4 days in hokkaido | mt. teine, sapporo, otaru, asahiyama, biei, furano | asia 2025 vlog series
on the left. Grape muscat grape and strawberry. All right, we just made it to Nar airport and we are on our way to Hokkaido right now. Just arrived at New Chuli Airport in Hokkaido. I’m super hungry. So, we’re going to grab a moss burger. All right, just got our moss burgers. What is this one? Um, the one that I got is new and the beef is 100% domestic beef and the cheese is Hokkaido cheese. I just got the classic. We’re about to try this famous soup curry place in Hokkaido. Suag 4. Our food just came. I got the special curry and Sherry got the fried chicken. This is stew chicken and a fried chicken. And I got the fried chicken. Apparently, the way you eat it is you just put some rice into the soup and then you just eat it like that. How’s it? Mine’s pretty good, too. Kind of reminds us of Indian curry a little bit. Just arrived at our hotel about to check in. It’s very nice. Just checked in. Here’s our room tour. Nice little bed. Pretty small, but I think it’s enough. Walking underneath uh one of the sky train lines right now, heading out to get some dessert after dinner. There’s so many people. Currently, it’s uh 700 p.m. So, we just got to the cheese tart store that we are looking for, Kino Toya Big. And there’s a bit of a lineup. We’re planning to get some cheese tarts and maybe an ice cream here. So, we first got this ice cream. Trying it out first. Hokkaido milk ice cream. So good. Is it super creamy? Very good. Very good. It’s so smooth. It looks really good. Oh my god. So, I almost didn’t get it. I almost want to say it’s like McDonald’s ice cream but better but like way better. Yeah. Like it has the creaminess of McDonald’s ice cream but it’s a little bit more firm but more creamy. It’s smoother. All right. Now time for the main attraction. Cheese tart. We bought six half dozen so we can eat some for breakfast tomorrow. How’s it smell? Smells good. I wonder if it’s better than the St. Germaine. Apparently, the store is uh only in Hokkaido. They use Hokkaido milk. I see. It’s like lava on the inside. Is it still warm? It’s a little bit. I think it’s already cool down. That’s really good. As good as the St. Germaine one. Honestly, I think St. Germaine just as good. Okay. So, I see St. Oh my god. Oh my god. All over your head. M. It’s really good. Yeah. By the St. Germaine, I think. So, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 10 out of 10. Actually, we’re going to end off the night with some matcha at D Matcha. And after that, we’re going to be heading back to the hotel as we have an early morning tomorrow cuz we’re going snowboarding. So, they have three different grades of matcha to choose from, and we went with the highest grade one. We got the iced, and we also got the iced hojicha latte. And also got some ho cha uh loose leaf I’m going to bring back for my sister. This one, by the way, is very delicious. But how’s it? Super strong. It’s frozen. Is that okay for you? How’s it compared to the one we had at Sukiji? Put in the It’s different because this one there’s no sugar. Yeah, there’s no sugar. Oh, the Have you had anything similar to it? Is that good? Uh, are you going to eat different? It’s like very mai. Oh, wow. It’s very strong. It’s good. You don’t even need a sweetener. Yeah, it’s really good. But it’s different, right, than the one we had at the fish market. How’s the hoja? Very good. The cheese sauce. All right. Oh, yeah. It’s very good. I think nothing here needs the sweetener because the flavor itself is super strong. So, even though it’s not sweet, it tastes really good. It’s currently 7:50. We’re on the way to a pickup spot for our snowboarding bus and it just started snowing last night. So, it looks super nice here. Just made it. This is our bus that will be taken up to Mount Tine. Sure. Just got to the mountain. About to head in, get our lift tickets and rentals. Just paid for our rentals. In the rental shop right now, waiting in line to get our gear. Just got our rentals putting stuff on. And he only rents out Stefon boots. It’s really nice. Super convenient. Sherry got the full pink suit on the lift. Look at all this powder snow. So nice. Just got to the summit and we’re going to do the green first. It’s snowing so hard right now. The snow is so nice and fluffy. Look at all this fluff. Oh, big jump. Hello. Just stepped into the lodge for lunch. It’s so cold out there. Actually, it’s nice though. It’s not that cold. Yeah, but it’s so nice to be back in the warm lodge. I got a chicken mayonnaise dawn. And what did Sherry get? Tenon ramen. And then this is the nice view. Snowing so heavy out there still. Usually if it’s uh not snowing that hard, you should be able to see the uh Sea of Japan and the city from the top. All right, so Sherry’s done for the day. So I’m about to go round two by myself. going to check out this black run. Heat. Heat. So, we just randomly stumbled upon this whole floor of Hokkaido dairy stands. They got milk, they got cheese, and all sort of stuff and a bunch of samples. And they all taste so good, so fresh and creamy. We were just on the way to uh the taxfree refund counter, but we just stumbled upon this. This place looks really good. Everything’s sold out, though. So, we saw everyone lining up for this soft serve Hokkaido ice cream, so we had to come try it. We got two flavors. One of them is the Jersey Brown Farm and the other one is um I’m not sure what farm this is, but we’re going to compare these two. It was a flight of three, but they sold out the third one. Yeah, this is the first one that was released. Very good. Very good. Can you taste the difference? This is like sweeter, icier, very milky, but this one’s like creamy. Are they both really good? Yeah. Which one do you like more? Okay. Let’s see. Apparently, the thing we stumbled upon was the milk and natural cheese fair from January 15th to 20th. So, we just happened to be here, which is perfect cuz we love milk. So, we just got to the famous Nika sign and it started snowing. We’re going to be uh taking some photos here. Lining up for a photo. That’s very nice. So, we just made our way to the famous Ramen Alley in Sapro, but it looks like there’s a lot of people, so I’m not sure I’ll go wait in line for this. Here I’m walking through Ramen Alley. Ton of ramen shops left and right. Some famous Hokkaido ramen. I think we’ll choose one of these. Maybe one with less people so I have to wait. And right here I think that was like maybe 20 different shops. All right, we decided to go to this one. What kind of scallop one? All right, I got the Sapro miso butterc corn ramen. It’s a Sappro specialty. And Sherry got the Hokkaido scallop miso butter. Oh man, it’s going to be good. Nothing beats a bowl of ramen after snowboarding. All right, we just finished eating and I’m not sure if I was hungry, but that ramen was so good. The broth was like so rich and creamy. And the noodles are so good, too. You finished yours and mine? Yeah, I finished all the broth. So good. I love the Yeah. Um, now we’re going to head back to the hotel. Um, but we’re probably gonna stop by uh Odori Park to check it out on the way home. Hi. So, we currently just made it into Odori Park. Um, and right here is the Sopro TV tower and actually in about two to three weeks um they’re going to be hosting the ice festival here. Earlier we saw um the beginning of one of the sculptures back there. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to catch the ice festival, but it will be here soon. I have something. All right, it’s currently day two in Hokkaido and today we are checking out Otaru which is a small town close to Sappo known for their glass. It’s canal and I think it used to be a fisherman’s village. And there’s a steam clock. A Vancouver steam clock. It’s like we never left. So, we just found this St. Germaine bakery. We’re wondering if it’s the same as the one in Vancouver. We’re going to go try some bread. Smells so good in here. I might get this. Oh, this one. This one. I want this one. This one. Using Hokkaido wheat. All right. So, we ended up getting this croissant. Almond croissant. And what is this? I don’t know. It says Hokkaido something bread. But this is the number one bestseller. And this is number four. And we also got this milk for bread. I thought it was milk milk, but it’s like a milk tea. That’s good. M. Oh, is that like custard? I don’t know. That’s sweet. Smells good. How’s it taste? Good. But Oh, that looks good. Sweet butter. The more you eat it, the better it gets. M. Oh, it’s really good. Very spicy, very buttery. I think it be better if it’s hot. So, do you think this is the same as the St. Germaine in Vancouver? No. No, I don’t think so. Right. But this is good. And this was good, too. I don’t think it might be better than Vancouver. I mean, probably. It’s Japan. Yeah. So, this was St. Germaine. It was right at Otaru station, right in the train station. So good. This one’s so good. What does it taste like? It’s like a sweet bread. It’s like soft sweet bread that’s like very buttery and like super super soft with a little crispy outside. All right, my turn. First stop in Otaru is the Saku Market. I think there’s like a seafood market in here with other things to look at. King crab. Perry crab. A lot of seafood. Seafood on all sides. Okay. Yeah, it’s quite cheap here. Goes all the way down there. So, we just reached Rayugu Shrine. We’re going to check it out. It’s quite nice seeing a shrine in the snow. Just arrived at this restaurant called the Naruto something restaurant. Apparently, it’s famous in Otaru for its chicken. We are considering eating here. Believe you might pay at these vending machines and go in with your slip to get their food. Oh, Sherry’s in already. So, we ended up deciding to try this chicken place and we got this whole room to ourselves. Our food just arrived. So, we got a half ordered chicken here. Half chicken, chicken wings, and also an assorted sashimi platter. So, we just tried the chicken. How’s it? It’s so good. so juicy and it’s not dry. And I like how the skin is really crispy, but they didn’t add a batter, so it’s like very light, but crispy and fragrant. I don’t know. Everything about it is really good. How about the chicken wings? They’re okay. Only because they have this like weird seasoning, but the skin is really, really juicy. I agree. Uh, I had some of the chicken and uh, it was so good. So juicy and the skin not being not having any batter on it makes it feel like not too heavy. Like so light airy crispy. Yeah. What about the wings? You have the wings? Yeah, I really like the wings, too, actually. I think it tastes super good to like scent. That’s not a scent. So, we’re just walking through the alleyways of Otaru. And look how high the ice gets pushed. Look, here’s Sherry for reference. It’s taller than her. Look here. That’s how high it is. These alleyways are such a nice vibe to walk in. Our favorite cheesecake. Just got to the famous canal. stumbled upon Roy chocolate. Have their own store here. Go check it out. I got all the Royce Nama chocolates. It’s only $864 yen compared to Vancouver. It’s like 20 $25. Got all the flavors. Tisu limited. There’s like a lot of stuff in here. Just got to Sakai Machi Hondori Street. This is the main tourist street in Aotaru with all the glass stores and everything else. So, we’re just going to walk along here and check out all the stores. We just stumbled upon another Tanguru place. This time we got the grape muscat grape and strawberry. The grape is like so skinny. But I don’t know about the strawberry. It’s not as red. Yeah, this doesn’t seem as good as one we got in Tokyo. So, we’ll see. I think cuz the grip is so sweet. I can’t even tell. So, it’s not as not as good as the the one we had in Tokyo. I don’t know. But cuz the grip is so sweet. Super juicy though. All right. Not as good as Tokyo. Okay. So, I just had another strawberry. And actually, it’s really sweet. It’s just cuz the grape it’s so sweet. The strawberry doesn’t seem as sweet. Yeah. I think it’s just as good as Tokyo. I just had it as as well. And honestly, the grape is super sweet, but I’d say it’s like almost too sweet. I actually prefer the I like the strawberry more. They’re both really good. 600 yen here. No, no, no, it’s not. 750. 600 yen for four strawberries or 750 for two strawberries and three grapes. You know, the store here where they sell only dried scallops. All dried scallops in there. You want to use them for fried rice? Yeah, that would be so good. Kind of a waste though. Otaru Miffy Kitchen Cafe thing. Sherry just went in. Let’s take a look. Japanese matcha sweet store. We’re going to go check it out. Snoopy Village. Everyone’s going into this uh Kakaro petissery. We have no idea what they’re selling, but it looks good. So, we’re going to check it out. I think it’s it might be some sort of uh cream puff. Oh, it’s just like a bunch of cookies and stuff. Oh, everyone’s going to the back. Let’s see. Charlie told me about this. Apparently, it’s really good. It’s a jello. It tastes just like melon. Like a melon? Yeah. Wait, let me let me let me find it. Apparently, if we find it, we need to try it. I’m going to take a look here. Everyone’s eating these uh cream puffs. I think we got to get one. So, we just sold out of this original cream puff, but we’re going to get one of one of each of these instead. And they’re about to sell out of these ones, too. All right. So, we just got these two cream puffs. Um this one is like a regular cream puff. This one has like a cheese bun kind of thing. I’m just going to dip it. Sure. The cream is really good. Yeah, the puff is quite soft. Probably cuz the pie crust ran out. It’s really good. Oh my god. Oh, it’s like a bread. It’s so dense. Oh wow. Look at that. The cream is so good. What’s the bread like? Just spread. Oh, okay. Chewy. Mushy bread. Which one’s better? I don’t know. I had the soul. That one might be better. All right. So, I was eating it and there’s actually a second layer. There’s actually custard on the inside, too, underneath the cream. Well, the cream and the custard combination with the bread. So good. Oh, and also, I think these two are bit more expensive than the regular one. Yeah, the regular one was sold out, though. Yeah. So, we’ve been looking all over Sappo for this and we finally found it in Otaru. Apparently, this is a special Hokkaido only beer. Yeah. And it’s blue. We’re going to try this later. Maybe back at the hotel. Let’s see. Okay. So, we reached the main flagship store of Latau, which is um a really good cheesecake place. And we’re going to go in and probably get some cheesecake. So, we just got to the observation deck of Latau and I had to take like four flights of stairs. But the the view is really nice here. You get like a 360° view of Otaru. You can see the Sea of Japan here. And here’s the walking street that we were on earlier. Oh my god. I was not expecting it to be so loud. I didn’t light me, too. So, the cafe was too long of a wait, so we decided to get takeout instead. And we got like We’re originally going to get a whole cake, but instead we got a like a bunch of different slices so we can try different ones. Here’s what we got. Oh, they even gave us utensils. So, we got two of the original um cheesecakes. I think this milk chocolate milk chocolate and then some sort of double chocolate and then the strawberry strawberry shortcake and then this is like a jersey pudding and it comes with a glass. So, and which says let’s on it and bring this back home to use. About to check out the steam clock. The steam clock uh apparently is a replica of the one from Vancouver. Gas Town, Vancouver, 1886. Hukaido, 1994. This is the music box museum. It is so busy and lively in here. So many people at the second floor now. These are all music boxes. everything. This is cute. I like this one. So, we’re back in Sapuro now and we’re heading to the Sappro Beer Museum. Still got a big Christmas tree here. So, there’s a premium side which is paid for. And then, of course, we’re just going to go on the free side. This is what the factory used to look like. Here are the blueprints. Here’s a history of the Sopro logo over the years. and and these are some of the ads that they’ve used over the years. Here are all the um items you can order from the Star Hall. And I think we’re going to try this tasting set. Currently in line to get our Sappro tasting flight. So, we just got our beer flight. Um, it’s black label, classic, and kitakushi. Sherry’s going to try the black label first. Kaido only. Um, I believe the classic one is. So, this one is the bestselling product. Perfect balance of barley flavor and crisp aftertaste. How is it? Good, good, good. I want to try all of them. Okay, this one’s the I mean, it’s crisp. This one’s the classic. Apparently, it’s Hokkaido special. Okay, last one is the Kaitak Cushi brewed only using malt, hops, and pure water. How’s that one? Not really good at all. Really like Can you taste any difference between these three? Um, this one’s fizzier and then I feel like like these two are very refreshing. I don’t know. I don’t really know much about beer. Kind of black label first. Yeah, it tastes pretty much just like it’s really good. Super crispy. Classic. Honestly, this Okay, last one. Last one. It’s like cushi. This one tastes a little different actually. Right. Like maybe sweeter. I don’t know. Which one’s your favorite? kind of like the black label, which I think might be just the the one they sell worldwide. Okay. Okay. We just finished up at the Sappro Beer Museum and now we’re heading to the Sappro Beer Garden to get some Genghaskhan barbecue. The smell in here is so strong. smells so good. So, they give you these plastic bags so that the smell of the barbecue won’t stay on your clothes or your bags. All right, so originally we’re going to get the all you can eat here, but we just ate too much during the day. So, we’re still not hungry, so we end up ordering alakart. So, this is the frozen Gangas lamb. This is the frozen genus lamb. And this one is the beef ribs. And this one that just came is the beef the beef platter. Beef tongue. Beef tongue platter. So, uh, different parts of the beef tongue. Here’s our grill. Oh, yeah. They use this cube. It’s a lamb fat cube to oil the pan for the genghaskhan. Right. We got the frozen one because it’s the more traditional one. Yeah, it’s recommended to get the frozen. This without the sauce. This is the lamb. It’s good. Very good. Very good. So, this is the tip of the tongue. Then I added a little bit of salt and pepper. Beef tongue. Oh, it smells so good already. Is it better than the one we had in Tokyo? So they um how will compare to uh Vancouver like Uku? Vancou my favorite. Oh, okay. This or the base? Okay. Yeah. Is this one like more tender? It’s juicy and it’s more I don’t want to say chewy, but the texture is more to my liking. I guess this is the beef, but apparently it’s the best one. And I like mine a little more cooked. I’m cooking a little longer. All right. Tastes like a coral beef from Kaku. I was going to say it looks just like that. It’s like kind of fatty, right? So, I really thought they give you kind of fatty though. And there’s a lot of fat. I like it. To finish off the night, we’ll be eating our cheesecakes. We’re going to start with this strawberry shortcake shortcake. I’ve been wanting strawberry shortcake this whole trip. was really good. The cake itself is so fluffy and spongy. All right, next we’re going to be trying the hazelnut. Just cuz they’re I could definitely need a full cake of these. Yeah, this one’s limited. Next, we’ll be trying the chocolate. Mhm. It’s not as good as the hazelnut, I don’t think. Like a brownie. The texture of it is so smooth. The chocolate part. And then the pudding. There’s a layer of like caramel looking. There’s two layers. It’s kind of like the cream puff. M. So good. Okay. Like that flam. And lastly, we’re going to be eating just their classic double formage cheesecake. This is so good. This is what they’re known for. They’re so good. It’s going to be good. Oh, so good. M. This is the best cheesecake ever. So, in Vancouver, they sell the frozen one for $50, but here it was like $2,100 yen, which probably like $19. Yeah, it’s way cheaper here. All right. What would you rate these? Let’s just go from our our our least favorite to our our most favorite together. We’ll do one at a time. Least favorite. The chocolate. I think for me the least favorite is also a chocolate. It’s good, but like I think the chocolate flavor kind of overpowers the cheesecake and the hazelnut. Oh, hazelnut. I think for me the next one would be Oh, I forgot the I forgot about the pudding. It’s either a pudding or a strawberry. I forgot about the pudding. I think I’d put pudding as my fourth least favorite. Third, pudding. Okay. Third for me is the strawberry. And then second strawberry. Strawberry. Yeah. Second for me is the hazelnut. The hazelnut, of course. And then the original cheesecake number one is our favorite for both of us. Mhm. I really like the hazelnut. I think it’s so good. That’s like a tops for me. It’s pretty close to the the original actually. I really like the hazel. No way. Really? I feel like nothing beats the original. The original is so good. I can eat a whole cake. Hey guys, today is day three. Our third full day in Hokkaido. And today we’re taking a tour to Asahikawa B and Ferrano. Looking at the zoo, Ningle Terrace, and some Christmas tree thing. Basically, we’re going out to the outskirts further away from Zapo. It’s like a 2 and 1/ half hour drive and we’ll be taking this tour bus. Currently on the bus. First stop is the Asahiyama Zoo. And the funny thing is our tour guide speaks Cantonese. I think that I think our whole group is all Chinese. Yeah, we got added to the group chat and it was all Chinese. Okay, good morning everyone all guys. Okay, enjoy our one day tour trip. Just got to the Asahi Yama Zoo. Waiting to get in. Let’s go. Look how close it is. So bad. So, we just arrived at the Lonely Christmas tree. It’s a famous photo spot. the Christmas tree. Just alone in a field. So many people here. So, we just arrived at our next stop. This is called Snowland. There are snowmobiles. And we’re just going to do the sled here cuz it’s only 200 yen. We’re going to hit them. We’re going to hit them. Put your legs down. Put your legs down. Yo, you put your foot down. All right, Sherry’s going to go solo this time. So, we just bought some uh potato crockett. This is the sweeter one, and this one is lighter. I should try the lighter one first. Okay, these are recommended by our tour guide. This like a red potatoey hash brown. Okay, let’s try the other one. Mildly sweet. Pretty good. Oh, look at the steam coming off of it. I recommend it. It’s only 180. I better if there were like yam, though. M. It’s not very sweet at all. So, we’re currently at the last stop of our tour in Fano. This is called the Ningle Terrace. It seems like it’s just like a little village looking area with a bunch of nice looking lights. Yeah, we’re all for the So, for our final meal, we stumbled upon this random restaurant. The menu is all in Japanese, but apparently when we Googled it, most of this is chicken. So, it looks like a chicken tapas place. It’s downstairs from hotel. Yeah, it’s right downstairs from hotel. And it’s it’s pretty cheap. So, our food just came. This is a chicken skin. Chicken gizzard. Some sort of utter chicken. I’m not sure what this is. Apparently, it might be raw. And we got a kiwi sour. This chicken skin is so good. It’s like sweet, little bit salty, and very juicy. Oh, and it’s not fatty. Yeah, I can eat this whole plate. This is the popularity number two. Yeah, it’s really good. I think it’s like chicken, but there’s skin to it. Super juicy. And yeah, very char small taste. Yeah, this one is popularity number one. It’s like the most popular one. I don’t know what it is. Like so chewy. Yeah, it’s very chewy. Low key. It looks like raw chicken. Look at this. Yeah, it’s like kind of pink. But the flavor is pretty good. This is very chewy. Kind of like a steak. Like a well done steak. And this is like the free seaweed salad they gave us. This is the chicken gizz. It’s really good, but quite chewy, but super yummy. How’s the kiwi sour? You know, it doesn’t look that kiwi and it looks like different than the ones the guy got across from us. That’s really good. It’s very refreshing. Not too sour, I think. And the alcohol taste is like Yeah, it pretty much tastes like juice. It’s so good. So, we also got this salted grilled pork tongue. Let’s see. M. Is it chewy? Like beef warm and there’s no that there’s no pork smell. M. But I can I can handle this one. So, today’s our fifth day in Hokkaido. Today, we’ll be heading to the airport to head to Korea. First, we’re picking up some coffee. Trying out this coffee stand called Marumi Coffee. They let you choose your beans. We got a iced latte and it uses Hokkaido milk. Try it. Looks good. So, we also got this Ghana strawberry ice cream bar. Yeah. From Latte. And it’s limited time. It smells like Pocky. Like strawberry Pocky. It’s vanilla ice cream on the inside. No, strawberry ice cream. And the outside’s like crunchy. Crunchy. Out of 10. 7.8. Okay, that’s pretty good. When you get to the bottom, there’s also this like cookie section. Let’s try. It’s okay. Well, the cookie is quite soft. Kind of like an ice cream sandwich. It’s like a two in one. Mhm. Currently at the top train station on our way to the airport and it is absolutely packed. Everyone’s heading towards the airport.
first time visiting hokkaido
AloJapan.com