The Night Out Continues... Cocktails and Cake

13th August, 2010 - After a great meal at the rather "themed" izakaya, none of us were quite ready to call it a night, so we headed around to a small little bar that sits on the famous Nikka Susukino corner... if you've been in Sapporo at night, you'll know which corner I'm talking about.

The bar is called....well, to be honest we can't remember what the bar was called. T-chan's friend knew about it, and we were happy to follow along. When (and if) we remember we'll post an update. It was fashionable however - and I might add - a very popular bar, and indeed we were lucky to get a seat. We think it was called Doa or Door or something like that...

You can tell it was fashionable as for some reason they had a thing for chain-mail curtains. A decidedly odd choice I might add, but a good opportunity to try out some chain-bokeh, and manual focus fun.

Ok... now the photo below is meant purely to demonstrate one thing - T-chan's best friend is very much single, so if you're living in or around Sapporo and you'd like to meet a wonderful, intelligent, attractive and very funny Japanese woman... well... drop us a line. [only great guys need apply!]. Ok - my wife's almost certainly going to kill me for that.

And just so you know - this is not my drink. I had a whisky... maybe a triple. On the rocks - and I mean rocks. I scooped a handful of them off the road on the way to the bar. Delicious. And not at all cocktail-ish. Actually, this was my wife's drink... or was it her friends?

And yet another drink that wasn't mine... not sure why I didn't take any photos of more manly drinks... er... perhaps I did, but by that time they were all a little blurry... much like my head.

And it wouldn't be a good Japanese bar if you didn't have something to nibble on... 

And the good thing about this sort of bar is that you can quite happily enjoy a dessert with your drink. Not frowned upon at all in Japan... however, I can't imagine strolling into a bar back at home and ordering a mixed cake platter....And this was a great little assorted platter here! Yummy.... but expensive. I can't remember just how much this was, but I know it wasn't cheap. The good (and bad) thing about alcohol is that your judgement about money can be a little altered... and things start seeming much more reasonable after a few drinks.

In fact I was so happy... with my whisky that I had another go at the old chain-bokeh....*hic*... no seriously, this is exactly what I meant to do. Actually, I thought then that we often don't intentionally de-focus our images. Not sure this is a wonder for anyone else but me, but I kinda like that raw 70's noir look to it.

Now - perhaps just one more whisky....

To find the famous Susukino corner, just head down Sapporo Ekimae Dori... you can't miss it. The bar is on the 2nd floor of the Susukino building itself... I think. Good luck. Just look for the chain-mail curtains!

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Sapporo's Mighty Beer Festival of Beery Delights

13th August, 2010 - Now the one thing about Japan is that they love to drink. And I mean drink. Yet for all that you rarely evidence of drunken violence or aggression. Unconscious salary-men that didn't make it home from "working late" the night before yes. Hooligans no.

The one thing about Sapporo is that come summer-time, it's also the home of the Beer Festival. What was that I hear you ask. I know that the Japanese love festivals... but one dedicated to beer? Where do I sign up? Well... not only is it a festival (of sorts), but it's also a month long. And it's epicentre is right smack bang in the middle of Odori Koen in the city centre.  Now I had gone with Otousan (and the rest of the family) into the city with the thought that we'd share a few drinks whilst my wife and Okaasan did some shopping. I had brought in my camera gear thinking that I'd take some nice shots of the park and of the beer tents. Indeed each of the major Japanese brewers has a large open air tent, or Odori Beer Garden, situated in the long Odori Koen where you can find beer and food ready to be sampled.

Before I had managed to even warm up the camera, otousan and I had found ourselves ensconced in the Sapporo Beer Tent... pitchers in hand. Well... I'll have just the one - not to be rude. I did have serious photos to be taking after all. And food to be eating (though a word of warning - the food is best consumed after copious amounts of alcohol, as it was definitely not up to usual Japanese fare). 

Speaking of copious amounts of alcohol.... we quickly set about improving our appetite. And tried our hand at making good old, "half and half" - half standard half dark ale. This is of course also known as black and tan... or just a ripping good drink. Though for the two of us, we seemed to be ordering one for the table too. The table became our instant best friend. 

Mental note - after having consumed large amounts of alcohol, expect to be deleting most anything you took a photo of. And for crying out loud - don't give your DSLR to the waitress whose idea of a camera sits on her phone and expect a good picture. Life's lessons.

Actually - beer is a good socialiser. There's no doubt about that. And there's things that can be talked about that often never otherwise find a place in the conversation. I heard a lot more about otousan's youth, and we  were able just to chew the fat. However - all good things must come to an end. And we had our wives to meet. Somewhere. Courageously we made a move... to find the next nearest stationary object (a park bench) upon which to wait. Looking ever so much like we hadn't just downed half a bathtub of beer each.

And we waited... and waited. I am sure at this point, we were wondering if there was enough time to head back for just one more, when T-chan and okaasan arrived with L-kun. I suspect that when T-chan took the above photo that she was already smelling us (from 100 paces).

It was however a very nice day. Hot (like a good summers day should be). And designed perfectly for drinking beer. Even if your thoughts of capturing it in pixels didn't quite go to plan. By the way - it may be a festival, but the beer and food is not cheap cheap. It is however abundant - although I understand that there's been a drive to constrain the festival more and more... now with the last drinks sold at around 10pm. Well... I do suppose you have a whole month or so to come back and fill up with more.... The dates around the 20th July through to the 20th August (or thereabouts). Check tourist info for more precise dates.

Alas - my time in Sapporo was coming to an end... again. But I will always remember that afternoon fondly. Arigatou otousan!

Drinks Anyone - Japanese Drink Vending Machines

8th August, 2010 -  It's time's like that you need a nice cold refreshing Coca Cola... (advertising commission is in the mail, I'm sure). Well, this is just a short post about another typical part of Japanese life. Vending machines. Especially drink vending machines. You can tell this photo was taken in summer as all of the drinks are cold (blue lights). One of the best part of Japanese vending machines are the hot (er - red light?) drinks. A great winter's treat to grab yourself a hot can of coffee from a vending machine as you're negotiating the snow outside. That's a long way away now however.

I'm constantly amazed how these vending machines are not vandalised.  Then again, there's very little apparent vandalism or graffiti in Japan in general. I'm also curious about just how ubiquitous these vending machines are. They're everywhere - in fact there's one sitting on the street about 50 m from T-chan's house in Sapporo. In the middle of nowhere. I can't even say I've ever seen anyone buy a drink from it, so I wonder why it's there. If nothing else, I suppose it's a tempting advertising method...

One of the other differences you can notice is the range of drinks: coffees (lots of different styles), teas, coke, sports drink, green teas, fruit juices (still or carbonated), and of course water. And all pretty cheap (from 120yen for the smaller drinks to about 150yen for the larger). And did I mention the beer vending machines? Hmmmm.... beer vending machines... it's a hard life.