My second and third days in Sapporo brought visits to a number of places. First up was the Okura ski jump hill used in the 1972 Sapporo Winter Olympics, and now home to the Winter Sports Museum. You can take the chairlift to the top of the ski jump for superb views of Sapporo below (if the weather is good).
View of the ski jump from the bottom
Another view from the bottom, by the museum
View from the top, looking down onto the facility and further on over the city of Sapporo
Going back down on the chairlift
The museum itself offers a bunch of interactive computerised exhibits giving you the chance to 'try' various events without risk of physical injury - ski jumping, bobsleigh, cross-country skiing and, bizarrely, speed-skating are all on offer - as well as a timeline of the '72 Winter Olympics and other fixed displays about the various events.
The Sapporo '72 Olympic torch
The Japanese team's bobsleigh
There's also a decent restaurant here serving a Hokkaido speciality called 'jingus-khan', which is basically a do-it-yourself BBQ (like yakiniku) specifically of lamb and vegetables, with a special sauce. Only in Hokkaido, and very very good, if a little messy (the restaurants all give you little plastic aprons to wear).
Moving on from here, I dropped into the Salmon Museum, which is very close by. This is exactly what it sounds like, being a museum about salmon. There are salmon in various stages of development and a bunch of other exhibits. It's actually more interesting than it sounds, honestly. No pictures though.
Next on the agenda was the original Sapporo brewery, which is now home to the Sapporo beer museum, and offers a nice contrast to the current high-tech brewery. Indeed, the building would look more at home in Manchester than anywhere in Japan, but this was the country's first beer brewery.
From the front
Around the side, by the museum entrance
Also of note here is an ice-cream shop. I know I've never eaten squid-ink or soup curry flavour ice-cream before. I went for a mixture of sakura (yes, cherry blossom) and dark beer flavour, and both were much better than I expected. Dark beer tasted like dark beer, and sakura probably tasted like sakura, although I don't usually eat flowers...
That evening I took a short trip to the Sapporo Dome to see if there was a baseball game on the next day, which would mean it would be worth staying in Sapporo an extra day. Sapporo is home to Hokkaido's only baseball team (as well as a soccer team) - the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. All the teams in Japan are corporately owned, and this one is owned by a ham company, which is pretty ironic for a sports team. Anyway, much to my disappointment there wasn't an upcoming home game (the next one is on 20th May, which is way too late for me).
Sapporo Dome, home to the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
I have one more real chance of catching a game, which is in Osaka a few days before I leave. The Hiroshima Toyo Carp, of who I am now a fan, are playing the Orix Buffaloes (who I'm pretty sure will destroy them). I may try to get a ticket to this if timings work out favourably, but we'll see.
Anyway, today I woke up to rain, which soon stopped and gave way to the terrific cold I had experienced the night before. It is really cold here, at least in comparison with other places I've been. According to one of the staff at the ryokan I've been staying at, snow is forecast in the next few days, so that might make things pretty interesting.
So, from Sapporo I got the bus even further north, ending up in the city of Asahikawa. This is the ideal gateway to the Daisetsuzan National Park, which is by all accounts quite stunning. I should have two days there, enough to see what I want to see (within the limitations of public transport, anyway) before moving on.
From here I'm not sure where I'll go. There's another volcanic area near the south coast, which is definately something I want to see, but there's also the northernmost point in Japan near the city of Wakkanai, which is also somewhere I want to go. Only problem is, accomodation is either fully-booked or way too expensive. Camping is a possibility, but cold weather and a substantial brown bear population (really) may not make that a good idea, so more asking around is required.
Anyway, my time on this PC is up so I'll have to bring this to an end. Another update in a day or so probably, before I move on.
Until next time,
James
