Yuki Matsuri!

Sapporo Snow Festival February 5th-8th

Friday February 5th: SNOW as usual. Wet and miserable and grey was Toyama and it’s something we’ve gotten used to at this point. However our moaning about it has not ceased to stop. After grunting though the weather, meeting up with Will and Van, and grabbing a quick lunch we drove to the Airport about an hour before our flight. At first we were sure we booked different flights but it turned out that we were all on the same flight. A very wonderful surprise.

After the short plane ride we arrived in Hokkaido and hopped a rapid train to Sapporo station. There we split, checked in to our respective hotels, and met back up at the television tower. Tiffany and I were the first to arrive and though we managed to be late ourselves we waited for the rest of our crew for thirty minutes or so. It was freezing outside and yet I’d rather be cold then cold AND wet in Toyama. Once everyone had arrived we walked around Odori Park for a short while and decided that we were all too cold and too hungry to really deal with the harshness of the high winds. We did however manage to see a few sculptures and met some Osaka Jets who were also around to enjoy the festival. One of them who’s name was Matt would show up again later in our trip. Parting ways with the Osaka Jets we found ourselves in a Yakiniku spot and proceeded to devour food like we hadn’t eaten in weeks. It was pretty good but by far the best Yakiniku I have had was in Osaka during my silver week trip to visit Phage. Considering the night was still young we all decided to walk to the Karaoke place across the street and we rocked it out for two hours or so before we called it a night and passed out in our respective hotels and beds.

Saturday February 6th :
Woke up, got a bit fancy and met Will and Van near Tokyu hands for food. Around twenty minutes later we found a place who served Chinese food buffet style. We walked in and waited to be seated. However the host saw that we had cups from the coffee shop we had made a pit-stop at before we found the restaurant and yelled at us saying that we couldn’t bring in drinks. Will who made the best `I`m about to go Hulk on you` face ever kindly told him that he was very rude in Japanese and we all walked out deciding that he was too much of a dick to eat at his place. This bummed us out slightly because we were really looking forward to Chinese, but instead we ended up at a Korean food restaurant which turned out to be fabulous. We were quite pleased with the over all outcome and our bellies were quite full and content.

Shopping at Tokuyo hands was in order after grub and we shopped around for a short time while we were waiting to meet up with Wills friends. Once we met up with the two girls( who were so sweet and fun to be around) , and Matt who decided to tag along we headed over to the chocolate museum. Granted I didn’t get to eat as much chocolate as I would have guessed, but the museum itself was architecturally cool and it had some cool displays outside of the fact they made chocolate. There was half a floor dedicated to the toys the founder of the chocolate factory collected over the years, and I think the tradition has been continued by those who still run the business. There were Star Wars collectables, Pokemon collectables, Disney Toys, Astro boy posters and figurines and so on. It was pretty cool. After spending two hours or so there we treaded back to the station (so cold and snowy!) and went back towards the festival to meet up with someone else and to grab dinner.

When we returned to Sapporo city center we met up with the other friend of Wills (who was so freckin pretty) and she lead us to yet another Yakiniku place HOWEVER this place was super fancy and we got like six courses of food including the meat. It was a good time and Tiffany and I talked to the first two girls about our lives as Jets and our love for animation and such. We learned a good deal about them too, and I hope I get the chance to see them again while I’m in Japan. Once dinner was over the price for all of us was near sixty a person, and yet the girl who took us to the restaurant covered us a bit. I think she knocked off twenty bucks a person. It was SUPER nice of her to do that. After bowing to her a couple million times it was finally time to enjoy the snow festival. Since it was dark at this point all the sculptures were lit up and we spent a solid two or three hours walking around taking pictures of sculptures and being very cold. Needless to say we ended up going to Karaoke again (though Tiffany went to the game arcade) and after an hour or two we met back up with Tiffany and said goodbye to the girls. Joining Tiffany in the game arcade I played a few games (horribly I might add) but it was fun anyway. Once we left we gathered our wits, hit up the kombini for snacks, bought some cards, and played spades for a while in Vans hotel.

Sunday February 7th:
Since Tiffany was catching a flight a day earlier then Will, Van and I we woke up early to head over to the Sapporo Beer factory. There wasn’t much to see there so after a short time we went down to the base floor and got the three beers for 400\ deal and met a pretty cool guy from California who was there on business and on ski holiday. However by noon (possibly earlier) we were back at Sapporo station seeing Tiffany off. After the goodbyes, hugs, and be carefuls were handed out Will, Van, and I decided that we were truly to tired to do something strenuous. Thus we made our way to a museum (which was fairly boring) and then to an onsen where me and Van relaxed and talked together. We even fell asleep in the outdoor onsen while it was snowing. It was really nice and really relaxing and also the time where I found out I had lost thirteen pounds. Granted the scales could have just lied and I’m in a pleasant dream world but I’ll take it either way. When we got out of the onsen we dressed in yukata and met will in the lounge room where I dosed in and out of consciousness for an hour or two. This was a nice and rest day. Then we ate food at this Indian/Moroccan (not quite sure) place. I’m thinking Indian because they served lassi drinks. Either way the food was delicious!!!! Sapporo in general seems to be made for the good eatin. I was worried at first because the place was known for curry ramen, and in all truth it didn’t sound like something I wanted. I’m glad it turned out to be a true success. Then! You guessed it! The three of us went to Karaoke where we honestly just sung songs we never had before just to have something else to sing when we go out with other people. It was fun and I think we stayed three hours by ourselves. Since it was our final night I suppose we wanted to make the most out of it. I decided to skip out on my hotel and stay with Will and Van since they had an extra bed and since we were to take the same flight home the following afternoon.

Monday February 8th:
Final day and a quick finish. The three of us visited Tokuyo hands, bought something’s, walked back to the station to try Sapporo ramen and then bought omiyage. Then we were homeward bound!