Hokkaido Part One: The Journey North

Friday, February 8th : Part 1: The Journey North

After spending the evening at Amy’s apartment in Kameoka, I met Marina in the morning. Together, we walked to the train station where we’d catch an early train into Kyoto Station, and from there to Kansai International Airport. Marina, the previous evening, had discovered that she had left something rather important at home. That being, her coat. She had fortunately borrowed a coat from Paulette (another girl in Kameoka who had hosted Marina for the evening). Coat drama aside, we made it to the airport without too much hassle. We caught our flight to the airport in Sapporo (New Chisate Airport). We were off to Hokkaido at long last!

We reached the airport in the early afternoon and took a train ride into the city of Sapporo. The subway system and grid system made Sapporo extremely easy to navigate. Using a map Marina had brought, we found our youth hostel with little to no trouble (although I managed to get us fairly turned around). We dressed for the falling snow, dropped off our bags and explored Sapporo Station to find some lunch. We feasted on okonomiyake (ironically a famous cuisine in Osaka, which we had just come from).

We then visited Odori Park, which is the main venue for the Snow Festival (雪祭り) or Yuki Matsuri. It was getting dark by then, so we were able to see the snow sculptures lit up with coloured lights! There were a few performances going on atop of a few of the stages in front of the mammoth ice sculptures as well. Some better than others. The pair of us were privy to a ‘light show’ sponsored by Disney. The sculpture was for the upcoming film Prince Caspian, which is the second of the Chronicles of Narnia. They had a Japanese narration with sound track music and crazy coloured lights. I assume they were depicting the story. By the time we had walked up and down the twelve blocks of Odori park, we were frozen. A quick subway trip back to the station was rewarded with hot chocolates at Starbucks and we then made it an early night and hung out in the youth hostel until morning.

The Prince Caspian light show

The scultpures sponsored by Egyptian Air

Some history on Sapporo:

- The city itself was largely inhabited by the Ainu people (the indigenous people of Hokkaido who appear more Caucasian than Asian). In the mid 1860’s, Japanese settlers began to migrate to the lower areas of Hokkaido and establish their own culture there. However, the name Sapporo is from the Ainu language and means ‘large river running through a plain’.

-In the 1870’s, the city of Sapporo was built with the advice from the American government and borrowed the American-style grid system to lay out the city itself (the city even uses street cars). Sapporo remains a sister city with Portland, Oregon.

-In the city, you can visit the nightlife center of Susukino, the huge bisecting park named Odori Park (odori meaning a large road or avenue), or you can visit the Sapporo beer hall or museum!

-Outside of the city is fantastic skiing and some of the most beautiful and well-preserved natural parks in all of the country. (I will definitely be going back to see some of that in the spring)