Hello and welcome to the third part of my 2022-2023 travel report! You can find the first two parts down below.
[Part 1
](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/178mxdx/one_year_in_japan_the_open_air_sauna_june_july/)
[Part 2
](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/17kfjpl/one_year_in_japan_escaping_the_heat_august_2022/)
**August 2022 – Sapporo**
After enjoying Hakodate and the cooler weather that came with it, I was extremely hyped for Sapporo, given that it has been somewhat hyped by many a Youtuber that I follow. The journey from Hakodate to Sapporo takes around 3 1/2 hours and if I had any ability to learn things, this would have been the time for my brain to inscribe the thought “Just take the plane next time” into my memory. More on that in a later post. Initially, I was supposed to be in Sapporo for merely 1 1/2 weeks but that plan flew out the window due to how eventful everything turned out to be. I can’t really give a day-by-day recount since a lot of the time I would just stroll about in random areas, so I will highlight some more memorable experiences.
**[Sapporo TV Tower + Odori park](https://imgur.com/a/Jly4vCX)**
Your typical lookout tower you’ll find in most major cities in Japan. The difference here is that you get an incredible view of Odori park stretching before the tower as well as the mountains surrounding Sapporo. Whether it’s during day time or night time, the view from the tower is amazing and one of my favourites from any observation deck in Japan. As with every other tower, there is a souvenir shop and you can buy shiroi koibito cookies here as well. Odori park itself is nice for a walk through and having a break on one of the many benches there. Great people watching spot, too. One thing that needs to be mentioned more about Sapporo is that there’s an actual shopping “mall” stretching from Sapporo station all the way to Odori underground. Take one of the entrances at Odori park and just… walk. A lot of stores underground so if the weather is bad, you can just hide “downstairs”.
**[Maruyama](https://imgur.com/a/W76TLX3)**
On another day, I decided to hike up Maruyama. I’m not sure why because I remember it being the first very humid day in Hokkaido and climbing up >200m definitely made me look like a ran a marathon instead. On my way up, I helped a Japanese kid that started crying randomly. I climbed down from an elevated path and asked what’s wrong before spotting a bunch of Japanese hornets flying around in front of us. Of course I had to pretend to be totally unfazed by these things but I hate insects and these things were huge so I was scared as hell, yet decided to walk forward and put my body between where they were flying about and the girl so she could pass, which she quickly did. Her mother then appeared from around a corner of the path further ahead, which was calming because at first I didn’t know what the hell a small girl was doing on that path alone.
Either way, the hike was fun and I took one of [my favourite pictures](https://i.imgur.com/OCE3OKF.jpg) of the entire year there. The way down was more dangerous than expected and if you plan on ever going up Maruyama, be aware of the fact that there are no rails or whatever – this is a mountain path that is pretty much left to its devices so bring good shoes and be cautious of where you step because there was one time I slipped and almost fell down and the way down did not look pretty. Consider the weather and whether it rained or not and put on some good hiking boots. Adidas Ultraboosts certainly weren’t a smart pick from me here.
Maruyama park is right next to the hill and worth a stroll. You can find [Hokkaido jingu](https://i.imgur.com/eaHJFJT.jpg) there as well . At the time, there was a small bit of construction being done.
**[Nakajima-koen](https://imgur.com/a/pRwvhz0)**
Not too far off Susukino, Nakajima-koen can be reached within like a 10-15 minute walk depending on where on Susukino you are. The park is perfect for a walk due to being neither too big nor too small. This park also looks great in every season so do not worry about maybe missing some “peak” time to go there. It’s also a popular spot for cosplayers taking photoshoots as I had seen plenty during multiple visits to Sapporo. It also features a small garden (free of charge) that not that many people went to. Maybe that changed now but even when I came back in April, the garden was rather empty despite being very pretty itself. Definitely check this place out if you want a small escape from the city…inside the city.
**[Moiwayama](https://imgur.com/a/pam3viq)**
While not hailed as one of the best views in Japan, a trip up Mt. Moiwa is definitely worth it in my opinion. You get a nice view of Sapporo during the day and night. As with the view from the TV tower, you can see the mountains surrounding Sapporo from here (but even better, of course). That green dome looking hill that looks like it’s right inside the city is Maruyama, which I hiked up a few days prior!
Recommend going up here just before sunset. Seeing the sun disappear slowly behind the hills is great and the city looks amazing at night. Especially in Winter.
**[Otaru](https://imgur.com/a/ySZ5VBx)**
A trip to Sapporo seems to usually go with a sidetrip to Otaru, which is what I decided on as well. To be honest, this place is for you if you really like window shopping and checking out all the small shops along the main road – something I am not _too_ into. That being said, I love port towns a lot and the surroundings here are beautiful. It’s kind of mean how incredible Japan looks in Summer because that beauty comes with the heat (in most places). I strolled through the “main” part of town before wandering off onto the hillside to check out one or two shrines before going back down and buying some cookies at both Kitakaro and Rokkatei. Definitely recommend checking those two stores out, they’re right next to each other and they sell a wide variety of pastries and cookies there. For my “proper” meal, I decided to get some [gyukatsu](https://i.imgur.com/c92dFy7.jpg) at a restaurant a bit away from the main “attractions” of the town.
**Random meetup on Susukino**
During my stay, there was a [summer festival](https://i.imgur.com/uv2rjWz.jpeg) held on Susukino. A typical Japanese festival with lots of food stalls, seating setup, music and whatnot. As I didn’t know anyone still, I decided to try my luck on HelloTalk and sent out a “moment” asking if anyone is in Sapporo and would like to meet up and to my surprise, a Japanese guy messaged me and we quickly arranged for a meetup! It was quite surreal hearing a Japanese person speak fluent German. Even more surreal was the fact that he had an Austrian accent due to living in Austria for a few years. We walked around the festival, got some food and went to a cafe afterwards and that was basically it. Truth be told, the vibe wasn’t too great but hey, it’s one more experience to add to the list. I’d later meet plenty more people through the aforementioned app though, which proved to be a great way to make acquaintances.
**The Anime Bar**
Now, this one was not even on my radar until I got to Sapporo and checked Google maps to find that there was an anime bar close to my hotel. At that point in time, my Japanese was still not good enough to hold basic conversations, yet I was keen on visiting this bar. One goal I set myself for the 1 year I stayed in Japan was to just do stuff despite my brain telling me all the reasons not to do them. I didn’t want to leave the city regretting not checking it out so despite being somewhat self-conscious about my lack of language skills, I ventured out to it one evening and there was only one staff member and one customer inside, who at first looked surprised when a foreigner waltzed into the place. But who knew that having a common interest would make communicating that much easier. Soon enough, we were talking about all things anime, what I was doing in Japan, life and what not – in broken Japanese and English and with the help of deepl every once in a while.
The bar had a whole lot of [anime merchandise all around, some oversized manga panels acted as wallpaper, even the glasses drinks were served in were anime themed](https://imgur.com/a/aWwsBuh). Of course, a small TV was playing anime openings and music, while a karaoke machine was also available if people wanted to belt out some bangers. The vibes in this place were impeccable.
That first evening in there was so fun, it made me return to the bar every evening forward until I left Sapporo. Every evening, different types of people would enter and chat, most of them Japanese but even the rare other foreigner came in from time to time. One or two Japanese people even spoke great English, keen to practice and teach me some Japanese in the process. And if there was one thing I took away from my many vists to this bar it’s that reading a bunch about grammar and studying kanji will only take you so far. Speaking and interacting with locals improved my Japanese far more than any textbook did in the 2 months leading up to this.
On one evening, an American fella came in and I do not remember whether it was the bar’s anniversary or the owner’s birthday or maybe just a freak night but things got wild that night. Perhaps I should have mentioned before that I don’t even drink alcohol. That night, people got absolutely hammered and the atmosphere was at an all time high. This is nothing new to anyone who has done their research on Japan or has been there before but my god, when Japanese people get drunk, they get _drunk_. Plenty of moments where my American friend and I had to hold up one of the other patrons who were about to stack it. But it certainly made things memorable.
In general, this small bar provided a whole lot of moments and experiences I will never forget. The staff, the people coming in, the atmosphere, the surrounding area and walking back to the hotel past midnight in Sapporo…
I added some of the regulars on LINE and even met up with one guy later on in Tokyo again when he visited the city, inviting me for lunch. I know that some people may be interested in this bar and if you read this and want to know where it is… well, spoilers for the April 2023 report: the bar, unfortunately, has closed down since then 🙁
**(Hopefully) Lifelong friend encounter**
My hotel was close to a bunch of anime shops and one day I walked by and saw a huge line consisting of mostly women outside the building that had 3-4 anime stores in it. I had no idea what was going on but decided to go in myself and check out the stores since I wanted to do that anyway. Once inside the Animate located inside, I spotted a foreign girl checking out the aisles. Once again, I thought “You should talk to her so you don’t regret not doing it later” and approached her, asking her if she knew why there was such a sea of people on that particular day. Turns out there was a new male idol group’s CD release and if you ever thought that only men are into idols, you haven’t seen how many women are into the genre.
My decision to talk to this girl turned out to be the right one as we spent the rest of the day checking out stores and chatting about what brought us to Japan. At the end of it all, we exchanged contacts and would regularly meet up in Sapporo or Tokyo throughout the rest of our stays. She’ll make a few more appearances in my reports. If there was one thing that I look back on and think “Thank god I did that”, it’s talking to her on that day because we are still in contact to this day!
**[Food](https://imgur.com/a/T2AstyP)**
Alright, Sapporo is known for a lot of food items. Soup curry, miso (butter) ramen, jingisukan, the seafood. Miso ramen is, unfortunately, my least favourite type of ramen by a long shot and Sapporo could not make it slide up my ranks. That being said, 100% check out Ganso Ramen Yokocho. There are a lot of ramen stores inside a small alleway, not all of them are miso based but if you like miso you will definitely find something to your liking here.
As for the seafood; the only seafood I had was some [sashimi](https://i.imgur.com/X3m47FQ.jpg) and a donburi topped with crab meat and salmon roe. It was at one of the many stores at the fish market in Sapporo (which at that time was rather empty so I got a seat immediately, this has changed since then!) and it was very good BUT most certainly pricier than at other places because these owners know that tourists will check the fish market out and try their hands at the food, so they charge more. I think I paid something like 3.000 yen for this.
Soup curry is one of my favourite foods. For one, it tastes incredible and two: I can pretend that I ate a healthy meal because soup curry comes with a wide variety of vegetables.
No matter which shop I went to, every single one was good. Whether you go to one of the chains like Suage or a shop like Kanako’s Soup Curry (my absolute favourite), you won’t be disappointed if you like all things curry. If you do decide to go to Kanako’s, try to order the “Chicken Grill on rice”. It’s limited to a certain amount of servings per day but worth getting. Also, just in case you get confused by how things go at soup curry places; usually you pick the type of soup, then the spice level, amount of rice and toppings.
With all that said, my favourite place to eat in Sapporo – by far – was a [ramen store](https://imgur.com/a/2HS9HjL). Toripaitan (chicken) ramen. The tsukemen I had there is my favourite _across all of Japan_. I’ve brought my friends there and recommended it to others and every single person going to this place said this ramen ranks highly on their lists.
Because I am an ass who wants to keep the place from become too popular, I won’t disclose the name. That being said – if you check for Ramen Shingen on Google Maps and then just check for nearby ramen stores, you should be able to find the place I am talking about if you look for the aforementioned type of ramen it serves.
**Summary**
Sapporo is my favourite city in Japan, mostly due to the experiences I made there and the people I met. I’ve seen a lot of people online say that the further north you go in Japan, the more distant people get but I never got that feeling when I was in Hokkaido. If you are friendly and open, people will be too. The city is incredibly walkable, the food is amazing, the nature around it beautiful and all in all a great time if you look to spend a few days up there. I would say that – at a leasurely pace – 3-4 days are good for the city. I did not even mention Shiroi Koibito Park, Sapporo university or the beer factory. The city has a ton to offer!
If you have any other questions, feel free to ask. This turned into just as big of a post as I imagined it to be…
3 comments
I’m planning on spending 10 days solo in Sapporo in January, before meeting friends in hakuba to ski.
I was a bit unsure of being solo in Sapporo rather than somewhere like Osaka, but this post may have convinced me. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for this. Been to sapporo twice and would say sapporo is my favorite as well. The air there just taste and smells different from everywhere else. Just got back from Japan and say kanazawa is #2 after sapporo
Nice summary! Was there for the first time in late October. I liked the smallish city vibes. Flew in at night and the next morning ate the first of many kaisen donburi and then took a cab from the fish market to mount maruyama for some unknown reason instead of just walking around the shrine and park decided to climb to the top. Actually i walked down a lovely path along a small stream and then kept going and going until I ended up at the peak. While not the most difficult stroll, was pretty jetlagged and there are some steep parts. Ok, lots of old japanese people passed me on the way up. Everyone seemed to have bear bells.
I stayed at the nikko jr station hotel and the location was so convenient. So much going on around that station and the underground passage was convenient and filled with stuff to look at and eat. Can also “pop” out at the tourist spots. The aoao aquarium was also fantastic. The sapporo brewery wasnt that great and the beer hall closed surprisingly early and i didnt have reservations at any of their restaurants. Was kind of a pointless adventure.
I also felt compelled to take an otaru day trip. You are right that there isnt that much there. I do enjoy strolling while checking out little shops. Was surprised at how early they closed on that one main street. Letao was delicious. I wasnt planning to take a canal ride but walked by just as they started the first evening ride. Got the last seat. Yeah that canal is tiny and not that scenic. Enjoyed a grilled lamb dinner at one of the tiny restaurants in a warren of restaurants across from the canal. Oh also ate a really lovely omakase sushi lunch. Was my most expensive meal while in japan but still a crazy bargain compared to US and on prior trips. USD is so strong right now.
I took the train to hakodate – i think its a wash compared to flying since it takes almost an hour from sapporo jr station to the airport. Anyway – green class was available and it is a pleasant scenic trip. I had flown from hnd to cts, but also took train from hakodate to tokyo which was indeed a long ride. Flying prob would have made more sense, but I enjoyed the gran class experience.
Amazed at your lack of seafood. I ate sooo much seafood in hokkaido. Every day started with a kaisen don. My hotel breakfast buffet included ikura. I made an epic ikura don. I ate so much ikura and uni that by the time I made it to tokyo I felt no need to eat more!! I also tried a few recommended miso ramen places. This style actually my fav, but all the variants tried were quite different. My fav was sumire nakanoshima for miso.
Oh! I also liked sapporo since lots to walk to from my hotel location (and as a tourist prob would stay next to that underground mall area) with decent train system plus town not big so cab is also easy and affordable to pack in more stuff each day.