Japan Trips & Travel Tips

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/kahyuen on 2024-02-26 21:04:18.

I just returned from my latest trip to Japan. Similar to the last time I went to Japan in November 2022, here's another long writeup of my experience.

BACKGROUND

• This was my fourth time overall in Japan, and once again I traveled to Japan alone. My primary focuses when traveling are photography and trying out local food.
• I did not get a JR Pass because of the price hike last year. Even with how many trains I needed to take for this itinerary, it did not add up to be enough to be worth it. Plus almost every one of my trains were shinkansen or limited express requiring reservations, so the convenience value of the JR Pass was basically zero anyway.
• I got an eSIM from Airalo, which was much better than getting a pocket WiFi. I used the 10 GB plan for 15 days and it was enough.
• I brought a large suitcase on this trip, but did not take it to all of my stops since my itinerary involved lots of one night stays. I shipped it from Sapporo to Kanazawa, then again from Kanazawa to Tokyo. In between those, when I was staying at hotels for only one night at a time, I just had a duffel bag. My suitcase carried all the clothes I didn't need and all the souvenirs I bought.
• Like all my trips, I had an itinerary all written out but had lots of flexibility. I didn't make any restaurant reservations this time around because of how much intercity traveling I had to do.

REPORT

2/9 SAPPORO

• Landed at New Chitose at 7:45am. I took a bus that stopped a block away from my hotel, Hotel Tokyu Stay Sapporo Odori. At this point it was 10am, and I dropped off all my luggage and headed back out to explore the city.
• First thing I did was visit the Sapporo Beer Museum. The museum itself wasn't all that interesting, but the tasting set from the beer hall was a nice start to the trip. I tried going to the restaurant here but they were full.
• Headed back downtown to get lunch. I tried going to Soup Curry Garaku, but they weren't accepting walk-ins. Down the street was Soup Curry King, and after a short wait in line I was seated. I ordered the pork curry which was a great filling meal to begin my trip with.
• After lunch I headed to Odori Park for the Sapporo Snow Festival. At this point the snow was really coming down and I was still adjusting to the temperature, so I couldn't take many photos without my hands freezing up. I walked a few circles around the park to see what I could. I decided to come back to the park later at night. I headed to Sapporo Government Building but it is under renovation. Then I saw the Clock Tower. Finally I went to a Rokkatei shop and picked up a few cookies there. At this point it was snowing hard so I decided to take a break at the hotel.
• I rested in my hotel for two hours before heading out to the Snow Festival to see it at night. The snow stopped and it wasn't windy so it was a lot more comfortable walking around. I checked out a few more sculptures and food stalls, and also went up to the top of Sapporo TV Tower.
• I wanted to get jingisukan for dinner. I considered going to one of the many Daruma branches but as I walked in that direction there was a restaurant across from my hotel, Hiratsuka, that had minimal wait so I just settled on that. I ordered a set with different cuts, plus green onion rice with egg, and a ridiculously really large lemon sour.

2/10 SAPPORO

• First thing in the morning I went to Hill of the Buddha. Spent about an hour at the park to see the Buddha statue and the moai statues, then got on a bus back to downtown.
• I went to Kani Honke near Sapporo Station for lunch. I got there just as it opened so I didn't have to wait even without a reservation. I ordered a variety of snow crab and king crab dishes including sashimi.
• After lunch, I walked around at Maruyama Park and Hokkaido Shrine. I walked back toward the train station after and took a bus to Sapporo Fushimi Inari. Not as impressive as the one in Kyoto, but still interesting to see in the snow. It's a hill, so walking to the top was a pain with the ice. It's interesting that they have so many signs here telling people not to take photos, but there's absolutely no enforcement for it so everyone does anyway.
• From that shrine, I walked over to the Mt. Moiwa Ropeway. The plan was to see sunset from the observatory. However just as I ascended the mountain and sunset was approaching, it began snowing and clouded the famous view from the top. Since there wasn't anything to see from the observatory at that point, I just bought some stuff from the gift shop. I headed back down the ropeway, and once below the snow clouds the view of the city was visible but it was difficult to photograph in a crowded cable car.
• I went to Ramen Alley for dinner, and checked out the ice sculptures in Susukino along the way. I initially considered Haruka but it closed its line as soon as I got there. I decided to go for Teshikaga. The only issue here was that the lines here were really unorganized because of how crowded every shop was, and I ended up lined up for a different ramen shop. After an hour of waiting in the wrong line, I shifted over to the correct line and waited another 30 minutes. Food was worth it though! I got the miso ramen and some zangi (fried chicken).

2/11 ASAHIKAWA AND OTARU

• The snow was coming down hard in Sapporo this day but I had planned on doing day trips this day, and it wasn't snowing outside of Sapporo. I took a train to Asahikawa at 8am. Once in Asahikawa I took a bus to the Asahiyama Zoo. The line for the bus was pretty crazy and I didn't get to the zoo until about 10:45am.
• Got to the zoo in time to see the 11am penguin march. It's really cute! But it happens really quickly, and it's a struggle against other tourists trying to give themselves the best view. The rest of the zoo is pretty interesting too so I'd recommend staying to see at least a few other animals. I had lunch in the cafeteria area and then went to see the polar bears, wolves, tigers, and red pandas. After a few hours at the zoo I headed back to Asahikawa Station and got onto the train around 3pm back to Sapporo.
• I then headed to Otaru. First thing I did there was the local branch of Popura Farm to try "Santa Claus' beard" i.e. ice cream served on top of melon. Was expensive but pretty good!
• Next I walked down to the Otaru Canal to see the Snow Light Path Festival. There isn't as much to see here compared to the Sapporo Snow Festival obviously, but it's really pretty when lit up at night, and not nearly as crowded. Definitely worth checking out if you can overlap your trip to see both festivals.
• Final stop of the night was dinner at Naruto. They are most famous for their fried chicken so I got that, as well as some sushi and grilled squid.

2/12 SAPPORO TO NOBORIBETSU

• This morning was also the Super Bowl back home! I had to follow it on my phone as I went around in the morning. I began by visiting Ohiso in Nijo Market and getting kaisendon and a grilled mackerel. After, I walked around in the market to try to buy some last minute famous Sapporo foods including a small box of fresh melon chunks. Then I went back to my hotel to finish packing and continue watching the game. At checkout, I had the hotel ship my luggage to Kanazawa.
• Around 11:45am I decided to get another meal, so I stopped by another jingisukan restaurant near my hotel called Matsuo. The jingisukan here was done differently than the one I had previously because they added sauce to the vegetables rather than just let them grill with the meat. Throughout all of this I was watching with my hopes up of a 49er victory in the Super Bowl.
• I had a reservation for Ryotei Hanayura in Noboribetsu, and they have a shuttle for customers arriving from Sapporo that meets at Sapporo TV Tower. It was still a bit early, plus the Super Bowl went into overtime, so I sat in Odori Park with my eyes glued to my phone. The game ended with a Niners loss, and, very appropriately, a bunch of snow from the tree branch above me fell on me as we lost.
• Got on my shuttle bus depressed about the outcome of the game, intent on boiling in my misery once I got to the onsen. Around sunset I walked over to Jigokudani, and then checked out some local shops before heading back to the hotel. I spent the rest of the night in the hotel, from eating the kaiseki meal to using the private onsen.

2/13 NOBORIBETSU TO HAKODATE

• I woke up early so I tried out the public onsen in the hotel with no one else around, then went to the breakfast buffet. Before I checked out of my room I used the private onsen once more as I finished packing.
• Next stop was Lake Toya. From Toya Station I took a bus to the lake. By the lake, I went to a popular but cozy restaurant called Boyotei and ordered a Hamburg steak. After lunch I walked over to the lake. I walked back to the bus stop after and took the bus back down to the JR station to take the train to Hakodate.
• I got to Hakodate just after sunset. I dropped off my stuff at the JR Inn Hakodate just next to the station, then caught a bus to try to go to Goryokaku Tower. I thought that the tower would still be open because the star shaped park had an illumination event that was advertised as ending at 7pm daily. However I got to the tower at 6:15pm and the signs said it had closed at 6pm. Seems kinda ridiculous that the illumination...

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