Day 05 is when we finished the first segment of our 15-day trip and headed to its main event: a ten-day stay in Hokkaido. We’d initially booked an 8AM ANA flight from Haneda to New Chitose Airport. Hotel Mystays Haneda is just ten minutes away from Haneda Airport, so we availed ourselves of the early morning complimentary shuttle bus service and arrived at the airport two hours before departure. And at check-in, the ANA officer asked if we’d like to bring forward our flight to an earlier one at 7AM. Since we were all ready and good to go, why not — we’d have an additional hour to spend in Sapporo on the first day. Unfortunately, that meant we gave up our already reserved window seats — and in retrospect, seeing that the morning weather was wonderfully clear over Hokkaido, the fact that I couldn’t get any pictures of the now snow-covered landscapes turned out to be a painful sacrifice for this extra hour.
Our place of stay in Sapporo is Vessel Inn Sapporo Nakajima Park. The property is just over 2km from Sapporo Station. If I was traveling alone, I might have just walked it — even with luggage. But with kids and in winter, it’s a different story. So we ducked into a cab to bring us to the hotel. Thankfully, the fare wasn’t as bad as I had mentally prepared myself for: just ¥1,150 including tax. One thing about getting into Japanese cabs so far: the flag-down rates are high, about ¥670 — so I didn’t feel too bad about the short distances traveled each ride, assuming that cab drivers in Japan also like longer fares like their counterparts in Singapore. Check-in time at the hotel was at 2PM, and the cheerful cab uncle brought us to the hotel doorstep just before 11AM. So, luggage deposited at the hotel, we headed back to Sapporo Station for an Italian lunch, then to our first place of visit: Shiroikoibito Park.
The park comprises numerous very pretty Tudor-styled buildings that house the public areas of the Ishiya Chocolate Factory, the Hokkaido company that specialises in sweet treats and chocolates. We’d initially planned to sign the kids up for a cookie-making workshop. But upon seeing the prices involved — and that the workshop would also require an additional and separate admission fee into the factory itself — we concluded the workshop just wasn’t value for money anymore for our party of four. And the wife quipped that she could just as well run a similar cookie-making lesson for the kids when we’re back home. The general consensus online also notes that the admission prices into the factory are very high, and a number of other visitors say it’s just not worth the expense. So, we settled for exploring the park — which does not require admission fees.
Finding the park was a cinch: basically, take a train on the Tozai Line from Odori Station, alight at Miyanosawa Station, leave via Exit 2, walk in the reverse direction, and after two minutes, you’d see the huge billboard at the top of the Ishiya Chocolate Factory building just a few more minutes’ walk away.
Shiroikoibito Park done and we were still well ahead of our scheduled timing before the next itinerary item: an ascent up Mt. Moiwa for sunset and evening photography. So we headed back to Odori Park for some time for the kids to play with the bit of snow there. The snow layer, of course, is minimal, but the kids didn’t seem to mind and they had a ball of a time making tennis-ball-sized spheres for snowball fights.
Next post: up Mt. Moiwa!
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