Hokkaido in Summer | Japan Travel Vlog | Sapporo, Otaru, Cape Kamui, Hell Valley | 3 day trip

First part of my summer trip to Hokkaido where I will be exploring the west coast.
Watch in 4k 🙂
Travel date: 12-15 June 2024

Timestamps
Day 1 Arrival into Sapporo
(00:57) Susukino
(01:31) Shishiou Miso Ramen

Day 2 West coast of Hokkaido – Cape Kamui, Shakotan Peninsula, Otaru
(01:59) Cape Kamui
(03:42) The Candle Rock
(03:48) Ebisu and Daikoku Rock
(04:21) Lunch at Cafe Mare Blu （amazing lunch place)
(05:18) Otaru City
(06:00) Otaru Canal
(07:39) Otaru Steam Clock
(08:24) Otaru Music Box museum
(08:51) Cape Observatory

Day 3 Sapporo
(09:20) Breakfast at Mermaid Coffee Roasters
(09:54) Tanukikoji Shopping Street
(10:56) Lunch at Hiri Siri (great soup curry)
(11:29) Parfait

Day 4 Hell Valley, Oyunama, Lake Toya
(12:28) Lunch at Shiraoi grandma
(12:47) Noboribetsu Jigokudani (Hell Valley)
(13:33) Oyunama pond
(14:06) Oyunama River Foot Bath
(15:22) Lake Toya
(15:40) Dinner at Boyotei
(16:02) Sunset spot at Lake Toya

#silentvlog #japantravelvlog #hokkaido #japantravel

Enroute from Osaka to Sapporo The last leg of my Japan trip will be in Hokkaido Got a baumkuchen (butter cake) and latte I’m looking forward to exploring the north of Japan, I have lots of things planned! Arrived in Sapporo, we will be spending 2 days here One of Japan’s largest entertainment district, it’s 9:30PM but it’s still very busy Iconic for its large billboards, look at these competing alcohol brands There’s a queue for the miso ramen restaurant I wanted to try Ramen made using miso instead of the traditional pork broth, a Sapporo specialty I’m getting the one that’s a ‘little spicy’ Look at that chunk of butter You know the food will be good when the place is full of locals This was delicious, I’m a miso ramen convert Day 2: The weather is good today, so we drove to Cape Kamui early in the morning We will make our way to Otaru city, exploring the coasts in between The cape stretches out into the sea of Japan with a lighthouse at the end There’s an old legend behind this sign that says ‘A place where women are prohibited’ Thankfully it’s no longer a restriction at this day and age Let’s head to the lighthouse They names the colour of the surrounding waters ‘Shakotan blue’, it’s definitely very eye catching Lots of yellow wildflowers at this time of the year Look at these spiky rock formations It takes about 20 minutes to get to the tip the path gets narrower towards the end we reached the lighthouse but the weather suddenly turned cloudy they Kamui rocks, in the Ainu language, Kamui means ‘Gods’ The Gods rock The beautiful Shakotan blue can be seen in shallow waters Driving along the coast you will see many interesting rock formations If you catch the position of the sun at the right time, it will look like a candlestick being lit up There’s people paddleboarding, I’d love to do this if I was staying here longer oh no! The rocks are considered ‘Shintai’, physical manifestations of gods its said the left is ‘Ebisu’ god of fishermen right is Daikoku, god of wealth For lunch we stopped by the small town of Yoishi and came across this hidden gem of a restaurant getting the ‘special menu’ for ¥2420 (15 USD) it includes 4 courses and a drink the started was plated beautifully and tasted delicious bread served with their special whipped butter the butter was so light and creamy, I could eat a whole plate of these paired with a hearty pumpkin soup the main dish was fish caught by the chef this morning! my partner got the pasta as the main meal, and it was ¥1815 (15 USD) we loved everything so much we got the dessert too its a vanilla panacotta with homemade pistachio ice cream our last stop of the day before heading back to Sapporo we were greeted by these whimsical windchimes stopped by the information tourist centre for some ideas on what to do looks like you can do cherry picking at a farm here P.S they have great toilets at this information centre They sell food too. award-winning yogurt drinks? Sold! let’s get one to try I feel like I’m in a European city You can book a boat tour for the canals There’s a cute cafe right across purple wildflowers everywhere this street has a lot of small eats but we weren’t hungry more windchimes a glass teru teru bozu, a little ghost-like doll used to ward off rain. It’s so cute! it looks magical inside this store let’s go in it feels like Christmas in here they sell these adorable glass miniatures these are perfect for Halloween Otaru is known for its glass all these are glass beads there’s a romantic atmosphere to this city let’s head to the famous Otaru steam clock the clock is a gift from Vancouver, it’s run by steam and chimes every 15 minutes there’s a bit of a steampunk allure 5 more minutes until it chimes! sounds familiar? it plays the same melody as the chimes of Westminster Abbey in London it was followed by this ring from the clock tower across another whimsical store there’s all sorts of music boxes heading back to Sapporo before it gets dark decided to take a quick stop at this observatory as the weather was nice you can see Hiroriyama light house from here Day 3: We are taking it easy today as we have a long drive tomorrow, the plan is to explore the city by walking it’s June but it’s only 21 degrees today let’s get breakfast, i’ve read great reviews about this place they serve samples of their coffee brews so you can taste test and decide which to order its a cute little coffee shop got the toast set and Hokkaido milk coffee latte the coffee was delicious and the bread was very fluffy its a very long shopping street with lots to see he looks like he’s just happy to be here, what a good boy baby corgi this shiba inu pup is a cutie they are all adorable This could easily turn into an hour long video of pets at the pet store an eternity later… let’s go back to shopping i love these heated eyemasks, they help me sleep whenever I feel restless its an overcast day, I’m glad we caught some sunshine yesterday when we went to the coast lunch today will be soup curry! got a Sapporo Classic, I love its malty taste my soup curry with roasted chicken leg, you can choose the spice level, I got level 1 it was absolutely delicious, the vegetables are roasted too which made it more fragrant in Sapporo, there’s a culture of having a parfait after a night out drinking I was surprised to find all the parfait shops completely full at night! Going to try our luck at 5pm Thankfully there’s barely anyone today, there was an hour long queue the other night all the parfaits look like a work of art i got the melon and limemint parfait, it’s so pretty my partner ordered the seasonal fruit parfait all the ingredients mix so well together, really happy with our dessert look at all the different layers I wanted to go to the JR Tower Observation deck for sunset, but the weather wasn’t good day 4: we have a lot of driving to do today so I’m grabbing some snacks for the journey I like these vegetable sticks with miso dip our first stop is the small town of Shiraoi for some lunch this restaurant serves home cooked food by local obachans (grandmas) doing some editing while waiting for our food got a heart-warming chicken curry, it looks like most of the locals here also ordered the same thing fun fact: curry was introduced to Japan during the Meiji period by the British A dramatic landscape filled with bubbling sulphuric hot springs and steam plumes it’s not hard to imagine why the Japanese in the past would consider this ‘Hell Valley’ its thought only demons could survive in an environment like this but today there is a convenient wooden path to let us humans leisurely explore this landscape it smells heavily of rotten eggs a 20 minute walk or 5 minute drive will bring you to Oyunama pond the white steam makes the pond look like a giant cauldron its mesmerising to watch for the next destination you will need a towel because there is.natural hot spring foot bath just 500 metres away my legs are tired from the constant walking these past weeks a foot bath is very much welcomed, I think we are close There is quite a crowd! it’s really thoughtful that mats are provided for you to sit on got myself a nice spot by the edge, the water is comfortably warm I can feel my tension melting away A quick snack break at 7-11, this milk cream roll looks nice this milk pudding too I got the coffee latte and a milk cream roll in the end Hokkaido has a lot of milk based products in their convenience store getting peeks of Lake Toya as we drive closer it’s a volcanic caldera formed 110,000 years ago from one of the largest eruptions in Japan at the centre of the lake are the Nakajima Islands, which are uninhabited by you can visit them by boat feels like we are inside a cozy cottage we ordered an omurice, it looks like a volcano and a crab fried rice, both were equally delicious after dinner it was just in time for sunset thanks for watching Coming up next: Hakodate, subscribe for more 🙂