I don’t know if it is merely the fact that the Japanese segment of the trip is wrapping up soon or that I am going to have to deal with a week’s worth of travel (hopping from Seoul to Beijing to Moscow to Berlin to begin the European section of the travels), but its become apparent to me that I’m mentally checked out of Japan. I was browsing the aisles of a grocery store last night and filled with a sense of loss that despite my best efforts to eat all the junk food, I had only sampled a tiny fraction of the myriads of snacks. The same is true of the alcohol section. Heck, I’ve barely even put a dent into the curry section of grocery store. One would have to stay here a couple of years to eat one’s fill.
Speaking of food, that has become the defining raison d’etre for my time in Sapporo. After a lazy enough morning, I was resolved to go out and see something on the list of sites in Sapporo and I picked the Moiwa Ropeway primarily because there was a recommended restaurant near the base of it. I hopped on a city tram to reach the base of the mountain and was delighted to find the restaurant recommendation spot on. Given my love of curry in general, the fact that Sapporo has its own unique take on Japanese curry, i.e. “soup curry,” got me curious. The restaurant was a small mom and pop owned joint full of old fashioned bric-a-brac and I ordered a set meal including a salad and a cup of coffee.
After enjoying my meal, I walked around the corner to wait for a free shuttle bus to reach the base of the ropeway, which was only a 8 minute walk. Sapporo claims to have one of the best night views in Japan, so I imagine the mountain is quite popular at night. But I didn’t care and was going up there at high noon. As such, I got to avoid the crowds. I shelled out the money for the ropeway, which consists of two sections: a cable car and a funicular.
The view was nice, but there really wasn’t much to see. I suppose riding in the variety of vehicles is the attraction in and of itself. After thoroughly perusing the gift shop with its selection of Hokkaido specialties (including, incredulously vacuum-sealed, refrigerated raw shellfish), I headed back down the mountain.
I decided to take a longish walk and headed due east about 12 blocks to reach the river, which divides Sapporo into east and west sections. The river is flanked by grass and trees, and as I followed it north about another dozen blocks, I would occasionally pass groups of locals out sunbathing, barbecuing, or wading into the shallows. As I neared the “equator” of the city, I cut back up onto the city streets to pass the TV tower at the far east end of Odori Park on my way to a department store a block south of the train station.
I took a stroll through the basement level of food stalls, looking for one particular sweets shop while drooling at all the available delicacies. I didn’t buy the particular cake, but bookmarked it for a possible later visit. Still craving an afternoon snack, I went to check out an ice cream parlor which sells elaborate, expensive parfaits. I hesitated for a while, taking a loop around the block while I worked up the nerve to treat myself to ice cream. Sometimes, there is too much choice. After looking over the dozens or options, I finally just picked one and enjoyed it.
I walked back to the hostel, taking an underground passageway which connects the subway to department stores and is essential for commuters during the bitter winters.
After chilling out for a while back in the hostel, my stomach started growling again and I wanted to head out for some ramen. The hostel has coupons for a couple of restaurants in the area, but as I went to grab the ramen coupon, I realized that today was their day off. My backup plan was a tonkatsu place I had passed the other day. It was kind of a fast food chain, but looked pretty cheap and delicious. It was. It’s sad to think that I might not have another opportunity to eat tonkatsu before I leave.
I spent another hour or two back in the hostel trying to fix the file system on my external harddrive. I finally found one piece of software that might be able to do the trick, though I’m not quite sure how. I can access the underlying files and copied a few movies onto my computer. I was still hankering to watch a movie, but as I was moving a few onto a thumb drive, a huge group of Koreans came into the hostel. Seriously, there were 30 or so all traveling together (a school trip of some sort). They cleared out while I was looking around a supermarket for some microwave popcorn (which I couldn’t find).
The thumb drive did work with the TV, but the TV didn’t quite have the right drivers installed, so the only movie that could play had some problems with the sound. C’est la vie. It was actually getting pretty late by that point, so I gave up on watching a movie.
| Tram | 200 |
| Soup Curry & Coffee | 1100 |
| Ropeway (round trip) | 1500 |
| Parfait (“Treasure Hunter”) | 1250 |
| Apple tea | 100 |
| Tonkatsu w/ Miso sauce | 630 |
| Cheetos | 91 |
| Total: | 4871 JPY (328.8 RMB) (USD 47.55) |
Running Total: 39164.1 RMB (USD 5663.32)
Daily Average: 326.3 RMB (USD 47.19)