Sapporo 2

My first full day in Sapporo. It has a few sights but nothing worth more than a day or two; Hokkaido's attraction is in nature. It was drizzling when I set out and I was glad I had my umbrella. First to see the TV tower, which is more impressive at night when Hokkaido is snowbound. Then I got trapped in a Bermuda quadrangle of streets looking for the Clock Tower, a relic from the opening up of Hokkaido in the 1870s. As it was raining harder now, I decided to postpone it until after lunch.


First to the tourist office to get information about bus services to Tōya-ko Onsen. Also to buy a Hokkaido Flexible Rail Pass. However I realised at that point that it would not cover the 10 days I had in mind so I decided to postpone purchase of that until I reached Hakodate.

Next to get some lunch. The hostel warden had recommended a sushi train place on the 6th floor of the Japan Rail shopping building. But when I got there there was a queue of people and the projected wait, according to a whiteboard, was 35 minutes. The customers are supposed to shiffle along the chairs put out for them. What a pity, I had my heart set on some fresh seafood, which Hokkaido is famous for. Maybe elsewhere.

So I settled for another place on the same floor and had a tempura set. Pretty standard fare, but the one interesting variation was the tempura cherry tomato with cheese. (Hokkaido is famous for dairy produce also.)


Then a desert of green tea icecream from a shop claiming establishment in 1917. It was light and tasty. They put a sprinkle of green tea powder on top as well.

The underground shopping arcades here have all the latest consumer bling, but one useful aspect is that the passages extend like octopus tentacles in all directions, enabling one to avoid the weather. So much so that the exits are numbered, for the convenience of residents as well as visitors. They would make sense in the deep of winter. And winters here are very severe, so much that the tourist office issues pamphlets explaining how to dress for winter. This corner looks like a sunny garden but in fact is underground. Probably good for combating SAD in winter.

Finally I found the Clock Tower, whose design and mechanism were imported from the US in the late 19th century, hence the style. It's dwarfed by the office blocks around it, so it took a while to find. Incidentally it isn't just visitors who are bewildered by directions; I saw locals consulting the many public maps scattered all over.

 t

I stumbled upon the Nijo seafood markets by accident. Unfortunately I couldn't buy anything inspite of the blandishments of the sellers, who thought I was Japanese. It was useful though to know how much I should expect to pay for a splurge meal of hairy crab before I leave.

Variety stores are a blaze of colour, words and figures.


By this time I was getting seriously wet so a visit to the botanical gardens was out of the question, so I returned to the hostel to rest.

In the evening, I went to a lamb BBQ place. The portions were grilled on a mini Mongolian charcoal brazier. Lamb is not my favourite dish but the tender portions here would be a revelation to those who associate lamb with steak chainsaw. I thought the white piece you see was cuttlefish, but the waiter explained that it was lard to oil the surface.