Sapporo

Trip Start Apr 20, 2004

Trip End Aug 28, 2005

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Flag of Japan Sapporo, Japan
Sunday, October 17, 2004

Sapporo - Maybe many forigners know Sapporo as a popular Japanese brand of beer. That it is buts its also the major city in the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. Fairly distant from our central Japan location in Nagoya and also very costly to get to. Luckly, in Japan there is such thing as "birthday flights" offered by the airlines JAL and ANA. Suprisingly not many Japanese people actually know about them but the deal is you can fly you and up to 3 others anywhere in Japan for only 12,300yen each way druing the 7 days either side of your birthday. So a bargin for us getting to Hokkaido. Dan was very generous and bought us both flights for a 3 day holiday in Sapporo.
This place was like being in a different country - often described to us as modern Japan without the crowds. Our way into the city from the airport we saw houses that appeared more like they belonged in surbia USA, large houses with lawn, big trees, swing sets for the kids and big cars parked in the drive - certainly not a sceen from pokey cramped Iwakura where not even the park has grass

Dan glass blowing

!
Anyhow, the first day was spent just milling round really. We hunted down a ramen restaurant that was highly recommended in the Lonely Planet guide for some of this Japan famous ramen (chinese style noodles served in a stock with a few garnishes) and giant Gyoza (chinese dumpling things). Im not a fan of ramen and in my poor opinion, Sapporos ramen was nothing special, on the other hand the gyoza was fantastic. We spent some time hanging in Odori Park - what a happening little strip of park. There were musicians, artists, food stalls, people everywhere lazing in the Autumn sun. We managed to find our way to the Sapporo Beer-en for dinner. Hoping to do a brewery tour, the place was undergoing renovations so it was just dinner. 3000yen for the all we could eat lamb, pumpkin, sprouts, onions and cabbage and all we could drink Sapporo Draft straight from the Vats!!!
The following day it was out to see the sights. First stop was the Winter Sports Museum and Ski Jump Stadium. What a cool museum, mostly interactive - we had a go at bob slaying, cross country skiing, figure and speed skating all on machines and the best of all was the simulater for the ski jump. Pretty cool and for the records - I jumped further than Dan!. The actual Olympic skijump was there too. Those guys must be crazy to do that! From there it was out to Otaru, a small seaside town 30 or so minutes by train from Sapporo. This lovely looking town looked like somewhere from Europe and is famous for glass items, music boxes and old style archetecture. The main streets were paved and lined with little shops. Dan had a go at glass blowing and made a vase. The highlight of this trip was seeing the Otaru canel at sunset. The canel is lined with historic warehouses many which are now restaurants and shops.