am, and the port asks travelers to arrive an hour early. Since we weren't entirely sure how long it would take to get to the port we had arranged the night before for two taxis to pick us up at 5:00am. The taxis had already arrived by the time I had stepped outside, and by 5:05 we were on the road.
Conversation was expectantly sparse was we tried to maintain consciousness on the forty minute trip to the port. I was pretty excited because the only other time I had been on a boat of this size was when I went on a family cruise vacation a couple of summers ago, and I couldn't wait to have the Japan Sea beneath me.
Hye-Jin can speak Japanese pretty decently, so we had no trouble at all securing our tickets and moving to the waiting area. The ferry was already in port, looking very much like a down-sized cruise liner (the interior also gave this feel). About twenty minutes before casting off we were allowed to board. We had paid for the cheapest tickets, which meant we had a communal room for our luggage. The higher-priced tickets got you a private room with a bunk. The room we were alloted were first come, first serve, and each could fit about 12 people. There were closets for luggage, as well as blankets and pillows for napping on the semi-cushioned floor. It was actually fine for a day trip, but if you are planning a ferry trip overnight I suggest upgrading to get a decent bed.
Another Shin Nihonkai ferry coming into port as we made our way to Tomakomai.
The prow of our ferry, as well as some of the Akita harbor in the background.
Most of the gang hanging out in the lounge watching the TV. From left to right: Hye-Jin (she's slouched in the chair), Anders, Rachel, Leo, and Shih-Ming.
Lunch time on the ferry. Pictured left to right: Hans Petter, Rachel, Hye-Jin.The ferry trip was about 10 hours, depositing us in Tomakomai-shi. The ferry was equipped with two restaurants, a nice lounge on the main deck, a small game room, a small theater where they showed two movies during the trip, and other minor diversions. I enjoyed standing at the prow (forward area of the ship) as we cast off, and then watching the Akita coastline as we moved out of the bay and into the Japan Sea. The trip was overall uneventful and pretty comfortable, with napping, reading, games and movies killing the time in between.
Upon arriving in Tomakomai-shi, we took a bus to the Japan Rail (JR) station, where we got tickets for the next train to Sapporo (1hour 15minutes). We finally arrived in the city around 8:00pm, and took the subway to the exit nearest the hostel we were staying at. We finally checked in around 8:30pm, quite exhausted and also quite hungry.
The "backpacker's hostel" we were all staying at was called "Ino's Place" and it was very nice. The rate was pretty cheap (3400 yen per night, which is about $34 a night) and the facilities were very clean, new, comfortable and inviting. We were staying in dormitory style rooms (segregated by sex), but there were full shower and bathroom facilities (including a Japanese style bath), a kitchen, laundry, and a very comfortable common space with lots of books, movies, and puzzles. The staff was very friendly and spoke very good English. All in all, I was very happy with the place and would definitely go there again the next time I'm in Sapporo.
Ino's Place main entrance on a typical morning.
The kitchen. Like most hostels, there were plenty of dishes and cooking ware available, as well as storage for your own food, which meant breakfasts and lunches could be cheap as they were do-it-yourself.
The boy's dormitory on the last night we stayed in Sapporo (10 beds total).We asked the man at the reception desk for recommendations for dinner, and he gave us a restaurant that was about a block away. The restaurant, Kushidora, was fabulous. It is a mix bar/restaurant, with many small dishes that are more appetizers than anything else, which are cheap and delicious - it is very much like a Spanish style tapas (finger food). We ordered a lot of different things, mostly grilled meat and vegetables, and for the first time felt ourselves unwind after many hours of traveling (totaling about 16 hours from AIU to Ino's place). We all came back to Ino's place, talked about what we wanted to do the next day, and then eventually called it a night. All in all, a pretty easy (if long) day of traveling. I was pretty excited for my first day in Sapporo.
The "Donkey Pachinko and Slot" full to the brim with the elderly throwing away their pensions...
Sapporo Day 2 - Wednesday April 30
After showering and freshening up, I headed to the supermarket with Anders to pick up some food for the days we were staying in Sapporo, mainly breakfast stuff and things to make sandwiches. After breakfast, I spent most of the day with Hans Petter, Leo and Hye-Jin. We got a day pass for the subway (800 yen, and very much worth it) and made our way into the heart of Sapporo city.
Sapporo is very "western" in design and in composition. The city is laid out in a grid-like fashion like NYC, which makes getting around very easy. There are also many, many shopping malls and restaurants as well as open air markets. We stopped at the Odori Station, which deposited us in front of the six blocks of Odori park (a kind of mini-Central Park) as well as the Sapporo TV Tower, a city landmark. Leo had a pretty good idea of the route he wanted to take around the city for the day, so we let him take the lead. I had stupidly forgotten to check my camera batteries before leaving Ino's place and realized too late that I needed to change them, so I am sorry that I don't have many pictures of the following events. But I do have some pictures of the park and the TV tower:
Sapporo TV Tower. It is quite the landmark, though it is not very tall (many of the surrounding building easily top it). It is lit up at night as well, and displays the time and temperature.
Odori-koen, with many fountains, flower beds, benches, and people relaxing.
Hans Petter and Hye-Jin enjoying coffee and donuts from a nearby Mr. Donut shop on a park bench in Odori Park.
Sapporo is very "western" in design and in composition. The city is laid out in a grid-like fashion like NYC, which makes getting around very easy. There are also many, many shopping malls and restaurants as well as open air markets. We stopped at the Odori Station, which deposited us in front of the six blocks of Odori park (a kind of mini-Central Park) as well as the Sapporo TV Tower, a city landmark. Leo had a pretty good idea of the route he wanted to take around the city for the day, so we let him take the lead. I had stupidly forgotten to check my camera batteries before leaving Ino's place and realized too late that I needed to change them, so I am sorry that I don't have many pictures of the following events. But I do have some pictures of the park and the TV tower:
Sapporo TV Tower. It is quite the landmark, though it is not very tall (many of the surrounding building easily top it). It is lit up at night as well, and displays the time and temperature.
Odori-koen, with many fountains, flower beds, benches, and people relaxing.
Hans Petter and Hye-Jin enjoying coffee and donuts from a nearby Mr. Donut shop on a park bench in Odori Park.We passed by the small clock tower, which looked more like a small historic New-England town hall than anything else, and it was quite disconcerting to see it in a Japanese city. We continued northwards and made our way to the incredible Sapporo JR Station. This station is the main hub for the Hokkaido JR lines, as well as a major subway station. It is an incredibly large complex that is combination station/shopping mall/hotel conglomerate. You could easily spend all day perusing through the large department stores on the ground floor, or exploring the literally hundreds of shops below ground that meander their way around the subway and bus terminals. In addition, the station has a famous tower, the JR38, which has a large observation deck on its 38th floor. This was our next stop.
Viewing the city from the tower is simply incredible. The city is quite pleasant to look at in its neat and "western" rows. We could see the TV Tower quite easily, as well as other landmarks like the Sapporo Dome (baseball field), the Factory (a large mall, more on that later), Moiwa-san (Mt. Moiwa, more on that below), a large ski jump, and others. If you're ever in Sapporo, I highly recommend paying the 700yen to see the city from this observation platform. It is also a popular place in the evening time when people go for a drink at the bar and see the city in its bright night lights and is truly stunning.
Afterwards, we made our way southward and explored more of the city as we headed to the fish market. Walking amongst the tall buildings and shops made me feel like I was in Philadelphia or even NYC, though everything was in Japanese. It was a strange double-world that I was exploring. We eventually found the fish market, which was a long stretch of stores advertising their fresh crab, trout, octopus, shrimp, tuna, and other seafood delectables on sheets of ice. I think it would have been even more fantastic in the early morning when it first opens, but it was still quite interesting at 2:00pm.
After the fish market we visited the sake museum (sake is Japanese traditional rice wine, often served warmed. It's pretty good and has the same basic alcohol content as grape wine). The museum wasn't very large at all, and was more like a sake shop with lots of historical advertisements, brewing apparatuses and a video that detailed the sake brewing process (all in Japanese). They offered free samples, and even I had a couple, mostly at the insistence (almost pestering) of my three comrades. We were kind of tired of walking around all day, so we relaxed for a bit before heading back to the TV tower to meet up with Rachel and Anders before going for dinner.
For dinner, we hunted for the famous Sapporo ramen alley (ramen is a noodle dish that is pretty much a soup with lots of noodles, vegetables and meat. It's delicious). It was kind of hard to find, and just was we were about to give up, we finally saw it. It was literally an alley, big enough to accommodate two people side by side, and lined with a dozen ramen shops. We stopped in a shop and all ordered some food. The chef was really nice and spoke to us with the little English that he knew, and even cooked us a special "service dish" free of charge for us to taste. He was very nice and friendly, and the food was pretty good too.
After dinner, Hans Petter, Hye-Jin, Leo and myself made the trek to nearby Moiwa-san, where you could get a great view of Sapporo from its summit. We took a tram to the foot of the mountain and then grabbed the gondola up the mountain. It was absolutely gorgeous, and complemented the day-time view from JR38 Tower nicely. It was also incredibly cold at the top, and we only lasted about fifteen minutes before retreating back down the mountain. We returned to Ino's place and hung out for an hour or two before calling it a night.
Sapporo from the top of Moiwa-san at night. Truly stunning (and truly cold).
The first line next to the squirrel reads "Sapporo" in hiragana (something I can actually read!). The second line says Moiwa-san as well as something else that I can't read as of yet.
Viewing the city from the tower is simply incredible. The city is quite pleasant to look at in its neat and "western" rows. We could see the TV Tower quite easily, as well as other landmarks like the Sapporo Dome (baseball field), the Factory (a large mall, more on that later), Moiwa-san (Mt. Moiwa, more on that below), a large ski jump, and others. If you're ever in Sapporo, I highly recommend paying the 700yen to see the city from this observation platform. It is also a popular place in the evening time when people go for a drink at the bar and see the city in its bright night lights and is truly stunning.
Afterwards, we made our way southward and explored more of the city as we headed to the fish market. Walking amongst the tall buildings and shops made me feel like I was in Philadelphia or even NYC, though everything was in Japanese. It was a strange double-world that I was exploring. We eventually found the fish market, which was a long stretch of stores advertising their fresh crab, trout, octopus, shrimp, tuna, and other seafood delectables on sheets of ice. I think it would have been even more fantastic in the early morning when it first opens, but it was still quite interesting at 2:00pm.
After the fish market we visited the sake museum (sake is Japanese traditional rice wine, often served warmed. It's pretty good and has the same basic alcohol content as grape wine). The museum wasn't very large at all, and was more like a sake shop with lots of historical advertisements, brewing apparatuses and a video that detailed the sake brewing process (all in Japanese). They offered free samples, and even I had a couple, mostly at the insistence (almost pestering) of my three comrades. We were kind of tired of walking around all day, so we relaxed for a bit before heading back to the TV tower to meet up with Rachel and Anders before going for dinner.
For dinner, we hunted for the famous Sapporo ramen alley (ramen is a noodle dish that is pretty much a soup with lots of noodles, vegetables and meat. It's delicious). It was kind of hard to find, and just was we were about to give up, we finally saw it. It was literally an alley, big enough to accommodate two people side by side, and lined with a dozen ramen shops. We stopped in a shop and all ordered some food. The chef was really nice and spoke to us with the little English that he knew, and even cooked us a special "service dish" free of charge for us to taste. He was very nice and friendly, and the food was pretty good too.
After dinner, Hans Petter, Hye-Jin, Leo and myself made the trek to nearby Moiwa-san, where you could get a great view of Sapporo from its summit. We took a tram to the foot of the mountain and then grabbed the gondola up the mountain. It was absolutely gorgeous, and complemented the day-time view from JR38 Tower nicely. It was also incredibly cold at the top, and we only lasted about fifteen minutes before retreating back down the mountain. We returned to Ino's place and hung out for an hour or two before calling it a night.
Sapporo from the top of Moiwa-san at night. Truly stunning (and truly cold).
The first line next to the squirrel reads "Sapporo" in hiragana (something I can actually read!). The second line says Moiwa-san as well as something else that I can't read as of yet.
Sapporo Day 3 - Thursday May 1
Today we all sort of went our own ways for the day and agreed to meet at the famous Sapporo Beer Museum later in the day. I first made a stop to the Sapporo JR Station to get information about Toya-ko (Lake Toya) and to plan out how I was going to get there. Once I got all the relevant information from the Tourist office, I gave myself a relatively short tour (about 45 minutes) of the enormous Hokkaido University, which is just north of the JR station. The campus is easily as large as Cornell University, with just as many students and with just as beautiful buildings and landscaping. It was a surprisingly warm day, probably about 20C (~70F) and lightly breezy. There were many students lounging around the beautiful grounds, and I felt a little out of place as an obvious gaijin (foreigner, and though this term makes me wince a little, it does not carry the same negative connotation as the Spanish gringo, which is definitely derogatory). The University had a few museums open to the public, as well as a famous Poplar Lane which I visited but which was still closed off. I think it was at this time that I finally noticed the incredible volume of bikes that were seen on campus. There were an equal amount of bikers and walkers, and you could see rows upon rows of biked parked outside of just about every building on campus, most only lightly secured (if secured at all). This was not unique, however, as all over Japan you can see people biking everywhere, and the city was no exception. Most of the crosswalks have lanes specifically for bikers. I was very happy to see so much biking taking place, and I wish I could see more of in the United States, where it would help tackle both of the equally serious problems of green house gas emissions and the obesity epidemic (to call it anything less is to invalidate the severity of the problem in our country).
The western end of the incredible Sapporo JR Station.
Some of Hokkaido University.
Bikes were literally everywhere. This is a typical scene outside of just about every academic building on campus.
Spring had just arrived in Hokkaido, and the trees and flowers were blooming beautifully. The sakura were also just beginning to bloom, though they were hard to find in the city.
Poplar Lane, Hokkaido University.
The western end of the incredible Sapporo JR Station.
Some of Hokkaido University.
Bikes were literally everywhere. This is a typical scene outside of just about every academic building on campus.
Spring had just arrived in Hokkaido, and the trees and flowers were blooming beautifully. The sakura were also just beginning to bloom, though they were hard to find in the city.
Poplar Lane, Hokkaido University.After strolling around the University, I made my way back to the Odori Park area and took some of the pictures that I had missed the previous day due to failed batteries. Here are a couple typical buildings you can find in downtown Sapporo.
I made my way further south to a six-block open air market lane. The alley way was quite wide, accommodating ten people or so, with dozens of shops on the adjacent buildings. The stretch of stores, casinos and restaurants went on for quite a few blocks. On almost every block you could easily find a pachinko casino. Pachinko is an incredibly popular Japanese gambling game, very much like slots except you play with small metal balls that fall down a course, gaining points depending on where the balls land. It's hard to describe, you have to see it for yourself.
I made my way further south to a six-block open air market lane. The alley way was quite wide, accommodating ten people or so, with dozens of shops on the adjacent buildings. The stretch of stores, casinos and restaurants went on for quite a few blocks. On almost every block you could easily find a pachinko casino. Pachinko is an incredibly popular Japanese gambling game, very much like slots except you play with small metal balls that fall down a course, gaining points depending on where the balls land. It's hard to describe, you have to see it for yourself.
The "Donkey Pachinko and Slot" full to the brim with the elderly throwing away their pensions...I made my way to Odori park for a little rest before finally heading to the Beer Museum, which was in the Northwestern part of the city. After all of us arrived, we gave ourselves a tour through the small museum, which featured some displays of the brewing process (which I was already familiar with thanks to a summer in a certain chemistry department...), equipment, displays of historic products and signs, and of course, a tasting room towards the end. The "tastes" cost about 200yen (~$2) and were easily a full glass of beer. We all hung out for a while enjoying the beer (I enjoyed my orange soda) before making our way to the "Bier Garten" which was really just a collection of five restaurants, all famous for serving the legendary "Ghengis Khan" lamb. The restaurant we ended up sitting in was called "The Grill" and each table came equipped with a large hot plate where customers cooked their own food. We ordered a platter that included a variety of lamb meet, as well as a dish of mixed vegetables, and after the waitress gave us a crash course of how to cook the food we dove in. It was actually quite good, and the fact that we had to grill the food ourselves made the overall pace of eating quite comfortable, and we left full but not bloated (and smelling of cooked meat). The Ghengis Khan sauce was nothing short of orgasmic. I also caved in and had a beer myself, as this was a special occasion.
Sapporo Beer Museum exterior.
A display of historic Sappor Beer products.
Some old wood-block advertisements for Sapporo Beer.
More historic advertisements for Sapporo Beer. Note that just as in present day beer advertising, women play a prominent role (and interestingly, children?).
From left to right: Leo, Hans Petter, Hye-Jin, Anders, Rachel.
Each of those glasses holds a 200yen (~$2) "taste" of beer. From Left to Right: Rachel, Anders, Leo, and Hans Petter's hands, ha ha.
Sapporo Beer Museum exterior.
A display of historic Sappor Beer products.
Some old wood-block advertisements for Sapporo Beer.
More historic advertisements for Sapporo Beer. Note that just as in present day beer advertising, women play a prominent role (and interestingly, children?).
From left to right: Leo, Hans Petter, Hye-Jin, Anders, Rachel.
Each of those glasses holds a 200yen (~$2) "taste" of beer. From Left to Right: Rachel, Anders, Leo, and Hans Petter's hands, ha ha.
Left to Right: Hans Petter, Me, Rachel, Anders, Hye-Jin, Leo. Orange soda not pictured, ha ha.
Our waitress giving us a crash-course in Grilling 101.
We returned to the hostel, where more drinking ensued (I abstained) and much merriment was had by all.
Sapporo Day 4 - Friday May 2
For the past two days, Shih-Ming (of Taiwan) had been spending the days on his own exploring the city and taking a trip to Utaro. He goes to bed early and rises early, and though we invited him to join us on a couple occasions (especially dinner) he was always too busy doing his own thing. Today, though, he had exhausted most of his objectives and joined us for the day, which was pleasant enough. He, Leo and myself headed to the JR station to get the necessary bus and train tickets for our trip to Toya-ko (Lake Toya) the next day. We then headed to the Sapporo Factory, which used to be the main beer brewery factory but which has since been renovated into an extremely large mall that rivals the JR Station. We walked around and looked through the shops, and there were literally every shop you could think of, including Adidas, Nike, Macy's, etc. It was also quite "airy" and comfortable, and the main atrium was beautifully designed.
Afterwards we headed back to Odori Park area, looked through some of the department stores, and then rested our tired feet in the park (a common theme). We then made our way to sake museum once more to meet the rest of the group, as the other half (Anders, Rachel, and Shih-Ming) and yet to see it. After a relatively quick stay, we headed back into downtown Sapporo where we went on the hunt for dinner. By this time, we had a general consensus that we were getting a bit tired of Japanese food and wanted to have some "Western" fare, so we began searching for an Italian restaurant. After some difficulties, we finally found one, and it was pretty good. There were only two major differences: a) the portions were noticeably smaller, though this isn't a necessarily bad thing, and b) they served all of the food (bread, salad, and entree) at once instead of in a staggered fashion as they do in the West. This is because most Japanese food also comes out all at once, so they were simply doing the same with the Italian food, but I felt I had to rush through my salad lest my pasta got too cold. The food was delicious, though, and more than made up for the atypical schedule.
Afterwards we headed to the large Sapporo Ferris Wheel that sits on top of the a ten story shopping center, and which by this time was lit up a neon fuchsia. The view of the city from the ferris wheel was just as spectacular as from Moiwa-san, though of course much closer. It only sent us around once, which as a bit disappointing, but it was still quite enjoyable (though the eclectic music was a bit beyond me). We stopped for delicious ice-cream on the way down.
The Ferris wheel before dinner. At night it is light a brilliant purple or blue.
You can see the Sapporo TV Tower in Blue about 2/3 of the way across the picture, next to the bright orange sign.
The Ferris wheel lit up at night as seen from the JR Tower.
In this picture (taken from the Sapporo JR38 Tower) you can see the Sapporo TV Tower in gold on the far left, and the Ferris wheel in white/blue on the far right, as well as the four blocks of downtown in between.
Afterwards we headed back to Odori Park area, looked through some of the department stores, and then rested our tired feet in the park (a common theme). We then made our way to sake museum once more to meet the rest of the group, as the other half (Anders, Rachel, and Shih-Ming) and yet to see it. After a relatively quick stay, we headed back into downtown Sapporo where we went on the hunt for dinner. By this time, we had a general consensus that we were getting a bit tired of Japanese food and wanted to have some "Western" fare, so we began searching for an Italian restaurant. After some difficulties, we finally found one, and it was pretty good. There were only two major differences: a) the portions were noticeably smaller, though this isn't a necessarily bad thing, and b) they served all of the food (bread, salad, and entree) at once instead of in a staggered fashion as they do in the West. This is because most Japanese food also comes out all at once, so they were simply doing the same with the Italian food, but I felt I had to rush through my salad lest my pasta got too cold. The food was delicious, though, and more than made up for the atypical schedule.
Afterwards we headed to the large Sapporo Ferris Wheel that sits on top of the a ten story shopping center, and which by this time was lit up a neon fuchsia. The view of the city from the ferris wheel was just as spectacular as from Moiwa-san, though of course much closer. It only sent us around once, which as a bit disappointing, but it was still quite enjoyable (though the eclectic music was a bit beyond me). We stopped for delicious ice-cream on the way down.
The Ferris wheel before dinner. At night it is light a brilliant purple or blue.
You can see the Sapporo TV Tower in Blue about 2/3 of the way across the picture, next to the bright orange sign. 
The Ferris wheel lit up at night as seen from the JR Tower. 
In this picture (taken from the Sapporo JR38 Tower) you can see the Sapporo TV Tower in gold on the far left, and the Ferris wheel in white/blue on the far right, as well as the four blocks of downtown in between. After the Ferris wheel adventure, we headed back to the hostel for another quiet evening of light(er) drinking, TV, puzzles, and overall relaxation.
This brings my section of the city to a close. All in all, I had a really great time, and would definitely go back if I could. There are also lots of museums and gardens in the surrounding area that I would like to visit in the future. If you are planning a trip to Japan, in addition to the usual tourist attractions of Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka I highly recommend a few days in the relatively more peaceful but just as charming Sapporo. It is also a bit cooler than the other cities, being a fair bit north, which makes it rather pleasant in the summer where Tokyo can be unbearably hot and humid.
The next day, Saturday, Shih-Ming and Leo joined me on a day trip to Toya-ko where we spent the day admiring the beautiful lake, forests, and resident active volcano Usu-zan. I will save that trip for my Sunday post. In the mean time, I hope you enjoyed the pictures of Sapporo, and I look forward to hearing from you!
This brings my section of the city to a close. All in all, I had a really great time, and would definitely go back if I could. There are also lots of museums and gardens in the surrounding area that I would like to visit in the future. If you are planning a trip to Japan, in addition to the usual tourist attractions of Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka I highly recommend a few days in the relatively more peaceful but just as charming Sapporo. It is also a bit cooler than the other cities, being a fair bit north, which makes it rather pleasant in the summer where Tokyo can be unbearably hot and humid.
The next day, Saturday, Shih-Ming and Leo joined me on a day trip to Toya-ko where we spent the day admiring the beautiful lake, forests, and resident active volcano Usu-zan. I will save that trip for my Sunday post. In the mean time, I hope you enjoyed the pictures of Sapporo, and I look forward to hearing from you!
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