Day 13 - Rest Day (Sapporo)

12th February, 2003 - After the last few days, we had a rest day (on our last full day in Sapporo). It was also the perfect opportunity to do something typically Aussie stoopid. Like eat icecream in your t-shirt outside. Don't ask - Just STOOPID! Anyway, it was a much needed chance for T-chan to catch up with her mum, after being away for 6 months. I sometimes forgot that for me it was an adventure of a lifetime (or to that point at least) - but to her, it was coming home.


The last day we had a family get together - a last meal - at Sapporo Beer Factory. No - it's not a beer diet, but rather a Jingisukan restaurant (i.e. a Mongolian Mutton BBQ that is one of the highlights of coming to Sappporo food-wise...named after Genghis Khan). I LOVE IT!. The funny thing is that they give you these little plastic bags to put your coats in - and a nifty little plastic apron to wear... coz the atmosphere is absolutely full with the smell of cooking meat, and you end up absorbing it in your clothes, hair, and possibly even your soul (it's that good).

We had a long evening that night... lots of drinking (otousan), and lots of eating. It was also the time when the questions started getting more difficult, "so what are your plans with our daughter?" Gulp. The moment of truth. Let's just say that things turned out well, although the other guests may have been a bit bemused as to why there was so much crying going on at the table with funny looking gaijin.

It was a good night, as befitted the last in Sapporo. Little did I know then that I would be back before too long, for an even more painful moment of truth. This is the last day in Sapporo. Next stop - a return to Tokyo... but the holiday had changed completely now, and in a way it had already climaxed. Thus ended the second chapter of our great first trip to Japan.... Stay tuned!