4/23 – Sapporo Daytrip from Otaru

Up and out early – as we mentioned, the bonus of having an overnight in Otaru is that we can get to Sapporo early and spend more time there without stressing on the way back. So off we go to the train station in the early hours of the morning, walking past the dog statue that is dressed in a sweater and cap to keep him warm? (It’s a statue! They dress every dog up regardless obviously!) And on past the old Temiya Line railway tracks – now a park and walking area. This is the site of the first railway in Hokkaido, developed so the government could transport all the coal in the area, using, as the sign so plainly states, locomotives from the U.S. – particularly from Pittsburgh, PA! How cool is that?

Easily arriving at the train station, tapping our Suica cards, we are on the virtually empty 7:03 train to Sapporo. Knowing full well the train won’t stay empty, we grab seats and watch the scenery pass by, until we can’t see a thing through the forest of people as the train gets fuller and fuller with every stop. Definitely packed rush hour local train! A must experience in Japan – especially if you have seats and can just watch the coordinated and orderly jamming onto the train cars.

45 minutes later we are in Sapporo unscathed and ready to explore. As we are way early – too early to go into the clock tower or TV tower – we stop for a coffee at Tully’s and then wander our way to Odori park in search of cherry blossoms, passing by the Old Clock Tower that we will visit in a about ½ an hour when they open.

Cherry blossoms are scant, but there are at least some here. The rest of the park is a mix of trees, walkways and a lot of construction. Anchored on one end by the TV Tower – our 2^nd destination – and the mountains on the other, it would be a lovely place to walk and relax in the sunshine…once the construction is finished, that is.

Retracing our steps, we arrive back at the clock tower, waiting on the porch only a few minutes before they open. The building dates back to 1878, originally built as the main building of the Sapporo Agricultural College, designed based on the vision of Dr. William Smith Clark, the then President of Massachusetts Agricultural college who was invited to Hokkaido along with other American educators to set up the college. The building was used for military training (the Meiji government created what was called “agricultural soldiers,” or Tondenhei, for the defense of Hokkaido against Russia and other northern countries) as well as lecture rooms, and a hall for entrance and graduation ceremonies. Dr. Clark then became the first president of the Sapporo Agricultural College, famously saying “We don’t need rigorous rules, What I expect from students is to just ‘Be gentle.’” He also was famous for telling his students, “Boys, be ambitious” as he left the college in 1877.

The clock tower itself was built in 1881, in the Martial Arts Hall, it is the only remaining clock tower of the 72 built between 1872 and 1912 when the Meiji Government was trying to familiarize the population with the western calendar system that had just been introduced. As the population of Sapporo began to grow exponentially, the college itself was moved and incorporated into the University in 1903. The Martial Arts Hall was given to the city and over the years became a public hall, municipal library and finally the historical museum we see today.

The museum holds a ton of historical information, from books and agricultural information, to displays and exhibits on the city, the growth of the population (see the great photo mapping out where the old college used to be in what is now high-rises and other modern buildings), a passport doll! (love those things), lots of information on the clock operation as well as a selfie spot for us and Dr. Clark. Fun little historical lesson on Sapporo in the days of old.

Next up, we walk back to the TV tower, now fully open, show our combo ticket and hop in the elevator for a slow ride up to the top viewing area. The views are fantastic from up here – you can see all over the sprawling city. They are particularly gorgeous to the east where the snow capped mountains are visible way in the distance. You can also see the full length of Odari park stretching virtually all the way across the city.

Getting our fill of the views, we hop into the happily decorated elevator for another slow ride down to the basement floor in search of the final stamps we need to complete our TV Tower postcard (love these postcard stamp station – they are so fun – and produce such incredible artwork!). The basement level is full of restaurants, but it is far too early to eat yet – plus our plan is to eat at the Sapporo Brewery Museum (because even though pricey, it’s THE original brewery, so how can we not?) – so only stamp collecting it is.

Postcard complete, we head out into the cold windy day to walk the 30-minutes to the brewery, passing by a neat looking old style church and making a pit stop at the Sapporo Beer Factory Mall. Yes, that’s right, a beer mall. Well, sort of. The original factory (the red brick building) is now an entertainment and performance hall with a brewpub on the back side, facing the mall. The mall itself is a massive new multi-story building that is located on the property, complete with a Sapporo can for an elevator!

Continuing on our walk, we pass a few meager Sakura trees, some fun artwork on buildings, cut through a parking lot (thank you Google Maps!) behind the Nippon Fighters Baseball training facility to arrive at the Sapporo Beer Museum.

We are still too early for the 11am museum opening, so we walk around a bit in what could only be called a campus (tons of buildings, tons of restaurant halls, gift shops, etc.) enjoying much better Sakura tree blossoms here.

Lining up at the appointed time, we are the 2^nd in, making a bee-line to the no reservation restaurant line. We had missed the window to book a table in advance and were happily surprised that the reservation host could get us a table at 11:30, when the beer garden hall first opens. Perfect! Reservation coupon in hand, we proceeded to the museum, which was full of great displays and the entire history of Sapporo – from creation of the Kaitakushi brewery by an upper-class warrior who had traveled to England and learned about modern industry to the first shipment of cold beer to Tokyo to the change from State owned (and thus, the red star on the label which was the logo of the Hokkaido Development Commission) to private company to the consolidation of different breweries under the Sapporo roof. All very fascinating and very text heavy!

Alongside the history are a myriad of advertising posters, old beer bottles and labels as well as photographs documenting the old brewery. A nice little interlude before our lunch.

Arriving at the beer garden a little early, we take a few photos of the building and surrounding park before being admitted into the huge original factory building. Escorted upstairs, we are the first to be seated at a lovely little table in the corner of the cavernous hall. The menu focuses on grilled meat – that you grill yourself on the table in front of you – the Genghis Kahn set meal of grilled lamb being the most popular. But we weren’t really interested in all that food – we wanted smaller ala carte dishes – so ordered what turned out to be a great feast of Rolled Lamb Sausage, Lamb dry-cured Ham (which was delivered by a robot!!), Lamb Dumplings and Sapporo’s famous ramen salad with sesame dressing. All, oh so good! Oh and an excellent baby mug of wine and really good mug of dark beer.

As we are leaving, we hit the gift shop and find a lovely bear friend with whom to pose (we miss our bears and here in Hokkaido we can get our fill of them as they are the island symbol and virtually everywhere!) as well as a couple of really cool t-shirts for both of us. And the cute bird cookies we couldn’t resist.

Then it was back to the train, at a station much closer to the brewery than Sapporo station. Perfect. Only a 15-minute walk as opposed to a 35-minute walk. On the train, we managed to grab 2 seats and settled into our hour long ride back to Otaru.

Successfully back in our port town, we find a huge bonus as we are leaving the train station: A huge Don Quixote! Shopping time! More Kit Kats, more snacks, plus a new portable battery for our phones – for only $10. Can’t beat these prices! On our way out, we just had to sneak videos of the UFO Catchers (those big arcade machines that are everywhere in Japan). These things are crazy, and make such a racket. There is even one with butter inside as the prize. Seriously – butter!

Shopping complete, we head back to the ship, running into Charles, one of our fav and fab bartenders, with his monstrous bags full of Kit Kats and other goodies from Don Quixote! We have bonded already, but it is now a forever Kit Kat bond that holds us together! Back in the cabin, we organize our loot, then sit on the balcony for a gorgeous sail away.