Eva & Chris in Singapore

Japan:: Sapporo, Christmas Day

On Christmas morning we exchanged a couple gifts and then went to the Sapporo beer museum. The hostel owners told us about a free shuttle we could use (they were so nice). The museum is in the original brewery, which is a really cool old brick building. The employees thankfully gave us a booklet explaining the exhibits in English. At the end of the museum there is a hall for beer tasting. I’ll say that Sapporo Classic, which is pasteurized, is better than Black Label (the kind we get in the US) which is filtered. Alas. We also tasted beer ice cream- weird but still good.

One of the employees helped give us directions to our next destination, the Mt. Moiwa ropeway. We were kind of nervous because it involved a train and a transfer to a bus, and it was already dark (the sun set at around 4:30). We seemed to always get lost as soon as it got dark. At the bus station we realized we had no idea where to go, so with a bit of help from a couple, we got on a bus, I said our destination to the driver, he said yes and we crossed our fingers. The stop we got off at was on a small road on a steep slope- and remember it was dark- but we were in the right spot! We had to walk up a very slippery, icy hill to the ropeway station.

This ropeway was one of the more expensive activities we did, but it was well worth it. A cable car took us halfway up the mountain, then we switched to a smaller type of car thing that took us the rest of the way up. At the top of the newly-reopened observatory was an open rooftop from which you could see the lights of Sapporo stretched out in every direction. You could see very far since it was so cold and clear. While we were up there it started to snow! Coincidentally, the girl from the brewery who had given me directions also showed up, and she took our picture.
Off to the side of the observatory was an old shrine, and probably to protect it from all the people, a replacement bell was built on top of the observatory, so we rung the bell. Can you imagine walking all the way up a mountain to go to a shrine?

While we were up there we also stumbled upon an a Cappella group singing some Christmas songs and some Japanese songs. They all wore matching polka dot shirts. The room the performance was in was all glass at the front so we could see the snowy woods behind them- very magical.

The restaurant in the observatory was closed, but good old rice balls kept us going. We weren’t sure how to get the bus going back, and it may have stopped running (or so I guessed from an old man trying to explain something about busses to us) so we walked in the general direction of the city center. It was snowing, and quite pretty, but all we had to go by was tram tracks and I was kind of worried. We walked though neighborhoods, under highways, walked and walked and then we finally ended up in Sapporo’s nightlife district, Susukino (kind of a times square feel). We were exhausted! We decided to eat in a nice Italian restaurant for our Christmas dinner, which was a good choice- the pizza was fantastic! We also learned what a red eye is: beer and tomato juice. Sounds gross but it’s not.
It was really late and we actually caught the last train home. Whew! We later determined that we had walked about 5 km (in the snow)!!

Japan Day 1- Sapporo, Christmas Eve

On Friday evening, I had to fight people to get out of work on time. I dropped off our turtle, Stamford, at the dormitory so Katrina could babysit him, and then I literally had to walk through a flood (about 6-8 inches of water) to get to the bus stop. It was gross, and I couldn’t wait to get out of SG to some place with a more festive feeling.

At home we hurriedly finished packing- a challenge because I wanted everything to fit in two carry-on size suitcases and two backpacks- and we left for Changi via train. We had fried chicken for dinner at the airport.

Air China turned out to be an ok choice. The stewardesses were nice, the seats had enough room, and the food was actually good. The only thing is there were no TVs in the seats, but that didn’t bother me because I mainly slept. We had a tiny layover in Beijing (yay I’ve been to China! Sort of.) The Beijing airport is HUGE and pretty easy to navigate. It has a giant slatted curving ceiling, which I expect is very pretty with the sun coming through it. In Chris’ words, it’s so big it feels like you’re outside. Out the windows we could see the sun coming up over a river and fields.

There was better security than in Changi airport. Funny how airport security is your first impression of how serious and on top of things a country is.

The western breakfast on the plane was an omelet, a sausage, fruit, and a croissant. Yum!

We arrived in Sapporo New Chitose airport around lunchtime.   We exchanged our money and went to the Japan Railway station in the basement, where we redeemed our rail passes and bought tickets to Sapporo. The train station was a bit overwhelming.

A train ride of a couple hours brought us to Sapporo station, where we transferred to the subway. Thankfully, the subway system is very clear and the machine for buying tickets has an English button! The thing about Japan that’s different from anywhere else I’ve been is that people really do not speak a lick of English. Maybe some key words here and there, but generally it’s pretty awkward. Next time we have to know some Japanese.

We has some trouble finding our hostel because the Lonely Planet’s directions were vague. We walked in three different directions in the snow, in the dark, and then finally got clearer directions from a girl in a convenience store who miraculously spoke English and knew where our hostel was! This is a good tip for travel anywhere- stand around looking really confused and holding a map or a piece of paper, and eventually someone who knows what they’re doing will appear.

So we found our hostel, Ino’s Place. This is a GREAT place to stay and I’m so happy I found it in the Lonely Planet. It is owned by a couple who speak great English and are more than happy to help you out with anything, giving suggestions for activities and how to get places and such. It has a full kitchen, ample living spaces, and nice showers, and everything is squeaky clean. The blankets were very warm and I slept like a baby. The whole building is full of interesting sculptures and things and tons of brochures for places in Hokkaido.

One great thing about Hokkaido: toilets with heated seats are the norm.

So after we checked in, we went to Odori park, which is like the central plaza for Sapporo. It was Christmas eve and we went to see the White Illumination and the German Christmas Market (Sapporo is sister cities with Munich). For the White Illumination, the park is filled with sculptures made of lights, including a tree, flowers, and cranes. Here we had our first Japan faux pas- Chris jumped in front of a light sculpture so I could take his picture, and a girl rushed over and anxiously pointed out that there was a huge line to take a picture there! Oops. We just ran away.

The German market was cute but pretty small. So we wandered around for a while to look for dinner. We ended up in a small place styled like a German beer house, oddly. Here I accidentally ate a dish Sapporo is famous for, called Genghis Kahn. It is pieces of lamb stewed with cabbage and bean sprouts in a dark sauce. Freaking delicious. We also discovered then that Sapporo likes to mix things with beer (beer + cranberry juice and beer + lemonade, both tasty).

We really enjoyed being out in the cold, crisp air and walking on the packed white snow. Everything was very clean and refreshing.

Hokkaido is famous for it’s milk and butter, so we bought these items and had bread and butter for breakfast every day. It was excellent. Japan makes amazing bread.