Hokkaido, Japan

Hokkaido, Japan- February 2020

Hello world, it has been awhile and I wanted to share my travel updates.

This last travel trip has been an amazing. I went to Sapporo, which is in the Hokkaido region of Japan at the End of January and thru mid February 2020. This is a special year because of the Olympics will take place in Japan this summer. However at this point COVID-19 has became a large issue in Asia and we had to wear mask everywhere. At the time I was there the Princess Diamond Cruise ship was quarantined in Yokohama Bay for a month and then shortly after the cases exploded back in the USA and the threat was upgraded into a Pandemic.  I been to different parts of Japan previously however they were mainly in the southern regions. I learned about Hokkaido when I was in LA watching the Korean channel and it showed an snow festival that quickly drew my attention and I saw a large ice sculpture on TV of Buckingham Palace and told myself that I will go. Hokkaido has an extremely cold environment where temperatures in the winter months are often below 0 Celsius. Also Hokkaido receives and average of 600 inches of snow per  year or 50 Feet of snow.

I ended up staying at the Nikoh Spa Hotel which was really cool. I had no idea that it would be like a whole resort inside with capsule beds. The way the place worked was that you would check in and get a key with your bed number and you would be given a uniform to wear inside the building. There was a large spa room where you would go to shower and hangout in the spa which people spend a lot of time there. There was a lower level that had a lounge room where people could lay down and watch t.v. or read a manga book from the library of books there. Also the lounge room had a bar and you can order food while lying in your chair and they will just bring it to you. The building also had a buffet room where you can eat breakfast, and lunch if you wanted for 500 Yen.

Hokkaido is known for its sea food which is extremely fresh. I tried a variety of  cuisines while I was there. There was this one meal that served me Kegane crab which is an hairy crab that is alive and they boiled it and served it to me. That was almost an $100 meal for that crab but it was scrumptious. Hokkaido is known for having Soup Curry which was another delicacy that I ate at multiple times. The wait times for this restaurant was extremely long but fulfilling at the end.  Furthermore I tried eating Hokkaido Hotpot which is almost like a Korean BBQ without the sauces. Likewise I ate the most famous food of Hokkaido called Gengis Khan which is similar to the Hotpot I had but they used lamb meat instead of beef and pork. The food of Hokkaido is very different from Tokyo and I loved every bit of it. For dessert there was this unique ice cream bar that I found in Sapporo that would serve you different types of liquor that you would pour into your ice cream and eat with a snicker doodle. There is a famous place known as ramen alley which there are a bunch of ramen shops located in this alley and they are open extremely late. The Ramen in Hokkaido has a strong fish taste I noticed compared to Tokyo. Also while I was there I learned that Hokkaido is known for its dairy product and chocolate so i decided to go to their Chocolate factory which allowed us to make our own pastries.

So Hokkaido is known for having the Snow Festival. This year was the 71st year of this festival and it attracts artist from all across the globe to compete and build ice sculptures. The festival is broken into three separate areas which is the Tsudome Site which is a giant sports arena that has a ton of outdoor snow games while the inside dome has a large market. This site is the most family friendly because of the winter tubes and the snow playgrounds.

The Susukino Site is known for their ice sculptures which are amazing. The sculptures change annually and it can range from Animae characters to a large building. The site is located in the middle of a street corridor that runs about a mile in length.

The Final Site is the Odori Park site which is the main attraction. So Odori Park is an large urban rectangular park in Sapporo that stretches around 1.5 Km. Sapporo is connected by large underground walkways that are full of shopping malls connecting to all of the major rail stations in the core area. I assume this was created to give people the option to shop and go places without having to walk in the freezing cold. This park had the giant snow statues that had holograms attached and would create a cinematic scene that makes the snow statues look like they became alive. This experience was breathtaking and nothing can compare to this amazing creation.

Lastly there was Nakajima park which held an ice candle festival. These were a variety of ice sculpted into candles and lit up at night for a few hours every night for a week. This park is located in the Southern part of the Sapporo and is beautiful.There was an elementary school located adjacent to the park and they put on a play dressed as sea creatures of the local area which was very cute. I enjoyed every bit of Sapporo and would really love to visit again with friends or family to share this experience here and maybe go explore other parts of Hokkaido which is a large island.