Walking in Maeda Shinrin-koen

12th October, 2006 - Needing a bit of time together, T-chan and I headed off to Maeda Shinrin-koen, where we'd done our X-country skiing way back in 2003. In Autumn the place looks completely different... instead of a wide expanse of snow, we see an environment of green, with a just a few splashes of red as the weather cools and Autumn starts to take hold. The clouds roll through, but there's no real threat of cold/wet weather coming. It's the perfect place to have a chat about things like parenting as there's plenty of space to let your thoughts go free.


It's a great park to walk, and in spring and summer it's also a great locale to see a veriety of blooms. Now there's not much to see flower-wise. Winter approaches.

In this part of Sapporo, Teine-yama dominates the skyline. It's not the most mountainous of mountains - yet it's still stands at over 1,000m in height. There's something imposing about the mountain top. Perhaps it's the winter memory from the last trip - or perhaps it's simply the dangerous looking array of antanae spikes that run down its spine. It always seems to be keeping a watchful and protective eye over all that happens beneath it.

The walk on this day may not have been enough to get our heads around our soon-to-be-parent-status, but it helped. It was also a nice place to just get out and walk in the open. To get there is about 30 mins drive from the centre of Sapporo. Entry is free.

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Back at home... we had a typical cook-at-the-table meal ready for us - this night was Oden, which is a very traditional Japanese winter food. In fact, you often see it in convenience stores nowadays during the colder months. This is not my favourite however.

With T-chan pregnant, it was a common for her to be the last to leave the table. When you can't taste what you're eating though, there's not much enjoyment in it.


Everyone was full...Even T-chan's cat. What a life.