Odōri-kōen as seen from the Sapporo TV Tower
It took some time and negotiations to decide where to go on the third and final R&R trip to which we were allowed to take during this tour in Beijing 北京. My initial suggestion was to escape the chill of China's capital and go somewhere warm, namely Thailand. My wife, however, maintained that destination would be too hot for her liking, and proposed that I could go there myself while she made yet another trip to see her family in Taiwan. And so I started planning a solo jaunt to Southeast Asia, with a stop in Kuala Lumpur to see friends on the way back to China. However, as the uncertainty that comes with still not knowing where we would be going next following Beijing slogged along with no end in sight, I feared that it might become more difficult to visit Japan in my final years before retirement, and so I switched destinations, working up an itinerary to travel around Kyūshū 九州 on my own for about 2½ weeks.
In the end, however, for reasons which I don't clearly recall, I pitched the idea to Shu-E of the two of us traveling together to Hokkaidō 北海道 and Taiwan. My wife being Taiwanese, the idea of experiencing snow proved too alluring, which is how the two of us found ourselves in mid-February sitting together on an Air China flight from Beijing Capital International Airport 北京首都国际机场, headed to New Chitose Airport 新千歳空港 and the island's largest city, Sapporo 札幌:
The view as our plane approached Hokkaido from the south:
Lunch at the airport after deplaning included curry rice カレーライス and what would be the first of many Sapporo Beers サッポロビール on this trip:
This would be my third sojourn to Japan's northernmost island, but my first in 30 years, and my first in the cold and snow of winter. On my first visit in the summer of 1991 I had traveled by train from Honshū 本州, passing under the Tsugaru Strait 津軽海峡 in the
Seikan Tunnel 青函トンネル (the world's deepest and longest undersea tunnel) to Hakodate 函館, where I stayed a couple of nights. I would also spend time in Tōya-ko 洞爺湖, Sapporo and Sōunkyō Onsen 層雲峡温泉. I returned to Sapporo in the spring of 1995, having scored a free roundtrip air ticket from Tōkyō 東京. During that shorter visit I would make a day trip to Otaru 小樽, something my wife and I would do on our last full day in Japan before jetting off to Taiwan (stay tuned, folks!).
We ventured out after checking into our accommodations late on Saturday afternoon. Close to the
Cross Hotel Sapporo クロスホテル札幌 stood the
Sapporo Clock Tower 札幌市時計台, the city's oldest building (1878) and signature landmark. Visitors both Japanese and foreign stood on the sidewalk taking the required snapshots:
Another local landmark, the
Sapporo TV Tower さっぽろテレビ塔, was visible between buildings. Like moths drawn to a flame, we found ourselves submitting to the tourist tractor beam:
In front of the entrance to the tower were groups of people dressed in what could best be described as anime-inspired furries. We would see these people around town over the next couple of days but never learned what the reason was behind it all:
The view from the observation deck 90.4 meters/296.5 feet above the streets:
From the observatory there was a spectacular view overlooking
Ōdōri Park 大通公園, site of the annual
Sapporo Snow Festival さっぽろ雪まつり, which this year had wrapped up just four days prior to our arrival. The sight is also an impressive one on a clear day but Shu-E wasn't interested in returning to the TV tower later to have a look in the daylight:
After the TV Tower we headed off in the direction of
Susukino すすきの, Sapporo's semi-notorious nightlife district. Like other similar areas around the country (like Kabukichō 歌舞伎町 in Tokyo and Nakasu 中洲 in Fukuoka 福岡, to name just a couple), bars, clubs and restaurants are intermixed with less salubrious establishments. On this evening we only reached the intersection leading into Susukino. The
Nikka whiskey billboard ニッカウヰスキー看板 on the far right is another local landmark, similar to the famous
Glico Running Man in Ōsaka's 大阪 Dōtonbori 道頓堀 district:
It appears the trendy food item in Hokkaido these days is
soup curry 札幌スープカレー, a dish I don't recall from my previous visits late in the 20th century. We passed by several soup curry establishments, all with long queues of hungry diners out front waiting to get in from the cold. Instead we settled on an
izakaya 居酒屋 located across the road from one popular soup curry establishment:
Among the dishes we ordered in the lively establishment was
zangi ザンギ, Hokkaido's take on the popular
karaage から揚げ. Many a deep-fried chicken would be consumed on this trip:
Outside the
izakaya following dinner. The dumber-than-usual expression on my face was the result of ultimately futile attempts at trying to capture my breath in the cold air on camera:
On our way back to the hotel. Apparently there had been heavy snow the week before our arrival, and there was still a lot of it on the ground (the weather would be generally cooperative throughout our trip). The sidewalks on the main streets were mostly cleared, and the sections where snow remained usually had rock salt sprinkled on them, but the threat of slipping remained, and the two of us would gingerly make our way on foot throughout our stay in Hokkaido. I would have one close call in Otaru, where my feet slipped out from under me but I was able to remain upright by holding on to Shu-E, but otherwise I managed to maintain my dignity and remain standing. My wife would suggest on multiple occasions buying a house in Hokkaido, but beautiful as the island is, the idea of falling and breaking brittle bones isn't an appealing one. Even in winter, however, Sapporo remains one of the most livable urban areas in Japan, with many sections of the central district located underground in response to the winter conditions (it was possible, for example, to make the ten-minute walk from Sapporo Station 札幌駅 to our hotel almost entirely below the surface):
Passing by the TV Tower again en route to our accommodations. While our room on the 10th floor didn't have much of a view to speak of, the tower was visible from the 16th floor lounge, adjacent to where the guests' baths were located:
We would spend this and the following two nights in Sapporo. Stay tuned as the adventure unfolds...
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