Sapporo

In my lessons if a student mentions being from or visiting another part of Japan, someone is sure to ask,

"Do you like ... (whatever food is famous for that region)? or "Have you tried ... (this food from that area)?"

Every region has a famous food or dish. If you mention Sapporo the question sounds like,

"Have you tried Sapporo beer or milk or corn or potatos or melons or chocolate or honey or ramen ...?"

Food, while worshipped in other parts of Japan, is everywhere is Sapporo. It's the only place large enough to have big dairy or wheat farms. For our last jaunt outside of Osaka we went to Sapporo, home of fresh produce and many natures (I think I've been in Japan too long).

More anxious to escape the muggy summer than anything else we boarded a tiny plane for a short flight to Hokkaido Chitose airport. The flight was strangely memorable as we were each given a window seat at opposite ends of the same aisle. In between us were 2 families with adorable, but cranky babies. The one little girl found the perfect note to make the inside of the plane resonate as she put all of her suprisingly powerful little lungs behind her screams. As I sat and felt the walls of the plane shift I thought that strangely this was one of the more comfortable flights I'd been on. Maybe it was a portent of things to come. We stepped off the plane and looked up into the cloudy grey sky when Carl stopped.

"Do you feel that?"

"What? The wind?"

"Yes! No humidity!"

I think I'm gonna like it here.

We settled into our very nice business hotel, where they sold giant melons in the gift shop (definitely a step up from the JGH Tokyo) and went for a walk in the park. After buying some roasted Hokkaido corn and potatoes from the park vendors we went to the highest point in Sapporo, the JR Tower, to get the lay of the land. We went from there to yet another Ferris wheel (I'm so predictable), before going in search of Ramen Alley.

Did you know that Sapporo is the home of ramen. This Chinese dish was first named and served in it's current form in Japan's north. And barely a block from our hotel was a narrow alley crammed with nothing but ramen shops. We found a welcoming spot and had some truly delicious and filling food before finally heading to bed. We had a big day ahead of us and we needed our beauty sleep.

We started the next day bright and early by going to a Sake Museum. It was only one small room, but there was lots to see. As we walked up to the museum we noticed a line of people waiting to fill containers from a tap running from the building. We soon discovered that that's because the brewery sits on top of a spring that they use to make their sake. Of course they only use the freshest water, so everyone wants a gallon or two to use at home. We had a cup full of water from the fountain inside the door and watched as the group of ladies that had gotten there right before us made a beeline for the sample counter. I think that would be fun way to spend the day with your girlfriends, get up in the morning and get blitzed on free sake samples. Carl and I ate our sake ice cream, which was truly delicious and discovered the different grades of sake. We *only* bought a couple bottles as we decided there were only so many souvenirs we could carry and our day was just beginning.

As we wandered Sapporo we kept marveling how the neighbourhoods felt like home. All the buildings laid out on a grid with lots of space around them, it kind felt like wandering through some lots in Calgary. We were only a little homesick. *sniff*

Next up, The Factory, a large shopping centre that contains among other things, a Toys R Us and a large indoor park. After that it was a short walk to the Sapporo Beer Museum. BEER! As Carl would say. We followed the beer with more beer and roasted lamb cooked Gengis Khan style, another Hokkaido specialty.

On our last day we had a little bit of time before our plane left so we decided to go the Chocolate Museum (sensing a theme yet?). A large building designed to look like a large Tudor mansion, you could smell it before you saw it. Inside were stained glass windows and holographs and lots of toys and creepy dolls. We sat and had some chocolate and watched kids play in the large rose garden outside before deciding to leave for the airport.

The comedy of errors that followed is hard to comprehend. The Chocolate Museum was an hour and a half from the airport and our plane left in less than 2 hours. That wouldn't have been so bad except that we were out of money and couldn't find an ATM to buy train tickets with. As we raced through the train station we finally decided to go to the train office to buy tickets on credit. We barreled through the ticket wickets looking for our platform and racing to the one that said airport express. Except, it was the wrong airport. After realizing our mistake we raced to the right platform and discovered that the train that takes an hour to get to the airport didn't leave until one hour before our plane left. We sat on the train and made plans for how we would get home. Would we buy another ticket or take the overnight train? To add insult to injury, the train even seemed to be running late. But somehow the train pulled in 15 minutes before the flight left. I raced through the airport trusting Carl and his still wonky ankle to keep up. The ticket clerk had a lot of phone calls to make but somehow we made it through security just as our flight was boarding. We even got a row to ourselves for the flight home.

As we stepped off the plane in Osaka it was like being hit by a heavy, hot, wet blanket. Ah, yes, humidity my old friend, how I had not missed you.

However the humidity has been a little easier to bear now that we've bought our return tickets home. That's right, we're saying Sayonara to Japan. So if anyone out there knows of anyone who's hiring in October, we'd love to hear from you. See you in September!