My Kind of Heaven ― 2024/11/10
For me, Coach & Four (pronounce something like "ko-changfour") is the biggest attraction in Sapporo I have found so far. Basically everything I need is here.
This huge suburban bookstore with a variety of non-book departments offers:
a. A single-storey shopping floor,
b. An in-store cafe, which is not Starbucks, but my lifelong favourite Mr Donuts, with a free coffee refill cart comes around,
c. Simple and quiet book displays, without pedantic comments from complete strangers to me, making it easier to find what you want,
d. Professional staff, attentive enough but not pushy,
e. A huge selection of books, probably wider that those of Junkudo or Kinokuniya in the city centre,
f. Free book covers and shopping bags, which became rare these days, and
g. My favourite snack, made in Toyama,
in the food section, where there is a collection of good (though mostly highly processed) food from all over Japan.
Fukuoka is far behind to Sapporo in this respect. We have Tsutaya and other fancy looking bookshops, but this simple but extremely customer-friendly style is much more attractive and inspiring, and purchase-stimulating, at least for me.
I'd love to live next to this store, but I'm quite sure I would go broke in a week or so if I actually lived within 1.5km of it.
Wild Lives ― 2024/11/11
I haven't seen any wild bears here yet. In fact, the locals around me don't seem to worry about getting attacked by them, or maybe they try to assume that there are no bears around. Actually, I guess bears in Hokkaido are much less intrusive than their mainland counterparts (just my personal opinion).
Apart from bears, I have come across a few other wild animals since I came here:
A fox in a residential area,
A deer (much bigger than those in zoos) twice in a park (people on the site didn't seem to pay much attention though),
and some grey squirrels. I couldn't capture them, they were too quick.
Library as an Eatery ― 2024/11/13
Apart from its interesting collection of books, Sapporo's central library is very attractive in terms of its food offer.
There are two dining options: an underground cafeteria and a cafe on the ground floor.
The underground cafeteria offers what I expect from a public restaurant. Simple and practical meals like this "sausage lunch (300 something yen)".
I like this!
The cafe on the ground floor seems to be trying to be stylish and modern. It serves coffee, cakes, plate lunches at relatively affordable prices (I mean, cheaper than regular cafes).
Not bad at all, but slightly different from what I expected...
By the way, is it a current trend to employ challenged people work in this type of workplace? I have seen a few more of these "welfare cafes" since I came here. The lower prices mean their lower wedges? If so, it's not welfare, is it?
Parks ― 2024/11/14
Parks in Sapporo are like forests.
Makomanai, July
They are so vast and looking natural that they go beyond my definition of a park; a methodically tended small plot of land.
Hokkaido University's botanic garden, September
Nakajima Koen, August
Maruyama, September
It's so refreshing and pleasant, and most importantly, there are very few people around, that when I'm in a park, I forget all the small but annoying details of everyday life and feel like I became a good person. I always feel like: Thank you, Sapporo, but is it really okay to walk here for free?
The only downside to these parks is that they don't have cafes or kiosks. Which is a big issue for me, because having a cup of coffee is one of the reasons (or the main motivation) I go to parks.
After grumbling about this for a while, I have an idea. Why don't I get a canned coffee from a nearby 100-yen shop and something to snack on from the nearest grocery store?
When I came up with this idea, I thought I was the world's smartest parkgoer.
Oh, I almost forget to tell you, even the warning signs are slightly different from ones I used to see in Fukuoka.
There may be someone even smarter than me...
Only in parks in Northern areas...
Even Better ― 2024/11/16
Today I launched to a park with a flask of home-brewed coffee and a little treat I from a local confectioner that I had kept at home, instead of outsourcing everything.
This new strategy allowed me to enjoy a piping hot coffee in the open and crisp air, even though it was 2℃ this morning.
Preparing for Winter ― 2024/11/17
I found that there are so many things you need to survive a winter here. I wouldn't have known some of them if I were still in Fukuoka, such as;.
A wide variety of snow shovels. even 100-yen shops stock them,
Plant covers. What if these items are single-use and you have to get a set of them every year?
High-end, high-power oil stoves. I guess oil is still the main source of heat in this area. Renewable energy? What's that?
Stoves can be as expensive as over 100,000 yen plus installation fees.
I've experienced some winters in the UK and the US. Yeah, it was cold, but it wasn't so overwhelmingly cold as to require this seriousness. Actually, we survived with a small halogen heater and that's about it. What is going to happen here?
In addition to the above, you will also need fuel, clothing and snowshoes. And the price of perishables will certainly rise, as almost everything has to be transported from far away, where the ground is not frozen or buried under snow.
I guess the winter expenses may be much more than I had vaguely imagined before. I am more afraid of that, than of the actual snow or the cold.
Bears, snow, cold, train cancellations and violent girls... there seem to be a lot of things I have to be scared of in Hokkaido. Perhaps I am seeing different sorts from those I knew in Kyushu, such as heavy rains and floods, typhoons, intense heat and senseless murders.
The Best Thing ― 2024/11/19
The best thing in Sapporo summer I think is Radio Taiso (gymnastics) in a park.
Makomanai, August
During the summer, or throughout the year in some venues, many parks organize this activity every morning (by playing a tape). In my nearest park it starts at 10 am. To be honest, it was not easy for me to make it at that time. But when I could, I felt great and really refreshed moving my body under the infinite blue sky and in the vast space where I could stretch my arms and legs without limit. And the sense of achievement that this little exercise gave me was immeasurable.
Colourful Autumn ― 2024/11/20
I didn't know how dramatically trees and mountains could change their colors.
They budded at the end of April and grew thicker and greener to give us cool and refreshing shade in the summer.
From the beginning of September, the leaves quickly turned yellow, orange and red.
The change was so fast and so striking that I couldn't help but go to a local park to see how they changed every day.
In the end of September
Early October
Mid-October
End of October
End of October
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