Having a Whale of a Time... Noushi-Kouen

30th April, 2009 - This is just a quick post to highlight some more of the parks around Sapporo... and the sort of variety you get here. Noushi-Kouen is a nice small park with some really interesting features. The most obvious attraction in this park is the pool with it's huge whales with water fountains. Come summer this park is  a great place for children to take their bathers and go for a splash.

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There's a lot of different things to do here... and whilst there's a preponderance for concrete the great thing is that there's a lot of different sorts of spaces available. We came back here last year, and I'll post about this park again.

The park's quite large and there's plenty of running room - and despite appearances, there's also plenty of grass to play on as well. Overall, this is one of L-kun's favourite parks during the hotter months. During April it was too cool to go for a splash however.

Birthday Wishes... A Snowboy for my Birthday

26th April, 2009 - Well, one of the downsides of living across two countries (even for short periods) is that invariably you're going to miss important events. This trip it was going to be my birthday. So I received some electronic and skype birthday wishes instead... but L-kun had other things on his mind. Like snow. Now - I have to admit I was surprised that by the end of April there could still be snow in Sapporo.... yet here it was.

I feel sorry for Otousan... L-kun's looking bigger and bigger by the day.

Ok - it might not win any awards as far as snowfall goes (and I can't imagine anyone dusting off the ski's) but still, it was quite surprising to see so much snow coming down. L-kun was not so much surprised as delighted. I'm sure he thought it was Christmas time, not Daddy's birthday!

Meanwhile... Daddy had a very quiet birthday back here in Adelaide... which never sees snow in Spring (or winter for that matter). I'm kinda glad however that L-kun could enjoy some more snow fun.

Otaru....Sapporo's (Double) Date Spot

11th April, 2009 - Now Otaru is a short drive from our house, and it also happens to be one of the major "touristy" places in and around Sapporo... so we've been here many times before (like here and here). So I've  written about Otaru a lot... but that shouldn't stop me writing again... should it? Now... a reminder of where Otaru is... if you catch the JR Hokkaido line it will cost you around 620yen and take about 30 mintues from Sapporo Station.

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So here we are again in Marchen Square (don't ask me why it's called that)... this is the centre of activities but  it actually lies to one end of the main shopping street, Sakai-machi. The reason we were here... a double date - but more of that later.

The Otaru Orgel Doh stands in the background

One of must-see places is the Otaru Orgel Doh, which is a magical place that just sells Orgels, or music boxes of all (and I mean ALL) shapes and sizes from the very small to the HUGE (and very expensive). Now, if you're like me, you most probably not a big time fan of music boxes - I mean, lets face it, who other than pre-teen girls have music boxes?

Well... apparently a lot of people. And the variety that you can see here (and this is just a small fraction of the shop) indicates a life-long job that for serious collectors. The great thing about the shop is that even if you're not into music boxes, you can still enjoy the amazing sensory assault delight that is the Orgel Doh. 

Actually - no camera's allowed... but...

And - yet another plug for LeTAO le Chocolat cafeteria, also in Marchen Square. Don't forget to grab a free sample on the way past.

The good thing about a lot of Japanese places for the foreign tourist is that the sporadic use of English makes it slightly easier to guess what's going on. Actually, this cafe was one that we had enjoyed on our first trip and is worth a look inside (at least it was). It's a little bit touristy, but for Otaru that's par for the course. Grab a coffee and relax after looking at all of those music boxes.... it's just across from the Otaru Orgel Doh.

Well, the main reason we were in Otaru was because older T-chan's brother (H-kun) had come back to Sapporo with his girlfriend... and soon to be fiance (S-chan). Now, we're actually going to go over to Japan in the next few months to  attend their wedding in Tokyo, and a little closer to the day, we might do a bit of a story on H-kun... but for now, let's leave the two lovebirds alone... And Otaru is a good place for lovebirds to spend time alone in. Especially for a daburu dēto... a double date. Ooooh - how exciting.

Speaking of lovebirds... here's a nice family shot of just me, T-chan (mystery woman as usual) and our lovely son...er... T-chan, did we leave L-kun back at the Ampanman shop by any chance?....

Actually, the building style is quite different in Otaru, heavily influenced as it was from early European influence - and there remains a strong presence of especially Russians in and around Otaru. I've never been to Otaru in the middle of a snowy winter, so I can't really say what it would be like. I know a lot of people have complained about how cold it can get, but I suspect that's pretty well anywhere in/around Sapporo outside the underground shopping during a snow storm. However, during Spring / Summer / Autumn it's a beautiful day trip from Sapporo.

There are also a lot of very nice cafe's in Otaru (as well as the overly touristy ones)... here's a nice little cafe that H-kun introduced us to, called Uminekoya.

This is a reasonable walk from the "tourist strip", and this cafe/restaurant is reasonably popular in Otaru. Especially for the exquisite and atmospheric buidling.

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Their meals are fairly Italian in style - and I had a very hearty stew. Whilst stews are not the first thing I think of when I think Italian, it's not really what you would think of when you say stew. Very yummy - and as the day was actually quite cool still, it was a nice warm-you-to-the-bones meal. They do all sorts of curries, but principally they do Pizzas, Pastas, meat dishes, salads... and if you're interested, check out the menu (and yes they also do "couple plans" for that romantic lunch/dinner). Our experience was that it was a nice place to sit down and relax. Personally, it's atmospheric, but for me not that romatic (this is a little too country rustic for a date, and the service isn't particularly brilliant). Still a good place to go and enjoy a different experience.

Well - the day was spent, like most days to Otaru, enjoy the canals, enjoying looking at music boxes, Ghibli-esque toy store called Yume no Oto, visit the many sea-food places (Otaru has some of the best fish-cakes you can buy) , and of course glass shops...and more glass shops. There's definitely a lot of walking to be done. Sometimes you just need a good sit down and relax... you never know who you might meet. Hmmm - it makes me wonder, where do statues and sculptures go for their holidays?

And there's always a great drive back (if you have a car) to Sapporo, there's always the nice (if a little dark) views across Ishikari Bay, and the still snow capped peaks along the coast. So overall, it was a very nice place for a double date, and we'll most probably see a little more of H-kun and S-chan over the next few trips I suspect - and Imight even formally introduce you guys on the blog (properly)... ?;-)

Sapporo - Play Time with the Elements

8th April, 2009 - Park Time. After indulging our cake fetish yesterday, we had to make up for lost time with L-kun, and that could mean only one thing. Park time. Now - it was well into April , and you might expect Spring to have made it's presence felt already.  And I suppose it had - the snow had all but melted from the Sapporo itself, although the mountains still loomed high above with a fairly thick coating of snow. Yet, the air itself threatened to remember that winter was not that long passed. And indeed the heavens themselves seemed ready to open in defiance. Yet T-chan and I were close enough to home that we felt reasonably confident that we could risk the weather for a run around in the park.

T-chan took L-kun to her old stamping ground... this park was right next to her old primary school, and indeed this small hill was where she learnt to ski on.

Well, skiing was out this time around, but there was still plenty of opportunities to fall down on your.... well, you know. The part built with all the padding. Daddy. And when you couldn't fall down on Daddy, there was always the ground.

One of the things that I love about Sapporo is that you're never far from the mountains, and as I mentioned in my other blog, whilst T-chan is a beach girl, I'm definitely a mountains boy. I always feel so calm and refreshed when I look out to see the backbone of the earth, rising up above the horizon. Makes me feel closer somehow to a Secret of life (no, I'm not Rhonda Byrne's ghost writer)... A stillness of the soul. A meeting place of the elements of fire, earth, air and water. Hmmm... maybe that's laying it on just a little too thick?

Anyhow, I hope that L-kun absorbs some of that magical feeling of the city, and that he comes to appreciate the wonder of the world just that little bit more. And if not, that he can appreciate it for a special kind of beauty... or at least a great, rugged backdrop to a game of ball.

And finally, one last word on parks. I think it's so great that they have these big, artificial hills around in the suburbs... in this day and age of litigiousness, it's nice to think that the council's can still allow children to be children. To learn from their bumps and bruises. And to just have fun... whether it's learning to ski, or running down a hill - and occasionally falling down. Isn't that what life is about?

You have to learn to get up after a fall, dust yourself off - and try again.

My Very Own Ski Mountain... Tobboganin' Teine

6th April, 2009 - After a couple of days, we returned once more to Teine... this time T-chan was able to join us for more fun in the snow. And like last time, we had the mountain completely to ourselves. Of course the fact that the snow was more ice than anything may have had something to do with that. Still, that doesn't stop you having fun... even the cooler (darker) weather didn't dampen our enthusiasm.

And even ojiichan get into the act. Whilst L-kun was ok going down on the sled by himself, he enjoyed it more when there was someone to judiciously apply brakes. Of course the extra weight on the sled had the counteracting effect of driving the sled down the slop even faster. As they say - swings and roundabouts. 

And not wanting L-kun to think that we were ganging up on him, both T-chan and myself gave it a go. Again, and again, and again....

And whilst the snow was poor quality (but then again, it was April), it was a great experience. Oh... there was one downside however. The problem with Spring Snow is that it has to start melting somewhere. And sometimes it starts melting in unexpected places.  

We didn't take a photo of it, but down the bottom (about 3 m from where I passed, the snow had indeed started to melt to the point that there was a 1.5 m sinkhole in the snow which would have been very messy to fall down. Ah... if I had known that I may not have had quite as much fun on the way down. It is however one of the downsides of having the mountain to yourself. No one to witness the flurry of arms and legs as they disappear with a swooosh and a shhhhhhhiiiiiii.....to be honest - danger is my middle name. Adelaide Danger Ben. Couldn't you tell.

Still, knowing the risks, I did the most appropriate thing. L-kun's turn! 

Although going down was never quite the same as going up.... but that's because he successfully negotiated all of the crevasse and assorted other death-defying dangers. L-kun's middle name was unfortunately Couch-potato.

I know parents are sometimes cruel, heartless beasts (I mean, was this some kind of bizarre punishment?). At L-kun's age - and with his lack of experience on snow - he just couldn't quite work out whether he should be enjoying himself. Daddy had no such difficulty.

We're so looking forward to enjoying another trip up to Teine this upcoming March... and I'm sure that L-kun will definitely work out which is the fun bit (and here's a hint L-kun... it's not the going up part).

Spring Time Snow... Skiing Perhaps Not, But....

3rd April, 2009 - As mentioned before, it was definitely past winter by the time we arrived in Sapporo... but that doesn't mean that you can't have some winter fun in the snow. Of course, at this time of the year the snow's pretty crappy, and no one bothers to ski (the season's well and truly finished). Heading off to Mt Teine, not that far away from Sapporo (about 22km), you can still enjoy some good sledding adventures. Especially if you're two years old.

Below is roughly where Teine sits relative to Sapporo... and if you want to check out my own adventures on Teine.

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And this was L-kun's first experience with snow....cold cold tsumetai cold snow. And how to describe his first reaction? Confusion I think described it. I mean, what sort of freezer must have produced all of this ice? And why did someone leave it lying all over the ground. Actually, he was having quite a good time playing with the snow itself.

Then again, the whole freezing your feet off, may have been a bit disconcerting as well...

And then we tried him out on the sled...or toboggan as some people call them. Well... daddy had quite a good time, but alas, it was not quite the most exciting "introduction" to snow (and sledding) that we were perhaps expecting. As L-kun glided down the hill towards obaachan and ojiichan, he wore the stoic expression that said... I will be patient - one day you will be in a retirement home and completely powerless to stop me doing embarrassing thing to you. For now, however, L-kun... you must endure the challenges set by your heartless but happy father.

I hope someone is going to catch me....

It makes me wonder - how might I have reacted at two years of age coming from a dry hot place like Australia into a cold (almost winter-wonderland) Sapporo snow mountain? I suspect I'd be similarly world-view challenged... where ice was the thing you put in your drinks, and if you were lucky was made out of cream. 

As our next trip in 2011 see's T-chan and L-kun arriving in March, we're hoping they'll have even more time to have fun in the snow. And L-kun is already asking to play in the snow (having seen the snow outside grandparents house). Fingers crossed it's not a warm or early spring in 2011. If you're in Sapporo in early Spring (noting that Spring doesn't really start to the end of April proper with the coming of the Sakura), and you have some mobility... you may want to check out the vestiges of the snow on some of the surrounding peaks, especially if you don't get a chance to see snow often.

The Winter Comes to An End... in 2009

2nd April, 2009 - Our first full day in Sapporo on our 6th trip to Japan together. Early April in Sapporo is a strange "in-between" month for weather. It's not winter (and there's very little new snow around), and Spring is starting to make an appearance...slowly. However, there remains quite a bit of snow lying around, remnants of a bitterly cold winter. Sapporo's architecture is a strange mix of styles - including the older style apartments. Actually this one has been ear-marked for renovation for a long time, but to show how difficult tenancy laws can be in Japan, the business that rents the ground floor refuses to move - hence it remains. I always thought it strange to see vending machines on the side of back-streets in Japan... and yet, I can't recall EVER having a drink from this machine - or even seeing anyone buy a drink. Is this like soft-drink mafia tactics... it's all about street domination. Japan can be a very complex country.

By the way - it's somewhat ironic that as I write this, the streets of Sapporo look quite a bit different as of today in 2011...

In the near distance, the mountains rear up, still snow covered (but not the nice powder snow that exemplifies Hokkaido - but we'll see some more of that in the next post). T-chan used to have fantastic views of the mountains from her bedroom window... but alas, the new form of architecture - the modern mansion apartments have come to increasingly close in the skyline (and the sky) from many modern Japanese residents ... and Sapporo is a relatively low density city compared to the likes of Tokyo or Osaka. The plain, bland almost colourless mansion apartments are both a good thing and bad thing for th city... they erode at the fabric of the social neighbourhood village feel, and they also herald the withdrawal of the outer regional populations into the main cities... however, they bring life, money and infrastructure to the older suburbs.

T-chan's family garden is starting to recover from the winter blanket of snow... and otousan (T-chan's father) has already taken down the yukitsuri that protects and strengthens the plants from snow... as a reminder... check here for what the garden looks like in winter. You can see in the photo above that the neighbours pine still has it's pole and rope supports up.

And whilst the maximum temperatures are still cold (and sometimes cooler) - generally around the 7 to 13 degree Celsius mark - April marks the turning point of the weather, and we all start to try and get out and about more. The reality is however that whilst there are nice blue skies on this day, it can be still quite grey and forbidding at this time of year. L-kun of course was spoilt by his Japanese grandparents whom had bought him a trike to ride. All rugged up, he decided to hazard the cold temperatures and go for a spin

This was one of the joys of otousan who would often take L-kun for a walk. Good exercise... and great times together.

That also gave T-chan and I a chance to run off to the local Aeon shopping centre and indulge in some much needed retail therapy (on our second day in Japan)... including some wonderful crepes... from the local Baskin & Robbins 31 store. Crepe's are something that are actually quite difficult to get in Adelaide, but the Japanese love... and in this I share their delight. As does T-chan. 

On his return, L-kun is not one to miss out on an eating opportunity. Including day-old birthday cake. Japan for us is very much about eating...and that doesn't always have to be nice healthy food either.