Japan Day 4: Sapporo
January 4.
Instagram
Today is the longest train ride of my journey split into two pieces. The first is Sendai to Shin-Hakodate 6:40am-10:01am, switch trains, and then Shin-Hakodate to Sapporo 10:24pm-1:46pm. For a total of 7 hours and 6 minutes. I used most of this time to write short stories and anecdotes that I will never publish, but just to have them saved somewhere outside of my brain, and to research my route through Sapporo.
The one downside of the train method is that I'll be losing the most time of this trip by arriving in Sapporo late in the afternoon. A small benefit is that Sapporo being the 5th largest city, there are a lot of late-night options, and I'll have a 4 hour train ride in the morning and can use that for nap time if I need to. Yes, I'm a light sleeper, but the trains feel like they're floating on clouds and it's such a smooth ride.
On my arrival to Sapporo, my first stop is a ramen shop by the station called Sapporo Ichiryuan. Based on it's close proximity to the station, it's a very popular shop, and most of the reviews you can read say it's either the best ramen in the world, very average ramen, or the worst. I love online reviews because they tell me absolutely nothing. I'm just hungry and I want ramen close by and this place looks damn good, and I can also say, it was! After lunch, I have half an hour before I can normally check in at the hotel without having to leave my bag in their storage area.
Luckily, across the street is my number one stop in Sapporo, and you know anything about me, then you know my two favorite things in any place I go to is Tall buildings and food. Sapporo Tower is on my list, but it's about 15 minutes walking from where I am, so this is not a tall building. I just ate, so it's not food. This might come as unexpected, but it's another one of my favorite things: Sports. Where I'm heading to is the pro shop of the greatest named baseball team in the world: The Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. Hokkaido is the region, Nippon-Ham is their corporate sponsor, Fighters is their name, but looking at it from a distance, Ham Fighters is always going to give me a laugh and I need a jersey.
The shop has all the basics inside, but what I'm looking for is a custom team jersey. When I was in Barcelona, I bought a custom jersey that said Rodin #19, for my name and the year I was there. I want a Ham Fighters jersey that says Rodin #20, but there's a small issue: They don't exactly do custom jerseys. I would have to buy a blank Jersey and each individual letter and number and iron them on to the jersey. Issue 1: The normal jerseys are sewn on letters/numbers, it'll last longer. Issue 2: The jerseys they sell are thin, so if I wanted to sew these patches on, it would require a ton of work. Issue 3: I'll be spending an extra $28 on the custom jersey instead of something ready to wear. The custom jersey would be nice, but their clearance section has a jersey #99 for a guy named Wang that costs $25. Compromise is beautiful.
My hotel is right along Odori Park, which is very similar to the Commonwealth Ave Mall, where it's a main driving thoroughfare through the city as well as being a beautiful string of parks. At the head of Odori Park is the Sapporo TV Tower, my next destination. Most of the old TV Towers and Observation Decks in Japan are not the tallest structure in the city, just like Tokyo Tower is half the height of the new Skytree. Sapporo has plenty of buildings taller than the TV Tower now, which is part of the reason Sapporo is looking at building a newer bigger tower. Regardless that there are buildings taller than the TV Tower now, they don't have the great view along Odori Park like the TV Tower does. Also, the tower's mascot is rad.
There's a conveniently placed historical sight right around the corner, Sapporo Clocktower. The building has been used in several different ways, including for military purposes and as a school. Earlier I had walked past the Government Offices Building, and these two along with the TV Tower are the big three tourist attractions in the city. Just south of where I am is the main shopping district of Sapporo, and it's also where a lot of cool restaurants and clubs are located.
What I need more than anything right now: A new pair of shoes. The shoes I wore with me to Japan were older, but very comfortable, but in my days of walking around non-stop, I burned a hole through them right by the big toe. My recommendation for everyone is to wear practical shoes that will be comfy to wear for hours and hours on end, but what I did, was bought some FIRE kicks instead. Not only are they red, but yes, they have flames down the side.
Dinner! Sapporo is famously known for it's delicious ramen and of course, Yume Wo Katare is here in Sapporo as well... but sadly they're still closed for the holiday weekend. The concierge at the hotel told me of another shop called Yukikaze, and another called Isonokatsuo. Yukikaze has a very long line as people love their specialty ramen, and the same with Isonokatsuo, but the latter is only open from 10pm-6am, so I'm actually going to eat there tomorrow morning for breakfast before the train to Hakodate. Yukikaze has both miso and shio (salt) ramen, and I went with the shio ramen, because I haven't had one yet.
This day flew by so fast, and most of that was related to how late I arrived in the city, but that's okay. It gives me more reason to come back to Japan in the future, because there's so much to do in Sapporo.
Today is the longest train ride of my journey split into two pieces. The first is Sendai to Shin-Hakodate 6:40am-10:01am, switch trains, and then Shin-Hakodate to Sapporo 10:24pm-1:46pm. For a total of 7 hours and 6 minutes. I used most of this time to write short stories and anecdotes that I will never publish, but just to have them saved somewhere outside of my brain, and to research my route through Sapporo.
The one downside of the train method is that I'll be losing the most time of this trip by arriving in Sapporo late in the afternoon. A small benefit is that Sapporo being the 5th largest city, there are a lot of late-night options, and I'll have a 4 hour train ride in the morning and can use that for nap time if I need to. Yes, I'm a light sleeper, but the trains feel like they're floating on clouds and it's such a smooth ride.
On my arrival to Sapporo, my first stop is a ramen shop by the station called Sapporo Ichiryuan. Based on it's close proximity to the station, it's a very popular shop, and most of the reviews you can read say it's either the best ramen in the world, very average ramen, or the worst. I love online reviews because they tell me absolutely nothing. I'm just hungry and I want ramen close by and this place looks damn good, and I can also say, it was! After lunch, I have half an hour before I can normally check in at the hotel without having to leave my bag in their storage area.
 |
| Ichiryuan Ramen, Sapporo |
Luckily, across the street is my number one stop in Sapporo, and you know anything about me, then you know my two favorite things in any place I go to is Tall buildings and food. Sapporo Tower is on my list, but it's about 15 minutes walking from where I am, so this is not a tall building. I just ate, so it's not food. This might come as unexpected, but it's another one of my favorite things: Sports. Where I'm heading to is the pro shop of the greatest named baseball team in the world: The Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. Hokkaido is the region, Nippon-Ham is their corporate sponsor, Fighters is their name, but looking at it from a distance, Ham Fighters is always going to give me a laugh and I need a jersey.
The shop has all the basics inside, but what I'm looking for is a custom team jersey. When I was in Barcelona, I bought a custom jersey that said Rodin #19, for my name and the year I was there. I want a Ham Fighters jersey that says Rodin #20, but there's a small issue: They don't exactly do custom jerseys. I would have to buy a blank Jersey and each individual letter and number and iron them on to the jersey. Issue 1: The normal jerseys are sewn on letters/numbers, it'll last longer. Issue 2: The jerseys they sell are thin, so if I wanted to sew these patches on, it would require a ton of work. Issue 3: I'll be spending an extra $28 on the custom jersey instead of something ready to wear. The custom jersey would be nice, but their clearance section has a jersey #99 for a guy named Wang that costs $25. Compromise is beautiful.
 |
| Nippon-Ham Fighters Sotre, Sapporo |
My hotel is right along Odori Park, which is very similar to the Commonwealth Ave Mall, where it's a main driving thoroughfare through the city as well as being a beautiful string of parks. At the head of Odori Park is the Sapporo TV Tower, my next destination. Most of the old TV Towers and Observation Decks in Japan are not the tallest structure in the city, just like Tokyo Tower is half the height of the new Skytree. Sapporo has plenty of buildings taller than the TV Tower now, which is part of the reason Sapporo is looking at building a newer bigger tower. Regardless that there are buildings taller than the TV Tower now, they don't have the great view along Odori Park like the TV Tower does. Also, the tower's mascot is rad.
 |
| Sapporo TV Tower |
 |
| Sapporo TV Tower Mascot |
 |
| Odori Park Sunset view from Sapporo TV Tower |
There's a conveniently placed historical sight right around the corner, Sapporo Clocktower. The building has been used in several different ways, including for military purposes and as a school. Earlier I had walked past the Government Offices Building, and these two along with the TV Tower are the big three tourist attractions in the city. Just south of where I am is the main shopping district of Sapporo, and it's also where a lot of cool restaurants and clubs are located.
 |
| Sapporo Government Building |
 |
| Sapporo Clocktower |
What I need more than anything right now: A new pair of shoes. The shoes I wore with me to Japan were older, but very comfortable, but in my days of walking around non-stop, I burned a hole through them right by the big toe. My recommendation for everyone is to wear practical shoes that will be comfy to wear for hours and hours on end, but what I did, was bought some FIRE kicks instead. Not only are they red, but yes, they have flames down the side.
 |
| All red Vans with flames down the side. |
Dinner! Sapporo is famously known for it's delicious ramen and of course, Yume Wo Katare is here in Sapporo as well... but sadly they're still closed for the holiday weekend. The concierge at the hotel told me of another shop called Yukikaze, and another called Isonokatsuo. Yukikaze has a very long line as people love their specialty ramen, and the same with Isonokatsuo, but the latter is only open from 10pm-6am, so I'm actually going to eat there tomorrow morning for breakfast before the train to Hakodate. Yukikaze has both miso and shio (salt) ramen, and I went with the shio ramen, because I haven't had one yet.
 |
| Yukikaze Shio Ramen |
This day flew by so fast, and most of that was related to how late I arrived in the city, but that's okay. It gives me more reason to come back to Japan in the future, because there's so much to do in Sapporo.
January 4 by numbers:
- Photos: 176
- Miles walked: 7.6
- Steps: 14956
- Total Calories Burned: 3942
- Bowls of Ramen: 2
-Joe
Comments
Post a Comment