(Post title courtesy of M Tang)If C.S. Lewis had a chance to visit Sapporo Japan in Winter then Narnia would've probably been about Japanese kids dropping out of the other side of their sliding-door-wardrobe.
I have fallen in love.
Fallen in love with snow. With Sapporo. With making snow angels. With making snowmen. Throwing snowballs. Diving into waist-deep walls of soft powder snow that the skies of Hokkaido produce.
I was still unsure about the whole trip the night before our expedition (last Thursday night) to the famed 札幌 雪祭り Sapporo Yuki Matsuri (Sapporo Snow Festival) - a 15-hour FERRY ride to Hokkaido, then another bus and subway ride to the hotel...!? So much hassle, with the notoriously loud and (usually) drunken bunch of ALTs, cold weather...
But now I think about it, it was all worth it. I think.
Indeed it was a long and treacherous and sleepless CRUISE ride (turned out to be 19 hours due to some incident on the ship); and indeed another 1-2 hour bus ride into Sapporo; followed by a 1-stop subway ride to Susukino (the Sapporo red-light district) where our hotel was.
Day 1 in Sapporo:
With only a late afternoon and evening left, we wasted no time in faffing or resting. Winners don't rest. We were on a military schedule. We explored the Susukino section of the Snow Festival - ice sculptures, and ate takoyaki. The main street was sealed off from vehicles and was lined with impressive ice carvings commissioned by companies advertising with ice.
The sculptures themselves weren't all awfully exciting. Some were. But I was still excited, just by being there and being part of it.
We also decided to make our own Yuki Matsuri by making little snowmen on a planter next to a busy bus stop outside our hotel. It was so good that a Japanese woman asked if she could take a photo of them with her cellphone. We became instant local celebrities. Or maybe she was just doing a portfolio or stupid foreigners in Japan and we fell right into her 'Foreigners and their fascination with snow' category.
That night we gorged on the infamous ジンギスカン焼肉 'Jingisukan' yakiniku (roast meat) all-you-can-eat at the Sapporo Beer Factory (but turns out its not really a factory its just a restaurant) til we couldn't stuff anymore lamb, beer and fat in our bellies.
Day 2:
We were out of the hotel at 8:30am - probably before many other JETs even turned in their sleep. First we did the main attraction of the festival - the 大通り Odori Park, a massive long park where all the snow sculptures stood in their glory, in all different shapes and sizes and characters.
It was quite early, so it wasn't crowded. By lunchtime, we had finished the Odori, and left the crowds for some higher ground. A subway ride and a bumpy bus ride later, we arrived at the Okurayama Ski Jump - the one they used for the Nagano Winter Olympics back in the day. I was a little skeptical as to what our purpose of this visit was....but it turned out to be the highlight of our day!
The geniuses at this winter sports centre got some rubber inner tubes, tied 2 pieces of string on each side, and then make you walk up these slippery, icey stairs up along the landing slope of the ski jump, and when you reach about 145 metres (which is not even half way up the landing slope) there are 2 guys on a narrow ledge to help you get your behind in the doughnut-shaped inner tube, and push you down!That was probably the most terrifying, exhilirating and awesome thing since Alton Towers in 2007. No - since I was plucked out of my mother's womb. Probably.
After getting our backs and bottoms wet (and subsequently frozen), we proceeded to the kiddies' winter wonderland Tsudomu (the big dome) where there were ice-slides, more sculptures, other fun stuff, more food, and a great big snow storm (which was not part of the plan).
Dusk decended, which meant off to 小樽 Otaru for more pretty snow-related things! Otaru was beeeeauuutiful. They had their own little special snow festival, where streets were littered with little sculptures, ice lanterns and candles. There were igloos, an ice bar, snow bears, and the famous ice-lanterns floating on the river.
By this point we had been out in the -3.6'C cold for about 12 hours. Cold feet, cold face, cold backs and empty stomachs warranted a well-deserved piping hot bowl of Sapporo Ramen. At the famous (but unexpectedly narrow) ラーメン横丁 Ramen Alley.
Day 3
1. Clock tower - apparently its really famous but it was a bit disappointing 'cause it was actually really small. So not really worth talking about.
2. Sapporo Beer Museum! The walk to the beer museum was fun enough - the pavements lined with walls and piles of snow to throw, to push people into, to be pushed into, to be squashed on... I must admit the Sapporo Beer Museum was a bit of a tourist trap really. It was totally free, but a bit small, just a bit about the history of Sapporo Beer, few exhibits, Sapporo Beer's ad campaign through the years...you know, that kinda stuff....
...and then an ice-cream shop, 2 bars, a big souvenirs shop.
Tis a shame we didn't have much time in the morning - had to meet up at 2:30pm at the Sapporo Station Bus stop to get the bus back to the pier for the cruise back to Sendai.
All in all, it was a wonderful trip. Made triply wonderful by good company and our troops' extensive research and impeccable planning skills.
Returning to Sapporo is definitely on the agenda for next year's snow festival!! But most likely by air next time.
Conclusion:
I ♥ Sapporo
