blobbes' hokkaido hike: Day 2: Stepping Out in Sapporo

Another overcast day. Still, the weather was cool, so we couldn't complain.

We had a late start. After fifteen hours of travelling and transit the day before, a sleep-in was fully justified.

The first item on our agenda was of course breakfast. The plan was to go to Niju Market and have a bowl of fresh seafood on rice aka a seafood don. This led to our first ride on Sapporo's subway.

Sapporo Station, as seen on our walk from our hotel, the Sapporo Aspen

The trip to Odori Station cost 200¥ (SGD $3.60) per person. Like Tokyo's subway system, it was easy enough to navigate (easier in fact, because there were far fewer lines!), clean and efficient.

and people queued up!

Niju Fish Market was Sapporo's version of Tsukiji, but much smaller. We weren't there for sightseeing though, so it was straight to the food stalls for a little action.

this looked promising

there were hairy crabs on sale

snow crabs

and, best of all, one could sup on the spot!

Donburi Chaya

the menu

uni ikura bowl - sea urchin "eggs", salmon eggs and chicken egg

chiyo (crab, salmon, hotate) bowl

fish paste soup

Having eaten, we felt more ready to face the world. We headed back to Sapporo Station where we dithered about what to do next. The weather was annoyingly indecisive, drizzling on and off, and we hadn't come to Hokkaido for its shopping centres, so a decision had to made at some point.

In the meantime, HM took advantage of the pause in proceedings to check out, what else, a drugstore....

make-up paradise

... while I amused myself with the usual people-watching/signboard gazing...

what do those cute bats sell?

man reading newspaper with big-booby girl on page 3

more cute animals, this time selling banking services?!

they do so like frou-frou

I liked these marmot-like creatures playing sports

Finally, drizzle or not, we made the decision to go to the Hokkaido Historical Village Museum, an open-air museum, a couple of train stops away in the suburbs of Sapporo. Of course we had to fortify ourselves first. We bought some snacks and had ourselves some...

much-needed coffee at a coffee house

A check of the train schedule showed that we still had a little time before the train was due, so we took a walk around the immediate vicinity.

Hokkaido Prefectural Office - eh so European

a feathered resident of the grounds - a mallard

a feathered visitor most probably - a black-tailed gull

Then it was time to head back to the station.

on the way back, look who we spotted - there, in the side pocket!

We took the Chitose Line back in the direction of Chitose Airport and alighted at Shin Sapporo Station.

the bus stop for No. 22

From there, we took a bus (our very first in Japan!) to the Nopporo Forest Park where the museum was located.

our first view of the museum - the visitors' centre and formerly the Sapporo Railway Station

an unexpected sight

The museum was a collection of buildings, all moved from their original locations elsewhere in Hokkaido, dating back to the Meiji and Taisho Periods when Hokkaido was extensively developed.

one could opt to travel in style...

or make one's way around on foot.

The buildings were organised into four zones: Town, Fishing Village, Farming Village and Mountain Village. (Those not interested in architecture or arcane historical details should scroll down to the bottom of this entry.)

Kaitakushi Sapporo Headquarters of the Colonization

Urakawa Subprefectural Government Building

horsey taking a well-deserved break

Residence of Temiya Stationmaster

Shirokansha - residence of Kaitakushi officials

Residence of Fukushi Naritoyo, pioneering surveyor

Residence of Matsuhashi Family, real estate agents

Matsuhashi Family Residence

Residence of Takeo Arishima, famous author

This was turning out to be quite fun. It was nice to be walking about, breathing fresh air and admiring the little details, all lovingly recreated or preserved. And, whether it was because of the uncertain weather, it was remarkably empty. We practically had the whole place to ourselves, a fact which HM very much appreciated!

We didn't forget about our snacks, purchased from a department store downtown.

prawn crackers

red bean mochi

Resuming our walk about "town"...

Hokkai Junior High School

Ryuunji Temple

Then there was the fishing village...

Tsuchiya's Storehouse

Aoyama Family's Herring Fishery

We were very pleased to be greeted by a volunteer guide, an "uncle", at the main building of Aoyama Family's Herring Fishery. He took us round, explaining most earnestly, in Japanese, the features of the building, while HM translated bits and pieces for me.

Aoyama Family's Herring Fishery

Aoyama Family's Herring Factory

Akiyama Family House

After that little detour, we found ourselves back in "town".

Urakawa Church

Watanabe's Grocery

Yamamoto's Barber Shop

Shimauta Post Office

Police Box at Minami 1-jo

Kaitakushi Industrial Office

exhibit at Kaitakushi Industrial Office

Otaru Shimbun Building

Urakawa Government Building

Kurumasa's Inn

Sanmasu Soba Shop

Takei Sake Brewery

Dr Kondo's Clinic

Takeoka's Grocery

Oishi Sweet Shop

Ota Farrier

Fujiwara Cart and Sleigh Factory

well

Honjo Blacksmith

And then it was off to the Farming Village.

vegetable plot

with a visitor!

Ogawa Family Dairy Barn

Higuchi Family Farmhouse

another view of the Ogawa Family Dairy Barn

and it popped up again!

Time passed quickly. As the light faded (and we worried about being locked "inside" the museum!), we quickened our pace and headed back into "town".

Hirose Photo Studio

Kondo's Dye Shop

back at the Kaitakushi Sapporo HQ

It had been a satisfying afternoon. We had learnt something about Hokkaido's pioneering past - I love social history - and had a good walk at the same time. It was something different, for us.

Back at the hotel, we put our feet up for a while as we did a little research on our dinner venue of choice. In Sapporo, there are several things one must eat. Crab dinner - check! Next up - Genghis Khan aka Mongolian style lamb barbecue. Why lamb barbecue would be popular in Sapporo, to the point it is apparently a must-eat, we had no idea, especially when Hokkaido does not itself rear lamb.

Anyway, people usually do the all-you-can-eat buffets but we had a recommendation (and precise instructions on how to find the place) by the Tripadvisor experts for a more restrained place that had something special to offer.

a quick check on the Internet to confirm location

Before we left the hotel, we asked the friendly hotel staff to call ahead, to make a reservation on our behalf. They looked quizzically at the name and address of the place...

we found the place!

Yozogin aka Merry Round, the lamb barbecue place, was located on the 9th and 10th floor of a nondescript office building. We took the lift up and asked to be seated on the 10th floor, as instructed, for the view of the cityscape.

the restaurant

The first thing we realised was that there was no need for a reservation. The place was half filled at best, perhaps because it was not a value for money buffet. No matter - the lack of a crowd made it that much more pleasant a dining experience. Anyway we were there for the...

venison!

The venison was to die for, like beef but even better. Other than that, we ordered lamb (from Iceland apparently and Australia), vegetables like beansprouts, pumpkin and egg plant, mushrooms.

we put everything onto the grill - see that little piece of fat in the middle?

and replenished with more food

had some rice to fill in the rest of the stomach

And we washed it all down with ginger ale and plum soda. Good meal, we agreed, loving in particular the venison.

After dinner, we had more food on our mind, but we needed to walk off this round first. We headed to Susikino, Sapporo's bustling nightlife district.

big city lights

In a frontier state, a big city like Sapporo must provide entertainment for all those pioneering men, lonely, bored and away from home, and Susikino is apparently where it's all at. It was loud, brash and bright. We craned our necks to admire the bristling neon signage and, below that, the colourful personalities. A male voice blasted out from some unseen speakers, yodelling country-music style, some Japanese song with the catchy chorus of "I'm a Hokkaido man", in English. Nice!

oshiare (?) aka trendy hosts, straight out of Ouran Host Club, haha

It didn't take us long to find room for an ice-cream. Hokkaido - land of dairy, so that was a must-try.

milk flavour (320¥/SGD $5.12)

from this shop

We eventually found Ramen Alley. How could we visit Sapporo without trying Hokkaido-style ramen?

A narrow alley flanked by ramen shops on both sides

a noticeboard with adverts from all the shops and some kind of rating system

we chose this one, because it had good ratings and was still open at that late hour

our noodles being cooked

ebi hotate shio (prawns and scallops in a salt-based soup)

cha siu miso

Of the two, I preferred the miso-based one. The miso was tasty and the soup was slightly spicy. The shio soup was surprisingly light and unsalty, not what I had expected and perhaps a little too subtle for me. One nice touch - there was lots of tau geh aka beansprouts.

After all that food, we decided to walk all the back to our hotel. We were moving out the next day, so we had our bags to pack. It had been a flying visit to Sapporo but we agreed we would be back some day.

Sapporo by night

blobbes' hokkaido hike

Monday, June 15, 2009

Day 2: Stepping Out in Sapporo

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