Exploring Hokkaido Shrine & Maruyama Zoo | Japan 2016 | Episode 5

As luck would have it, we chose the briskest day of our trip up North so far to explore Maruyama Park. Luckily along with the cold came mostly blue skies, with the odd wisp of cloud bringing light flurries.
There are several sights to see and things to do in the vast Park, what brought us in was Hokkaido Shrine. The Shrine is a large complex of various shrines, including 3 housing the enshrined kami of the Hokkaido Reclamation. Walking around the complex was a peaceful and relaxing experience, enhanced for us by the light flurries which added to the mood.
Once we had reached the park we learnt about the Maruyama Zoo, also located there. After Hokkaido Shrine we decided to give the zoo a visit. The zoo gave us some reprieve from the cold weather as we were able to spend some time indoors in the various pavilions.
Not only did we work up an appetite walking around the park, we had a chill to the bone. The perfect remedy for both was a big hot bowl of ramen, and we had a specific place in mind. We learnt about Nitori no Keyaki on a YouTube channel we follow and had it on our must try list months before our trip. It is a small shop but because we were visiting at an odd hour in between lunch and dinner we had the place to ourselves. The ramen was perfect, squashing our hunger and warming us up.
After an accidental nap in the late afternoon, we managed to get out of our warm bed to venture back out into the cold. We were off to explore Odori Park which was lit magnificently by their special event of the season, the white illumination. While cold, it was beautiful and we enjoyed a long walk through the park.

For more details about this episode visit our show notes page:

Locations seen in this episode
JR Tower Hotel Nikko Sapporo –
Odori Station.-
Maruyamakoen Station –
Hokkaido Shrine –
Maruyama Zoo –
Nitori no Keyaki (Ramen) –
Lawson –
Odori Park –

Featured Music
Girls like you by Stefan Kartenberg (c) copyright 2014 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Ft: Thespinwires
Sunday by cdk (c) copyright 2016 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.
“Concentration” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License