From Tokyo we flew to Sapporo, the largest city on the northern island of Hokkaido. We planned to stay in the city a couple of nights before heading out to explore more of the island. Hokkaido in June has lovely cool weather and its wildflowers bloom later than in places farther south. We were looking forward to lots of green hiking and the cooler temperatures of this far northern area.
On our first night, we arrived around dinner time, so we set out immediately to get some supper. We found a small izakaya on a side street. The place was just 4-5 seats along a bar against a tiny kitchen where two men worked. One was the main chef, and the other prepped salads and drinks, took orders, and delivered food. All around the tiny space things were piled high. It even looked like they had another table at the end of the bar, but it was stacked too full of stuff to seat diners. There was a narrow stairway leading upstairs to where it sounded like a group of young people were dining and drinking the night away. A third man navigated the stairs to bring food up to them.
We had a wonderful meal there, including some very special tempura. We saw it being delivered to the people next to us, and it looked fantastic. When we asked about it, the chef and the other server had difficulty telling us what it was in English, and Google translate said it was just some kind of herb. We came to understand it was a native plant from Hokkaido. The chef prepared it and it was delicious. Then, while we were eating, he thought to tell us that he’d hiked up the mountain the day before to harvest it! Amazing, and so special to have foraged vegetables for our meal. That meal also featured our first time eating Hokkaido’s famous uni, or sea urchin. It was delicious and so different from when we’d had it in the past – so fresh!
After dinner, we decided it was time to try out Hokkaido’s famous ice cream. We found a spot called Gelato & Beer, which seemed perfect for us. The ice cream lived up to the hype. I’m not sure if I’ve ever had a better or fancier ice cream!
Sapporo is known for its seafood, and it didn’t disappoint. We decided to explore the fish market and find a sushi spot for lunch on our full day in town. Our first sushi lunch in Hokkaido was complete with more of the famous uni, sea urchin, as well as fantastic scallops in buttered corn. Hokkaido’s famous dairies produce not only ice cream, but also wonderful butter and other milk products.
While browsing the seafood and fish, we noticed some cantaloupe-looking melons that were on sale for about $35 each. And people were buying them! After lunch we decided to try out one of the $5 slices. It was AMAZING. I have never been that into cantaloupe, but this was magical. It was a juice-running-down-your-face-unbelievable-flavor experience!
In addition to the fresh melon, when we saw that we could get Hokkaido melon ice cream, we had to check it out. It also was fantastic!
In addition to eating lots of delicious food, we decided to tour Sapporo brewery museum. It’s in one of the oldest breweries in the country, and it’s free to do the self-guided tour. It was interesting to learn a little about the history of brewing in Japan. At the end, there’s a bar where you can sample three beers. One is the type of Sapporo only sold in Hokkaido, one is Sapporo Black that is only sold in Japan, and the other is an original recipe of the founder of the brewery. All were interesting, and seemed much better than the Sapporo we can get outside Japan. It was a fun stop!
In addition to the brewery, we wanted to do a little hiking in Sapporo. There are lots of trails near the city, but since we were limited to public transportation, we decided to hike up Mt. Moiwa. The trailhead is on the bus line, and it was easy to navigate there from downtown. The hike up is not terribly long (maybe 1-1.5 hours), with an easy-to-follow trail that winds through the lovely Moiwa Primeval Forest. There are also a few Jizo statues along the trail, which are patron deities of children and travelers.
We were surprised to hear so many Japanese people hiking with bear bells on. We knew that Hokkaido does have bears in the mountains, but we didn’t expect people would be worried about them on a trail that is basically in the city. In our travels we found that it seemed Japanese people are on the whole a cautious bunch. “Wearing a bear bell isn’t difficult, so why not wear it and be safer?” seemed to be how most people thought about it.
At the top of Mt. Moiwa there is an observation deck with a gorgeous view of the city. It’s also quite cold and windy up there. So, when we cooled off from our hike, we decided to take the ropeway down. There are also lovely views from the cable car.
For our second night in Sapporo we decided to try some butter miso ramen, which is another city specialty. We used Google maps’ ratings to find a street filled with tiny ramen places, including a very highly-rated restaurant called Haruka Ramen. It only has about 9 seats, and there was quite a line when we arrived. We decided we’d be resilient, so we got in line. And we were so glad we did! The butter miso ramen was outstanding! Yet again we were in a tiny restaurant with one chef and a helper churning out delicious food. This time the bar was set up so we could see the chef in action, and he was fantastic! He even paused his cooking to take our photo for us!
The other item on our agenda for that evening was whiskey-tasting. Adam wanted to try out some of the famous Japanese whiskey, possibly to buy a bottle or two. We’d stopped by a store that offered tastings earlier in the day, only to find out they didn’t really sell Japanese whiskey. Apparently it is so highly sought-after, it’s nearly impossible to buy. The helpful salesman at that shop had given us some ideas about where we could taste Japanese whiskey, however. So, that evening we ventured out to the place he recommended, which was a small hole-in-the-wall bar surrounded by construction that we never would have found otherwise. It was such fun! The bartender was great! She recommended wonderful whiskeys to try, as well as some gins.
We only stayed in Sapporo two nights, so on our last day we decided to go for more sushi before heading out on the train to our AirBnb in Biei. This time we found an even better sushi place, and got to have some more uni, as well as delectable scallops. When we made it to the train station to head out of town we were full of deliciousness, and ready for the next adventure.
From Sapporo we took the train to Biei, which is a small town on the local line east of Asahikawa. The AirBnB Angie booked was outside of town, so our host had offered to pick us up at the train. We were lucky to have a beautiful clear view of the mountains as he drove us up to his place. The house itself was in a wonderful location with an outstanding view of the mountains. In addition, there was an outdoor bath that had the same amazing view. We had happened upon that AirBnB because we had trouble finding anything else. Luckily, it was a great place and a lovely quiet stop on the way to the Mt. Asahi-dake area.
We just stayed at the AirBnB one night, then we retraced our train journey back to Asahikawa. Our next stop: Mt. Asahi-dake and the onsen hotel!
