Day 15 – travel to Sopporo, Hokkaido, Japan

Day 15 – travel to Sopporo, Hokkaido, Japan

Hello and welcome to my world and welcome to PVG International Airport in Puong, China. Pudong, Shanghai, China actually. And we are, what time is it now? It is 7:11. And we have an 8:00 flight out of Shanghai. And we are headed to Saporro, Japan. I’m excited. First time I’ve ever been to Saporro. First time I’ve ever been to Hokkaido, the Hawkkaido region of Japan. So, anyways, one thing about this airport, it sure seems like they do board early. So, make sure you do what we did, hit the bathroom before you go. And this is your, if you’re leaving China like we are, this might be your last chance to have the pleasure of using a squat toilet in there. So, we are at gate G123 and this is an absolutely gigantic airport. So, we had quite a hike to get over here. And I’m proud to say, speaking of squat toilets, on this trip and this adventure, I actually survived going through China and never using a squat toilet. Anytime I can accomplish that, it’s a major accomplishment. So there’s our big bird right there waiting for us that’s going to go to the land of the rising sun pretty soon. So they just called us they’re starting to board some people pretty early in a few minutes here. So I’m really excited. Normally when I come to this airport it’s kind of sad cuz we’re headed for home after a fun exciting adventure. But no, on this trip, this adventure is just getting started. And this is also your last chance if you’re like us going to Japan. This is your last chance to get a cup of piping hot water to drink. Cuz in Japan, they do not drink, generally speaking, they do not drink hot water. They only drink cold water. And this machine has a choice of different temperatures, hot or ambient. And when my son and I used this machine last year, it was basically super hot and hot. So, ignore ambient. That’s it’s pretty toasty hot. So, anyway, I’ll be happy to leave this hot water drinking place behind. I’m looking forward to getting a nice cup of ice water. So, we’re not lining up just yet. This is the first class passengers and stuff. I just want to check the board, see if we’re on time, see what’s going on. And there we are. Gate 123, Saporro, Japan. Yes, I’m so excited. It’s been a few years since I went to Japan. Every time I go to Japan, I just get so excited. I love the country so much. Love the country and I love the people. So cool. So, let me put the camera away and we’re going to board the Big Bird. Next stop, Saporro, Japan. Come along with me. So, here’s our last view of TVG airport. Here’s our terminal. And these are the Gates. And we are just Everybody’s boarding. Uh, just to let you know, they do board here very early. So, this is actually a pretty small plane because the flight to Japan’s only about three hours long. And normally I don’t do this because there’s not enough room or not enough time to do this. But anyway, since we board so early, here’s the amount of leg room I have. Not too bad. We’re in lovely coach, of course. No TV screen. It’s a very short flight. We should have a meal, though. I think we’re going to get breakfast served. But anyways, I’ll be sitting in this row here so I can show you how much space there is. We are flying on China Eastern. So, just as I mentioned before, they do board early here. Our flight was not scheduled to depart until 8:00 and we they started calling people to board the plane around 7:05. So, just to let you know, they do board extremely early at this airport. Not unusual. So, next stop, Saporro, Japan. And just like that, welcome to Saporro, Japan. So, we just arrived and it was a short flight, only about three hours, but I pretty much slept the whole way aside from eating breakfast on the plane and that was it. So, our first step is to go to the JR train and find out if my old Suika card is any good. To ride the chain, the trains in Japan, you need what’s called a Sua card. Think of it like a charge card for riding the trains and you can put money on it. Load it up with some cash and stuff like that. I don’t remember how much cash I have left in mine. I don’t know what the shelf life is of them. I may need to buy another one. I’m not sure. Said it’s been a few years since I came here to Japan. So, don’t know if my sweet card is out of date or not. But here we are. I am so excited. This is cool. My first time here in Hokkaido. And let’s head off to find a Sua machine. So, we take the moving sidewalk to get to the train station. Now, I always forget in certain regions of Japan, you stand on one side of escalators and moving sidewalks like this and you walk on the other. In Kyoto, I think, don’t quote me on this, you stand on the left and in Tokyo, you stand on the right. I’m not positive. I generally speaking follow the people in front of me what they’re doing. But sometimes like in an airport when there’s tourists in the airport, I end up standing on the wrong side. So anyway, okay, this must be it must be stand on the left. Okay, I I’m guessing based on based on what these folks ahead of us are doing. Hopefully they I think they know what they’re doing. So, and yes, Japan is also the land of vending machines, which is good because I have tons of extra coins and change I want to burn through when I’m here. So, I’m going to be using a lot of vending machines when I’m here. So, Japan has the most amount of vending machines of any country in the world. That’s what I read somewhere like per area of any country. So, Oh, that’s some are those sty bears. So, this is an all new experience for me. Uh, in case you didn’t know, I’ve been to Japan quite a few times. Maybe three or four. I kind of lose track. I think it’s three times so far, but not positive. Could be four. But, never been here. So, this is going to be an exciting new adventure for me. Some animals there. Oh, getting to the end here. Too busy paying attention to my camera here. I don’t want to trip and fall. I don’t even know much about this airport. It’s my first time here. So, in the past, we always flew into either Narita or Haneda, both of which are near Tokyo. And it is much cooler here. When we got off of the plane, it was it felt a lot like San Francisco, actually. So, in the plane, they announced that the temperature was 65° F, which is considerably cooler compared to Shanghai this morning. So, I hopefully, you know, this area is not known for being humid. So, like Tokyo is in that area. Tokyo, Osaka can get very humid during the summertime, but Hokkaido is not known for having a lot of humidity, which is one of the reasons why we are coming here right now in June, cuz we don’t want to deal with humidity if we can. So, it felt good to get off the plane. Okay, so I’ll film when I get closer to the JR station. I got off of the moving sidewalk cuz I saw this Smile Road. I don’t know what Smile Road is. We’re going to check it out just for a few minutes. So, this is what’s at the top of the escalator at Smile Road. There’s a Hello Kitty Airline thing here. I don’t know. It’s probably a little kids walk through. I’m I’m dealing with my suitcase, so that’s why I’m kind of a chocolate factory here. Rice Chocolate World. Okay. I know that’s a brand of chocolate. Look at this. Oh, looks like they’re not making anything right now. Oh, this would be cool if it was actually working. That’s a little kid squeaky shoes, by the way. A lot of the kids in Asian countries have these little squeaky shoes. They’re pretty funny. Should have bought some of those for my son when he was little. Oh, check out that thing. That’s cool. The spinner. That’s awesome. Oh, okay. So, that’s what it makes. Check out those. Look at those. Those are cool. All made out of chocolate. Wow, look at all the chocolate to buy. It looks like a giant food court area. Some gift shops. Oh, look at this guy, too. I mean, there’s no sign on it. says, “Do not eat.” And of course, they have a Starbucks. No matter where I go in the world, they always have a Starbucks. So, I came back here to film the spinner now that there’s fewer people here. This is how they make those chocolate figures. And they’re hollow on the inside. So, they spin it around like this to make a 3D figure and coat the mold. on the inside of the mold there. Pretty cool. Oh, I thought this was a little kids walkthrough. It’s actually actually a cafe themed after Hello Kitty’s hair airline. So, I I thought it was a a little kids like walkthrough thing, but it’s not. It’s a cafe. So, I don’t know what’s down here. Let’s just see. Happy Flight Cafe. And here’s the Happy Flight gift shop here. And our first gotacha pond sighting right here. Lots of gacha pon machines in Japan. Place here for kids to burn off excess steam, burn off some energy for a long flight. Workshop. This is awesome. Area for arts and crafts. Okay. Looks like there’s a cafe here. Yeah. Heat. Just enjoying the ambience on yet the beginning of another adventure or another part of this adventure actually. Ah, Japan is so cool. In case you can’t tell, I love coming here. Now, we’re going to a part of the country that does is not known for its car culture. One of the reasons I love coming to Japan is because of the car culture, and Tokyo, of course, is king for that. But also, other cities like Osaka have good car culture, too. But I’m not sure what kind of car culture Hokkaido has. It’s not known for that. But I’ll find out. And if I find anything interesting, I’ll let you know by filming it for you. Oh, okay. This is where departures are. Oo, toy park. It’s over here. Toy park. I want to check that out. One thing I also love about Japan, too, is they have a lot of really cool mechanical toys. And if you’ve watched any of my previous videos on this adventure, you know that I’ve stated clearly that I love mechanical toys. Also, our first claw machine sighting in Japan right there. Got lots of claw machines in Japan. Ooh, Toma cars. Ooh, hard to pass up those. Love to cars. Okay, this Oh, this is the departure area right here. Postcards. Oh, my son collects postcards. Let them know there’s a postcard rack here. So, here’s the departure terminal. But we’re not departing yet. We just got here. Ah, okay. So, this section that we went down, that was Smile Road. So, Smile Road goes from the escalator all the way to over here. I just doubled back into the toy shop to check out their selection of Tomaca cars. And if you’re not into diecast car collecting, Toma is the line of diecast cars 164 scale made by the toy manufacturer Tomy. And I’m not a huge diecast collector, but I do usually pick up a few Tomica cars when I’m here in Japan because these are kind of hard to find in the US. I don’t know if they officially export them there to the US or just they don’t sell them, but I just don’t see them very much. I see them in China a lot and Taiwan and of course here in Japan, but they’re kind of rare in the US. And I like them because they make models of a lot of JDM cars that they don’t sell in the US. So, I’m going to take a quick peek at the selection here. See what I find. Here’s something you’d only find in Japan. These are Tomica diecast models of Honda lawn care equipment. That’s pretty funny. I don’t think this would be a big seller back home in the US. This is neat. This is a display called Sty Festival Plaza and it has a bunch of the Sty plush animals and they’re all moving around. Wow, this is cool. I know a lot of people collect these. I’m familiar with Sty Flush Animals because they did quite a few collaborations with LGB trains in the past where they include some of their bears with LGB cars. So, I know there’s a lot of people that collect sty bears and stifles animals. Please do not touch it, the sign says. Pretty cool. So, here we are near the JR station. We’re not there yet. This is actually a pretty big airport, but the GR train is over there to the left according to the sign. Wow, this place is huge. So, here we are on the JR train in the reserve seating section. So, here we are zipping along on the JR train. And if you get a chance, take the trains in Japan. It is the best way to get around the country, bar none. And you get to see the country go by, and it is so beautiful. So, I highly, highly recommend riding on trains in Japan as much as you can. I also hope you can hear me. One thing you’ll notice about the trains in Japan is that they are very, very quiet. You can hear a pin drop inside them. So, I’m not sure if the microphone on my camera is strong enough to pick up my voice, but I hope so. So you kids out there, when you ride on the trains in Japan, remember to use your inside voices. Oh, baseball game. The next stop is Anyone. The stop after anyone is Hiroshima. Yeah. Heat. Also note that the trains here run on time all the time and that the time stamped on your ticket is the time the train leaves, not when the train arrives at the station, but you don’t want to be late. Also, I couldn’t resist in the station. I had to just buy my first melon soda from one of the vending machines. And one of my absolute uh obsessions every time I come to Japan are the melon sodas here. I absolutely am addicted to them. They are so good. Such a beautiful countryside here. So peaceful, so relaxing here in Japan. Every time I come here, if you need to relieve stress, I recommend a trip to Japan. Train bound for Sakura. Car 4 is for passengers with seat reservations. Please notify the crew of any irregular activity on the train. Also, please note the position of the SOS call button and in the event of an emergency, press it to alert the crew. Our cards from our last trip to Japan were still good. So, we just basically recharged them with some more money at the train station. And thanks to the incredibly helpful lady at the train station that works for JR that helps lost tourists like us. She walked us through the whole process of how to use the machine to put more money on our cards and also she helped us with buying a new card for my son who never had one before. So if you get lost in Japan, if you need any help, don’t hesitate to ask any of the people that are trained to help English-sp speakaking tourists like ourselves. Okay, so we are actually in the city of Saporro right now and this is the largest city in Idaho. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Please watch your step when you lift off. Thank you for using JR Hokkaido. Heat. Heat. So, this is the end of the line. Everybody’s got to get off, including me. So, at this station, since it’s the end of the line, what they do is they flip the seats around 180° so that way everybody can now travel forward going from left to right. So, since it’s been a while since we’ve been to Japan, been a few years, I forgot how efficient their trains are. So, let me repeat. I’m not sure if my microphone on the train was able to pick this up cuz I had to speak so softly. When you’re on the trains, use your super duper duper indoor voice. So, I’m not sure if the microphone was able to pick up what I was saying. The time printed on your ticket is the time the train departs from the station, not when it arrives. So, make sure you’re there at your boarding platform early before the time posted on your station. Also, their trains are incredibly efficient. I was actually using my stopwatch and I was timing how long it took for the train to stop at each station and then leave. It was around 13 to 15 seconds each time. So, you don’t have time to be messing around on the platform. You got to get on get at least get on the train, get your body and your stuff, your suitcases and luggage on the train. If you’re on the train, you’re golden. But if you’re not and you’re messing around with everything and the train takes off without you, that’s it. You’re you’re messed up. That’s it. You’re left behind. They don’t wait for anybody. So, this is our last stop here in Saporro. This is a vending machine that sells baseball caps and sunglasses and stuff like that. Some people say that 24. It’s pretty cool. Everybody says a different thing. So, we just crossed the street and we’re going to our hotel. And let me tell you, after almost two weeks, it is so nice not to have to deal with scooters, oh my god, I got really sick and tired of crossing the street in Shanghai, having to watch these scooters running into us practically. It is so nice not to have to deal with that anymore. So anyways, at least sure seems like the intersections here are much better organized. Everybody seems to follow common sense and rules and I hear a catback exhaust so I know I’m in Japan. Something I did not hear uh when I was in uh Shanghai. So anyways, so nice when people common sense and follow the rules and I have to remember like those folks were doing have to remember to start bowing. Okay. Something they do not do that in in China, but they do it here. So, it’s a show of respect. So, we’re head off to our hotel. So, to find our hotel, we first had to find this big crab sign here. Cool animated crab, similar to the ones that I saw when I was in Osaka. Oo, what is that? And I’ll do some definitely do some car spotting, but I’m here. That’s cool. I’m not sure how good the car spotting is here in Saporro, but uh one thing I learned when I was in Tokyo is always have my camera ready to spot some cool JDM cars. So, here’s our hotel, the Hotel Forza. I don’t know if it’s related to the video game in any way, but we’ll be staying here for a few nights. One night. Oh, one night. My wife just corrected me. One night we’ll be here. So, let’s go on inside and check in. So, here’s the lobby of the Hotel Forza. Pretty cool chandeliers up there. And as soon as we get checked in, I’ll give you a room tour. Okay, we finally checked into our room 609 at the Hotel Forza. And this is it. And I’m reminded of the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Look at this. Okay, now this is typical for a hotel in Japan. So, uh, this is actually not that small compared to other hotel rooms I’ve seen in Tokyo. I’ve never stayed in one of those super tiny ones before, but keep in mind Tokyo is the land of the capsule hotels. So, anyways, those are our three beds. Here is the TV. And yes, you do have to turn in your bed sideways to view the TV. This is I believe that coat rack is what is the closet right there. That coat rack with about five or six hangers on it. Okay, so they gave you the selection of hotel slippers, full length mirror. One thing is that the AC will be able probably cool this place down very well because it’s so small. I’m not sure. Oh my gosh, an analog clock. I haven’t seen one of those in a hotel room in a long time. Uh there’s this behind all our backpacks and sofas and suitcases is a sofa here. The world’s tiniest sofa. Uh okay. And I see if there’s a Oh, there’s actually a mini fridge. Okay. Right there. Mini fridge in the mini room. Teacups and stuff. Coffee cups. Got some bottles of water in there. Nightstand with an emergency flashlight. A lot of hotels in Japan have emergency flashlights in them. Keep in mind because Japan is a lot of seismic activity here, much like back home in California. So, here is the sink. Very tiny sink. There’s me. Hello. There’s the mirror. Tiny sink. And yes, they do have one of the Japanese booty washer toilets. Japan, not only the land of the rising sun, but the land of super clean booties. Love that. And here is the bathroom. And this is typical for a Japanese bathroom. Note how the shower basically is almost like the entire bathroom. So the whole bathroom is like a shower stall kind of setup. And there’s a bathtub right there. So it’s pretty nice. Very small room, but it will work for what we need for just one night. And once again, let me show these beds. Remember the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears? Here we go. So, one bed for each of us. So, we’re going to just camp out and relax, get something to eat, and after those early days at Shanghai Disneyland. I still am kind of feeling it a little. So, we’re just going to relax, camp out. So, let’s see what we’re going to do, and I’ll take you along with me. My wife just noticed this. Look at the controls on the shower. Holy moly. So, yeah, we are definitely going to have to use Google Translate to the rescue here, but I think maybe the space shuttle might have simpler instructions. Wow. Okay. Well, we’ll figure it out sooner or later. I don’t know how. So, we’re going to go get some dinner at one of the local places. Probably a ramen place. And I can sense already that the pace of life here is quite a bit slower than in Shanghai. So haven’t seen any cool car super cool cars, but I’ve seen a lot of these little K vans, which are really cool. There’s another one right there. And another one right there. So I want one that the right. Okay, here we go. I want one. Can I fit in? I think I can fit in my carry-on. They’re so small. Although, compared to the Yamasakis, they’re actually pretty big. I think Oh, you know what I should do? Get the Yamasaki, put it inside the K van, and then bring both of them back. That’s what I need to do. Notice no scooters. I don’t have to worry about getting run over by a scooter when I stand here at the ramp. I miss this. Okay, here they have real co Kawasakis, not Yamasakis. Hey, there’s a cool little Kan right there. And there’s a Honda one right there. Look at that. That one’s Oh, that one’s awesome. Oh, I want one of those. That Honda one looks cool. It’s got the roof spoiler and everything. Here is a Suzuki Jimny. Yeah, cool. Just like the one we saw in Shanghai. And there it goes. Cool. I want one of those, too. So, here’s where we’re going to be eating dinner. This little ramen place called Walt. W. Oh, this is what we’ve been looking for. Forget about the ramen. Ice water. And in addition to that, check out this. They left a whole picture of ice water. Oh, after all that hot water in Shanghai, I am sick of this. No more hot water, please. This will hit the spot. Okay, here’s my ramen. You actually take the noodles and you dip them in the soup. They’re on the left, so you can kind of regulate how much soup you get on your own. I’m pretty hungry, so I’m going to dig in. Okay, one thing I’m finding about about Saporro, at least this portion of Saporro, there are tons of caveans here. This is cave central here. Even more so than Tokyo, I think. Hey, Tokyo had a lot of K bands, but this place has got millions of them. Yeah, look at that one. Look at that little Suzuki. That one is cool. That one’s cool. Okay, we’re about to get some snack food inside one of Japan’s most famous convenience stores, the good old 7-Eleven. In case you didn’t know, 7-Elevens in Japan rock. They are awesome. Nothing like 7-Elevens back home, which are expensive, overpriced, and don’t have good stuff. So, we’re going to eat in here or go get some food here and eat back at the hotel room. So, that’s what we did on our first day here in Saporro. And we’re going to just hang out here in the hotel room. And look who’s waiting for us. Poo Bear sitting here relaxing on the bed. And we’re just going to kick back and watch some Japanese TV after eating our ramen dinner. and after picking up some goodies over at the local 7-Eleven. And those goodies are going to be for breakfast tomorrow and also for the long bus ride tomorrow because we have at 8:00 a.m. sharp. We have a bus ride that we’re taking over to Rousutsu Amusement Area and we’re going to be visiting Rousutsu Amusement Park and which is a park that I’ve wanted to go to for a few years now. So anyways, I hope you enjoyed this adventure and I’ll catch you in the next video.

On day fifteen (6-15-25) of this adventure we left Shanghai, China and arrived in Sopporo, Japan in Hokkaido Prefecture. I was so excited about this part of the adventure because, though I had been to Japan several times before, I had never been to Hokkaido before. This was a whole new world to explore!

In this video I showed the relaxing trip by train from the New Chitose Airport (CTS) to Sapporo where our hotel, Hotel Forza, was located. This was basically a travel day and we just went to eat ramen for dinner soon after we arrived at the hotel. After drinking hot water for two weeks in Shanghai, the ice water at the ramen restaurant was absolutely wonderful and I almost drank the entire pitcher of it!