Sapporo
2026-06-22 JST
It’s been a pretty uneventful day. We hopped on NH7 and we departed from SFO at 12:15 June 21 PDT. We’re set to arrive at Narita (NRT) at 22:43 PDT (14:44 June 22 JST). I’m currently writing this at 21:40 PDT and I’ve just finished eating dinner. The airplane meals were alright. I watched The Wolf of Wall Street using the in-flight entertainment. Other than that, it’s been boring. After landing at Narita, we’re gonna have to go through customs and then transfer to NH2155 to get to Sapporo. We’ll land at CTS at 19:30 JST and we’re gonna take a train from the airport to our hotel, which will be about another hour.
Airplane food:
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2026-06-23
We grabbed breakfast from FamilyMart. I ate a fami-chiki and egg salad sandwich. After that we went to Hohei Kan (didn’t go inside), Odori Park, Sapporo Clock Tower and Hokkaido Aka Renga (Red Brick Building). There was a guide at the clock tower who spoke a bit of English and he explained the clock tower’s history. We ate lunch at the Hokkaido University Museum Cafe. I had an omurice. After looking around the museum, we went to the School of Engineering and Poplar Avenue. We then went to Pole Town and Tanukikoji Shopping Street. After shopping we went back to the hotel. We ate dinner at MiSHER’S (ミッシャーズ), which was close to the hotel and I had some tacos. Now I’m back in the hotel and going to sleep early because we have to wake up early tomorrow to join a tour.
Odori Park Miku manhole cover:
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Sapporo Clock Tower:
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Red Brick Building:
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Hokkaido University Physics Department mascot:
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2026-06-24
I was forced to wake up at 6:00 today. We went to FamilyMart before realizing it opened at 7:00 so we had to go back and wait. I got another egg salad sandwich for breakfast. We were supposed to leave the hotel at 7:20 but ended up leaving at 7:38 for some reason. Then we missed the train to Sapporo because I didn’t want to jaywalk this time and that cost like 5 minutes (my mom ended up malding about this the whole way there). We were supposed to get on the tour bus at Sapporo Station at 8:00 and we arrived at the station at 7:50. Then we took the wrong exit and we ended up getting there at 8:05 after sprinting from the subway station to the north exit of the JR station. I’m on the bus now and we’re on the highway. The tour guide (James) said it would take 2 hours to get to Furano and that there would be a bathroom break halfway through.
First we went to the Panoramic Flower Gardens Shikisai-no-oka (43.528923, 142.464754). I ate a potato croquette, melon ice cream, white corn, and a venison sausage. We rented a golf cart and drove around the flower garden. The weather was pretty good today, unlike yesterday. My shoes and pants were basically drenched yesterday. We then went to Shirogane Blue Pond (43.492701,142.613019). The pond was a turqoise color today. We then got more ice cream (it was blue this time) and I drank some milk. Then we went to Shirahige Waterfall (43.474685,142.638812). After looking at the waterfall we went to Herb Garden Furano (43.476636,142.456372) to eat lunch and buy some herb souvenirs. I had a chicken tempura don. Then we went to Farm Tomita (43.418206,142.428192) and looked at their lavender fields. That was our final stop before returning to Sapporo. Another two hours later we hopped off the bus at Odori and ate at Soup Curry Lavi (8th floor of Le Trois). Finally, we went back to the hotel. We have another tour tomorrow so I have to wake up early again.
Lavender at Panoramic Flower Garden:
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Shirogane Blue Pond:
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Shirahige Waterfall:
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Farm Tomita:
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Farm Tomita lavender close-up:
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2026-06-25
Today I woke up at 6:00 again and this time we were going to get picked up at Odori Station. We arrived there at 7:15 and got breakfast at Doutor. I had a beef sandwich. Then we boarded the tour bus and left Sapporo at 8:00. We arrived at Cape Kamui at 10:00. We hiked up to the lighthouse and back, which took an hour total. There were sections of the trail that were narrow, steep, and crowded, and it was hot outside, but the view was good. Then we went to Otaru Canal and arrived at 13:00. We were originally planning to get on a boat, so we got lunch at FamilyMart since we wouldn’t have enough time to go to a restaurant, but then we got told that the boat ride was cancelled due to high waves, so we went shopping instead. I got a purple potato churro at OTARUchurros. I bought a glass pen at Kitaichi Venezia Museum. We ate parfaits at LeTAO. We saw the Otaru Steam Clock. We went shopping at the Otaru Music Box Museum. It was a huge store with three floors filled with all sorts of music boxes. I bought a music box that plays “Idol” by YOASOBI. We ran back to the bus because we spent too long shopping and made it back in time for our 15:00 departure. Our final stop was Shiroi Koibito Park. It was a European-themed chocolate factory and they had a performance at 16:00 where a bunch of animatronics were singing. Finally, at 16:10, we departed for Sapporo and arrived around 17:00. I browsed animate on the way back to the hotel. After grabbing water from FamilyMart and dumping all our shopping bags at the hotel, we went to a soba restaurant about one minute away and had dinner. I had a tempura zaru soba. We don’t have any tours planned tomorrow so I won’t have to wake up early.
Cape Kamui entrance:
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Cape Kamui coastline:
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Cape Kamui Lighthouse:
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Kamui Rock:
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Cape Kamui hike:
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Otaru Canal:
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Steam Clock:
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“Idol” Music Box:
Shiroi Koibito Park:
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2026-06-26
Today I woke up at 9:00 and lazed around until 10:30. We went to Nijo Market (seafood market) and ate at Ohiso (2nd store). I had the sea urchin, salmon roe, and king crab bowl. I also had crab soup. After eating, we shared a 600 yen slice of melon. Then we took a tram to Mt. Moiwa Ropeway. We took the ropeway to the summit station and took some photos. It was very windy up there. Afterwards, we went back down and visited the Waterworks Museum. They had some cool exhibits but I wish I could read Japanese. We then took the tram back to Susukino and I played maimai with my sister at Round1. We played three games and left at 17:15. We ate dinner at Saizeriya and I had escargots, hamburg steak, tiramisu, and pudding. We stopped at FamilyMart on the way to the hotel to get water and snacks. After getting home, we snacked some more and I registered for Fall 2026 classes at Johns Hopkins.
Ohiso seafood bowl:
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Mt. Moiwa Summit:
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Waterworks Museum:
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maimai:
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2026-06-27
I woke up at 7:00 today and went on my phone for 2 hours. We went to eat souffle pancakes at A Happy Pancake. We arrived at 10:00 (opening time). I would say it’s less fluffy and more eggy than Gram. It came with caramel sauce instead of maple syrup, which I didn’t notice at first. The butter also had cheese whipped into it (cream cheese?). It was delicious, but very unhealthy. Next, we went to Hokkaido Shrine. I think someone was getting married there. We took some pictures and drew some omikuji. I got a good fortune and I will allegedly meet the girl of my dreams. Next we went to the Sapporo Beer Museum, which was a twenty minute walk from Bus Center Mae station. After arriving, they told us it was reservation only, so we got souvenirs at the gift shop and ate soft serve instead. We walked back to Bus Center Mae station and wanted to rent some bikes from Porocle and ride them along the river, but they didn’t allow registration using non-Japanese phone numbers, so we took the train to Susukino and played maimai at Round1 instead. After playing maimai for about an hour, we went to Ganso Ramen Alley to find a place to eat dinner. We ended up choosing Kunimitsu Ramen Yokocho and I got corn butter ramen. After eating ramen, we went to Pole Town and bought cheese tarts and apple pies from KINOTOYA BAKE, which we then took home.
Souffle pancakes:
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Hokkaido Shrine:
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My omikuji:
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Sapporo Beer Museum:
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Ganso Ramen Alley:
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Corn butter ramen:
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2026-06-28
Today we woke up at 6:00 again for a tour. We went to Sapporo Station and ate breakfast at the Family Mart outside the station. I had a Fami-chiki and melon pan. Then we got on the tour bus at 8:00 and headed to our first destination. We arrived at the Moai statues (42.922124,141.362493) at about 8:30. They also had a Stonehenge there. We took some pictures and ate lavender ice cream. Next, we went to Jozankei Futami Park and arrived at 10:00. We walked around and took photos on the suspension bridge. Then, we went to Toya National Park Silo Observation Deck at 12:00. There, we saw Lake Toya, which is massive. Apparently it’s a caldera lake formed by a depression caused by a volcanic eruption 110,000 years ago. After taking pictures at the lake and buying snacks, we got dropped off at Seicomart Toyatanaka (42.565111,140.821189) at 12:40. For some reason, there were a lot of cosplayers and a bunch of itasha at the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit. We ate lunch at レストランかわなみ (42.565516,140.818408) and I had an unagi kamameshi. The restaurant was on the second floor and we sat next to the window so we had a good view of Lake Toya. We finished eating and walked around the G8 summit. There were a lot of people there, most of them cosplaying, and there was a row of food stalls. Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay longer than a few minutes because our tour bus was leaving. Next, we went to Shōwa-Shinzan Bear Ranch at 14:00. It lowkey felt inhumane seeing the bears locked up in something that looked like a prison complex, but it was fun throwing food at them. Our final stop was Shikotsu-Toya National Park (42.497400,141.146432). It smelled like sulfur and it was about 70 degrees Fahrenheit (which felt warm compared to the rest of our stay in Hokkaido). The sulfur smell was from the hot springs. We walked around Jigokudani Valley and took photos. We left at 16:30 and arrived back at Sapporo at 18:00. We ate at Soup Curry Suage4 and went home.
Moai Statues:
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Stonehenge:
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Suspension bridge:
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River beneath suspension bridge:
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Lake Toya:
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Event at G8:
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Unagi kamameshi:
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Bears in cages:
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Bear raising its paw:
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Bear catching food (no audio):
Jigokudani Valley:
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Soup curry:
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2026-06-29
Today I woke up at 6:30 because the sun was too bright and the towel I was using as eye covers was too thin. I worked on adding more photos to my blog for about 2 hours. We went to FamilyMart to eat breakfast at 9:00 and I had a Fami-chiki and an egg salad sandwich. While I was working on my blog, my mom packed up all our things into our suitcases because we’re leaving for Tokyo today and our check-out time was 10:00. We took the train to Kitasanjuyojo Station and took the bus to New Chitose Airport, which was cheaper than going to Sapporo Station and taking the Chitose Line (JR). The bus had power outlets and free wifi, which was nice. I spent 50 more minutes uploading images to my blog. There was a nice Japanese woman on the bus who could speak English and helped us get to the JAL domestic terminal. We started checking in our bags but we went 7 kg overweight because my mom didn’t realize the weight limit per bag was 20 kg. After paying for the excess weight, we went through security and waited to board the plane. I tried looking for a water fountain but there weren’t any so I ended up buying a 500 mL water bottle for 171 yen. We boarded the Airbus A350-900 for JAL 510 and took off. They have a camera on the front and tail of the plane that you can watch. After watching the take-off, the flight attendants came by serving drinks and I had peach and grape juice. After landing and grabbing our baggage, we boarded a bus to Kamata Station. We mistakenly took the 41 instead of the 95, which was a local bus and took us through 17 stops instead of 3, costing us about 15 minutes. After dropping our baggage off at the hotel, we went to eat Saizeriya. I had escargots, carbonara, an apple tart and gelato. After eating, me and my sister played four games of maimai at Silk Hat. Finally, we went home. The internet in this hotel is so much better than the one in Sapporo. The one in Sapporo was both slow and would randomly die. It’s also warm and humid in Tokyo right now.
Airplane camera, tail view:
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