My Time in Tokyo: Hokkaido!

After a year and a half in Japan, I finally ventured off the main island to the land in the North- Hokkaido!

I took a five day excursion to the cold, snowy island to see the 66th Annual Snow Festival. The Snow Festival, or Yuki Matsuri, is an attraction which brings an estimated two million people to the city of Sapporo every year. The city is adorned with Christmas lights (called illuminations in Japan) to light up the city at night and everywhere you turn the snow is molded into sculptures ranging in size from a tea cup to a three story building! The festival began in 1950 when high school students built 6 snow sculptures in Odori Park, a long park in the heart of the city. Over the years the snow festival has grown to include hundreds of small sculptures and several massive sculptures and even other attractions like free style skiing! Now, the Snow Festival is one of the most well known winter events of Japan and attracts visitors from around the globe.

Here are some of the sculptures and attractions I saw!

On the left, "I won't quit!" not sure what clever group was inspired to create such a sculpture... On the right- Olaf, a character from the wildly popular Disney film "Frozen"

Reminiscent of an old style bath, my favorite of the small sculptures!

A famous cartoon family, embodied in ice for the festival!

"Snow Miku," a special image of Miku, a holographic idol. This electronic entity actually has a fan base in Japan.

A couple artists retouching one of the small scultptures

The Manila Cathedral of the Philippines, with a group of Philippinian dancers performing traditional dances on stage

This year's main event- STAR WARS!

I visited the park at night as well, where the main sculptures were illuminated for the optimal night-time viewing experience.

Looks even cooler under lights at night!

One of the coolest attractions set up in Odori Park was a huge man-made ski slope. Yuki Matsuri featured several freestyle skiers who slid down the slope and did amazing tricks off the ramp all day and evening. I could stand there and watch the talented, airborne skiers do their cool flips and spins for hours!

Hokkaido Specialties

Of course, I sampled my share of Hokkaido's signature dishes while I stayed in Sapporo. There are four specific meals that Sapporo is famous for and I had them all! First, was grilled lamb. I enjoyed a feast of grilled lamb and fresh Sapporo beer at the Sapporo Beer Garden on my first night in Sapporo. The food was good and the fresh beer even better (surprise!).

Old beer advertisements in the museum

The next meal I sought was Hokkaido's special parent and child dish. In Japan, Oyakodon is a delicious and popular dish made of stewed chicken and eggs (hence the parent and child) served over a bowl of rice. Hokkaido has its own signature take on this Japanese classic- made of sashimi salmon and salmon roe over sushi rice! I think I could eat this dish every day for the rest of my life and be happy...

Another dish I tried is soup curry. It is a creative fusion of cooking styles that has only become popular in recent years. This soup was also incredibly tasty!

The last dish I had to have before leaving Sapporo was the classic ramen. Of course you can get ramen anywhere in Sapporo (well Japan, for that matter) but I decided to go to Ramen Yokocho- known as the original ramen street. Ramen Yokocho is a small alley in the Susukino district which is packed with 17 different original ramen shops, each of which only seats 10-12 people. The hot and hearty ramen and gyoza I had there were phenomenal.

The Father of Whiskey in Japan

There is currently an NHK drama in telling the story of the Japanese man and his Scottish wife who started the first whiskey production in Japan in 1924. After working as a distillery executive for a company where he initially started whiskey, Masataku Taketsuru branched off to create his own whisky company in 1934. He and his wife traveled to Hokkaido where they opened their first distillery in Yoichi, a town about an hour and a hald from Sapporo by train. I took an afternoon trip to Yoichi where I toured the brewery and sampled their whisky and apple wine. Like much of the architecture in Hokkaido there is a strong Western influence at the Nikka Distillery. The red roofed, stony brick buildings looked beautiful against the snow.

Stills

The Father of Japanese Whiskey

Casks of whiskey left to age

Fish Markets

Like Ishikawa where I live, Hokkaido is known for its plentiful seafood. I could not pass up the chance to walk around the fresh fish markets while I was there. Of course I also ate in the small shops that are located in the fish market. Since it is winter crab is in season and I ate as much as I could!

Clams

Live crabs, trying to crawl right out of that tub!

Salmon

Otaru Illumination

After leaving Yoichi I stopped in another small town called Otaru on my way back into Sapporo. Otaru is a cute port town famous for a canal going through town and their own adorable winter illumination. Otaru too was covered in snow sculptures but these were mini figures and were more themed around nature and geometric shapes.

Kaitaku-no-mura: a taste of Traditional Hokkaido

Kaitaku no mura is a village outside of Sapporo that is set up to preserve the history of Hokkaido. Several buildings from the Meiji era from around Hokkaido were transported to this area and set up as village for guests to explore. Small houses, large houses, public buildings, commercial buildings, a church, school and shrines are available for guests to see and even walk inside of. After stepping through the old Sapporo station building it was surreal to find myself in a colonial style village.

One of the buildings, an old sake brewery, was opened up by volunteers to welcome visitors. There was a fire in the floor hearth and they offered warm amazake and pickles to guests who could ask any questions they might have. We enjoyed our refreshments and chatted with the volunteers. One gentleman got super excited when he learned that we are from Ishikawa prefecture. Apparently his grandfather came from Ishikawa as a carpenter, and he built houses around Hokkaido for people to come settle there. Also, he showed us a list with the numbers and percentages of people from mainland Japan who settled in Hokkaido during the Meiji restoration. Ishikawa is number 6 on the list of how many people emigrated from there. Apparently during the Meiji era the government gave incentives to people to move to Hokkaido to settle the area, which was already inhabited by the Ainu people. The Meiji government intended to take control of Hokkaido not only to increase the land area of Japan but also as another defense between the mainland and Russia.