2 Days in Sapporo, Japan
So after spending our first two nights in Tokyo after arriving in Japan, we were heading up to Hkaido. It was an area we were really excited to check out. It’s not as many tourists go there. They do, but not as many as Seosaka, Tokyo, or Kyoto. We took the bullet train, but not just any bullet train. We took the Shinkansen and we took the Shinkansen grain class. It’s the the step above first class. I would compare it to a Delta 1 say on a Delta flight. It’s very comfortable. Layback seats. You get also food and alcohol is included. It goes very fast as all bullet trains do. It’s very fast and smooth. We really wanted to take it as it gives you a bigger picture of the countryside of the Japanese countryside which is just beautiful. Food and drinks are included. We both chose a light menu which included risoto ganache, a chicken dish as well as a kiche. They’re all made with seasonal fruits and vegetables which really adds to it. It changes seasonally um to go along with whatever fruits and vegetables are in season at the time. It was absolutely delicious. It does take about 5 and 1/2 hours to get up to Hakodate which is up in Hkaido where you go under the Sea of Japan as well. Then in Hakodate you change trains to a local train and then you’re going to take that on into Sappo. It takes about 4 and 1/2 hours, maybe not quite. So if you’re looking at in total you’re looking at maybe about 10 hours to go from Tokyo up to to Saporro um leaving out of the Tokyo station. But again, you do get to see pictures of the countryside, the Hokkaido countryside that you wouldn’t have other to see otherwise. Of course, when we first arrived, we decided to head over to the Ramen Alley, the famous Ramen Alley. Of course, there are 17 restaurants in this one little area. So after walking through it, we just kind of chose one that looked good and decided to try our hand at um taste the famous Hkaido miso ramen. So miso ramen is the is the popular kind of ramen up in the Hkaido area. It was really delicious. You can tell that one was very popular. Um, these people really know what they’re doing when it comes to their ramen. So, I decided to get the ramen that had corn and butter as well as the chashuan. And Kimple had just a more traditional one without the corn and the butter. But I think he should have had the corn and butter. It was absolutely delicious. online and better. I really don’t think you could go wrong with choosing any of the restaurants in Robin Alley. It’s a really quick walk from the Suzukino uh train station there, so it’s very easy to get to. Afterwards, of course, we wanted to go check out the Suzukino area of Saporro, which is its entertainment area. It was wet and rainy, but as you can tell, there were still lots of people out and about. It’s just a fun place to go check out. Lots of karaoke bars if you’re into that. Of course, we had to see the famous Nika Whiskey sign. Then we just took a little walk. It’s nice to have a quick walk around or a little stroll around the area after eating ramen to kind of work off some of that all that ramen that you ate cuz you’re probably going to be very full afterwards. Of course, as you can see coming up, there is a Family Mart. Wherever you are in Japan, you are not too far from a Family Mart, a 7-Eleven or a Lawson’s, which is wonderful. We stopped many, many nights to get things for breakfast the next morning um at the Lawsons as well as throughout the day. Affordable, lots of great choices. I wish we had those in the United States. The next morning, we headed off to the NO Fish Market. It’s the oldest fish market. um in the area. It really is a treat for the senses. So much to look at, so many vibrant colors. These are the food samples that they have outside of all of a lot of restaurants there that really are quite an art form. They look so realistic and they really give you a good idea what your food is going to look like. So, first we just looked around. And this little guy is like, “Do not pick me. I do not want to be somebody’s dinner.” So, it’s just fun to look at all the different options that they have. So much seafood. Dried seafood. Dried squid, which is actually very extremely tasty. Rather sweet. Would you like to try it? Sweet. Should have bought some and we didn’t. I kind of regret not getting some to take along with us to snack on. Next time. Oh, you can eat. I really enjoyed it and so did Kimbo. It was very tasty. So, we just continued to walk around the fish market. Lots of places have samples, so if you want to try something, um, usually there’s somebody out. We had some fish row as well as the squid. Um they have can samples of cantaloupe as well which cantalopes are absolutely incredible. Here we have different sorts of crab. The hairy crab. This is where I tasted the fish row. There’s so much you can check out and look at. It’s kind of hard to choose a place to eat, but we decided to go back to the place that had the samples outside. As you can see, it had a very extensive menu. Hokkaido is very well known for its seafood as having some of the freshest seafood um in the whole of Japan, especially crab. It’s very well known for its crab as well as as well as the oonie. This was my first time to try Japanese oonie. It was quite delicious. It’s a little bit sweet, a little bit briny. What you got, Susie? I have I have salmon, sea urchin, king crab, fish row, and tuna. What did I get? And then you have crab. Lots of crab. And crab. And more crab. Lots of crab. Yum. I’m very I’ve been looking forward to this for months. You don’t need a camera. Such a delicious meal. It’s definitely if you’re in Saporro, the Hakkaido area, getting a Kaisendon rice bowl with fresh seafood is a definite must do. You cannot miss out on that experience. After that, we headed over to the I called it a clock tower, but it’s not. It is actually the the Sappero TV tower. It was built in 1957 as a broadcast tower for television for that area. It is 144 m or for us who use feet here. It’s 472 ft. It’s It’s a nice place to check out. Um you can go up to the top. There’s 360 degree views of Sappero. It’s at the eastern end of the Odori Park, which is the big park there that pretty much everybody goes to and checks out. It’s not super big inside, but you can It’s really fun to walk around and just check it out. Here, I’m handing it over to the stamp station. Now, you’ll find in Japan that stamps are is a very popular thing to do. It’s a great way to make a momento of your travels in Japan. We headed out just to walk around Odori Park and we just happened upon a lilac festival. We had no idea it was going on. There was lots of food, lots of people, music. It was uh lots of flowers obviously being a lilac festival. [Music] I had the fried potatoes on a stick, which of course I should not have been eating walking around, which is not considered very proper in Japan. It was so good though, I couldn’t stop myself from eating it. Hkaido is probably most famous for its snow festival, but there are actually festivals around all year. [Music] See, there we are in a go taxi. It is a very easy way to um get around. Also very affordable in all parts of Japan, not just up in Hokkaido. We ended up taking a lot of those on this trip. for dinner. On our last night um in Sapero, our night in Sapero, we went over to the beer garden at the Saporro Beer Factory. Um it’s very famous for its um Genghask Conill and you’ll see that here in just a minute. It’s beautiful inside, almost German, almost has a well I guess that’s why they call it a beer garden. It’s really quite lovely inside. Huge ceilings. We did get the Viking menu. I did not have the all you can drink menu. Kimble did, but I did not. I’d had a few too many beers a few nights before, so I was going to kind of go easy on it. [Music] As you can see, you get your own grill at your table and then they bring you the food. It’s actually kind of seems intimidating when you’re first there, but they actually give you instructions on exactly how to cook it and how to do it. So, that makes it very easy to do and to understand so you’re not so confused. We just had tons of food. It was lovely just chatting and and cooking the food ourselves on the Genghaskhan grill. We had lamb, we had sausages, chicken, pork, some seafood, lots of vegetables. It was absolutely delicious. If you’re in Sapper, it is a definite musto. Of course, the only problem is is that you end up eating so much. I was absolutely stuffed and I just got to the point where I had to stop. Even though we had some food left over, which I felt kind of bad about, which you shouldn’t do in a pan, but I just couldn’t eat anymore. [Music] I am so Yes, honey. Kimmel got tired of me talking about how much I love corn and Hakado corn tea. But that’s too bad because I really did. We had an amazing time in Saporo and I definitely recommend going there. If you are in Japan and you’re and you’ve been there before and you want to check out something different, definitely head up north. You won’t be sorry that you did. I would go back. that much. I know. See you in Otaru.
Traveling from Tokyo to Sapporo for a 2 day stay. Visiting Ramen Alley, Sapporo Beer Garden, Nijo Fish Market, Odori Park.
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