The trip was sponsored by TAC (Tokyo American Club). It was our first such tour and we weren't sure what to expect. The good news: there was fresh snow. The bad news: we had to be at the airport by 7am. That meant dropping off Ranger-the-Wonder-Dog at the kennel the day before and getting up at 5am the next morning. UGH.
The flight from Haneda airport is only an hour and a half. The fact we could actually see Mt. Fuji from the airport, and our seat on the airplane, helped ease the sleep deprivation.
Mt. Fuji taunting us.
Once in Sapporo, there were several tour choices. We could have skied, gone directly to the hotel, or taken a bus tour of the city. We opted for the bus tour, which is not usually the kind of thing we go for. But we were intrigued by the buffet lunch at a resort in the country side. Country side? Really? I'd pay to see some trees.
We were not disappointed. First of all, we had a really fun bus. A Japanese tour guide gave us fun facts about Hokkaido and Sapporo and lured us to sleep. The hotel itself was set amidst several acres of forrest and golf courses which were covered in snow. Hokkaido had experienced the coldest temperatures in recorded history a few days before and was covered in downy fleece. It was amazing how expertly the bus driver negotiated the unplowed roads. Usually the hotel, called Kita-Hiroshima, is a golf retreat, but during the Winter it's a wonderland, complete with a modest ski slope and gondola.
We didn't gondola, unless you count the elevator to the top floor where the buffet was. It had a great view of the surrounding countryside.
Hurray! Trees!
Now, I don't usually like buffets. The food is generally sub par and we always over-eat. I scanned the offerings dubiously. But it was cold, and as everyone knows, the body burns a lot more calories trying to keep warm. What the hell! Plus they had these convenient buffet plates which keep the food nice and separated. The food was outstanding! And on the way back to the highway we actually saw some Hokkaido deer. Unfortunately we were so busy pointing we forgot to take a picture.
Besides great food, including the freshest fish on the planet, crab and diary products, Hokkaido is also famous for its wildlife. Specifically deer and bears. We didn't see any bears though.
Yummy!
It took about an hour to get to Sapporo, basically a nice nap. Once in Sapporo the driver took us around the small city, (in comparison to Tokyo), pointing out the ice sculptures still being worked on, the city square, our hotel and the site of the snow festival. It was actually a good way to get our bearings. Because we were ahead of schedule, the driver actually stopped at the Hokkaido former government building, a baroque style building designed by an American (go figure) and let us walk around.
The building was interesting, it felt like being in Philadelphia, apparently it's built after the government building in Massachusetts. The best part was the snow covered adjacent garden.
Former Hokkaido Government Building Ice berg-ed up.
Pretty Japanese garden with nesting ducks.
After the tour, the bus dropped us off at our hotel, the Royton. It was no Four Season's, but it had great hot water, something I've longed for since moving to Tokyo. It also had two twin beds. Russell insisted we sleep in one.
Dinner that night was at the Asahi Beer Garden. As Sapporo produces a lot of beer, beer gardens are a big deal here. Basically it's a gigantic hall where they serve lots of beer while you cook your own food over small grills at your table. Bibs are mandatory. They actually put your coats in plastic bags so you don't take home that beer-hall-BBQ-smell. The food is good.
This beer garden was at the Asahi beer factory so the brew was especially fresh and they served a particular beer only available at this time of year, at this location. It's called Kohaku-no-Toki or "amber time". Let's be clear - I am not a beer drinker. But I did sample it, and it was pretty good, for beer. I had to be content with the expansive wine list. The choices were "red" or "white".
Let's just say we were at the fun table. We had a great, hard-drinking, joke-telling crowd. And we convinced the men to cook! We told them we'd clean up and they fell for it! My favorite part of the evening was when I got up to go the bathroom and, like a magnet, attracted most of the women from the table to go with me. It had nothing to do with me - it's the women's code. Women like to travel in packs. To this, one of our new friends, a handsome man from North Carolina, said to Russell, most congenially, "Russell, do you want to go to the bathroom with me?"
Bib city.
After dinner a few of us went back to the hotel bar and kept it open longer than the manager intended. Apparently they had been warned.
The next day we walked around the snow festival. Technically, the festival wasn't officially opening until Monday, the day we were leaving, but it was already crowded and the sculptures were done. It also seemed to be press day and a lot ribbon cutting was going on at several of the larger scale sculptures.
Interesting how the festival poster is in English.
The snow festival was centered at a couple of sites including Odori Park, Tsudome and Susukino. The primary site being Odori Park, which is a long, narrow city park that runs through the center of Sapporo. Odori Park was conveniently located across the street from our hotel. The park had about 250 snow and ice sculptures of various sizes, including giant snow scenes the size of a house. But most of the snow carvings were about the size of a Chevy truck. In between the rows of sculptures were various squares: bustling food courts, snow slides, an ice skating rink, and even a huge snowboard ramp. The brochure claimed 400 snowboarders would make 4,000 jumps. We gotta see that!
Adjacent to Odori Park was Susukino, in the food and shopping district, where the majority of the ice sculptures were. We made it to Odori and Susukino. The Tsudome is kind of a snow playground about a half hour away. We didn't make it there.
The snow festival originated in 1950 and was started by a bunch of high school students who made six sculptures that year. Since then it has grown into an internationally recognized event visited by over two million people annually. Professional sculptors and total Joes can participate from any country in the world, even the U.S.A.
A lot of the sculptures had a Twitter board next to it.
Course it was all in Japanese, so I couldn't understand what it meant.
One of my favorites.
We noticed a lot of the sculptures were sponsored by major corporations and were promoting social messages or cartoon characters, maybe both.
Promoting reading?
Promoting Friendship?
A Japanese person told me this is a very popular cartoon character.
I like bunnies. I like baby chicks. What's not to like?
Anime character.
A lot of the sculptures were cute.
Fun in the snow translates in any language.
Even the U.S. Navy had a showing.
Nice jar head.
Jaws! Cool!
We're going to need a bigger sled.
There were no barriers around the park. Anyone could attend for free. We saw lots of locals walking their dogs, which were much larger than Tokyo dogs.
This dog belongs.
This one, not so much.
I'm surprised it wasn't wearing a sweater and booties
like they do in Tokyo.
Oh, these are country dogs.
By far, the coolest sculptures were the large scale ones. The first, being developed by the Self Defense Force of Japan in 1955. Apparently that hasn't changed. They were out in full force to cut the ribbon to their entry this year: Aizu Tsuruga Castle which is in the Fukushima prefecture. Yes, that Fukushima.
The military are here but not doing crowd control.
This is one for my scrapbook.
In front of the sculpture.
In addition to cute dogs, there were the prerequisite, adorable Japanese kids. Apparently they were busing them in. Mini-gangs, of five at a time, would approach us, clipboard in hand, and tentatively ask us three mandatory questions:
- Where are you from?
- Is this your first time to Sapporo?
- What's your favorite sculpture?
We were an easy target.
Is this an ad for baby gap or what?
My snow! Back off.
"But I don't want to look at the ugly foreigners!"
Check out Russell in the background
on email no less.
And then there was the food. OMG! Even the State Fair of Texas doesn't have food this good. Well, except for maybe the deep fried Twinkies. Russell and I stood in the middle of the food court salivating, until Russell got a special treat from a local bird. It crapped on him to the amusement of everyone standing around. Getting crapped on is funny in any language.
These were Hokkaido scallops cooked on an open grill.
Nice matching jackets.
Hokkaido crab.
Hokkaido bananas?
Ok, maybe the bananas aren't from Hokkaido.
Hokkaido is famous for its dairy products.
Nice udders. Do you think they're real?
We couldn't decide if this was natural or hand evoked.
Scary either way.
After snacking on some Hokkaido grilled corn, we decided to eat at a crab restaurant called Hyosetsu no mon. It was hard to find but so worth it. Not only was it a charming traditional restaurant but the food was great. At first I didn't think we ordered enough food. But after long lag times, they kept bringing out more and more. Soon I was full and actually appreciating the fact the walk back to the hotel was about twenty minutes.
Our private dining room behind soji screen.
Raw crab appetizer. I'd never had raw crab before.
It was amazingly sweet.
Crab amuse bouche.
I had the crab hot pot. I put all these ingredients into a boiling pot of broth.
Afterwards they used the remaining broth to mix with rice.
Amazing!
The carnage.
I'm talking about what's in the bucket.
After the crab we walked through the Susukino Site, which is where most of the ice sculptures were. They were still working on them.
This is really cool. Those are real fish and crab frozen in there!
Somebody hand me a pic and some drawn butter.
Supper cool dragon ice carving in progress.
We walked by the snowboarding jump on the way back to the hotel. It was like the X-Games. They even played American Rock.
Russell wanted to try this.
Dinner was on our own that night so we met up with our friends, Nancy and Brian, and had sushi.
Another private room. I'm beginning to think they're hiding us purposefully.
Hide the gaijin!
This is as pretty as it is delicious.
Keep it coming!
On the way back from dinner we walked back through the ice and snow sculptures. At night they're even more magical.
Now that's what I call a sake bar.
Pass me a cup.
Belly up for a mug of beer.
Gives new meaning to "refreshing."
Oooh, they're even prettier lit up in colors.
Nancy and Brian took us to a wine bar they had been to before. They had a nice selection of French wines.
And look at the size of those glasses,
hence the size of our smiles.
The entertainment district.
Mini Tokyo
The highlight was seeing the large scale snow sculptures at Odori Park lit up. Keep in mind these are the size of a house or even bigger.
Russell's favorite - go figure.
Tokyo Disney Resort
My favorite. It's called Snow Aquarium - Treasures from the Sea.
National Palace Museum (Taiwan).
The lighting is fantastic!
Taj Mahal
Aizu Tsuruga Castle.
This is the one the military picture was taken in front of.
It's amazing lit up!
The next day was the opening of the festival and the crowds increased exponentially. We walked from square to square, amazed. We were glad we already had the opportunity to take pictures. But I couldn't resist this last one of my favorite sculpture:
I love the glass eyes and whiskers.
He looks so real.
No trip to Hokkaido is complete without tasting the ice cream. So after we tested the local ramen, amazing BTW, we walked into a little ice cream parlor. The chocolate syrup might have been Nestle's, but the ice cream was all Hokkaido and full fat. It was so creamy and delicious!
Sweet!
Even sweeter!
Look how cute he is.
I'll take that with a cherry on top.
No comments:
Post a Comment