Sapporo 札幌市: A church, a garden and a market

St Valentine Church

A church, a garden and a market. Not much of a connection eh. The church is not in one of those tourist attraction listing. We kind of walked passed it every day to get to the subway, as it was next to the Hotel Vista Sapporo Nakajima-koen where we stayed in Sapporo.

Don't think this lead to a secret garden?

After walking passed a beautiful church, then comes the garden :) From google map, looks like it is a huge garden, we barely stepped in to the entrance area.

Statue in Nakajima Koen, near subway entrance

You will reach the Nakajima Koen subway station right after this (if you travelled from Nakajima Koen)... get on a subway, transferring at Odori station to the yellow line and get off at Nijuyonken station (二十四軒駅). After a short walk of less than 10 minutes, we found ourself at Jyogai Market.

There were many different shops, all selling seafood (of course!) and fruits with some food type souvenirs. There were many shops selling fresh sushi or sashimi meals to choose from. :)

Real crab



Fake lobster

Ikura for sample

Sweet slice of melon *yum*

Side note: The washer isn't that expensive but why on earth I'm feeling uneasy about it = ="

Sapporo 札幌市: Transport, Stay and Orientation

This would've been stolen long ago if it was in Malaysia :P

Sapporo is the fourth largest city in Japan by population, and largest in Hokkaido. It is the capita of Hokkaido Prefecture, located in Ishikari Subprefecture. Sapporo is said to be originated from Ainu language sat poro pet, translated as "dry, great river." If you are to visit Sapporo during winter, I'll say don't miss the Sapporo Snow Festival, which is usually held in February. I can imagine it would be super cold though :/

We travelled to Sapporo from Toyako Onsen. So, it was bus-train this round. Bus from Toyako Onsen to JR Toya, followed with (of course!) train from JR Toya to Sapporo.

Super Hokuto

As the hotels in Lake Toya are mostly hugging the lake itself, it could be a decent distance to walk to the terminal station. As mentioned previously, we stayed in Toyako Manseikaku, and the nearest bus stop was Moto Machi, located just 5 minutes (or less) walk away, and it is still within the same zone, so remained at 320 yen to JR Toya Station. Same price as from Toyako Onsen Bus Terminal.

This is also as of September 2012

As we didn't have JR pass this round, given that we travelled on buses a fair bit and they are not covered under JR pass, the cost of buying individual tickets were cheaper. So, it's all free seating trains all the way.

We were rather lucky as when we board the train in JR Toya, there were still some empty seats, maybe cos we were still at the beginning of the journey. After the train made a few more stops, there were a fair few who stood all the way to Sapporo. That would suck :( cos the the trip was rather long.
There were not a lot of photos along the ride cos I dozed off, like all good train passengers. :P

If you don't have a JR pass, it might be worth to check out the Sapporo-Otaru Welcome Pass.

This pass cost 1,500 yen and it includes a JR Ticket and subway ticket. These tickets are only valid for 1 day. So regardless of what time you activate your ticket, it ends at 12am the same day. You could however use the 2 tickets on separate day, so long you have not activate it. JR free-ride sections are between Sapporo City and Otaru Station (surely you are going to Otaru right?). We used the JR ticket on the day we travelled to Otaru and the subway ticket on the day we wandered around Sapporo. The conditions of use are listed the back of the nice leaflet above. Oh, and one of it is you have to be a foreign tourist visiting Japan from abroad.

We didn't stay near Sapporo station despite that was our initial intention. Anyway, long story short, we stayed in Hotel Vista Sapporo which was nearer to Nakajimakoen subway station, 3 stations away from Sapporo station on Subway Namboku Line (the green line).



Map from here

So.. Odori Park is of course near Odori station, it is a walking distance to Sapporo TV Tower and Clock Tower. Actually, you could also walk from Sapporo station. Stating the obvious, get off at Susukino station to get to Susukino *crows flying pass...*

The room, of course is not as spacious as the ones in Toyako Onsen and Noboribetsu Onsen as those are onsen hotels. However, it was fully equipped and actually I'm pretty happy with the room though mom complained that it was small and a few other things which were unfounded.


Side note: I could do with an onsen now

The Two Mountains: Showa Shinzan & Usuzan

Toyako and Showa Shinzan

Showa Shinzan is one of Japan's youngest mountains. The mountain was  named "Showa New Mountain", according to the contemporary reign of Emporer Hirohito, in the Showa Period (1926-1989).

Showa-Shinzan. Can you spot the photographer sculpture at the bottom?

 The site was originally a local farmer's field. The ground was lifted gradually after earthquake and reached its present height in 2 years time. Showa Shinzan is a volcanic lava dome in Shikotsu-Toya National Park, standing next to Mount Usu (Usuzan).


Showa Shinzan's older neighbour, Usuzan is an active volcano, and has erupted four times since 1900. Usuzan's eruption in 1944-1945 has lead to the creation of Showa Shinza. Usuzan had erupted twice after that, once in August 1977 and it's last eruption in March 2000.

Both mountains can be viewed via Usuzan Ropeway.
Round trip tickets for adult: 1,450 yen and it departs every 15 minutes. Last departure time is about 4-5ish in the evening, depending on the season. Also, please remember to check out their website to get a 10% discount voucher. In any case if you forgot, if you are lucky, you might find the vouchers in Toyako Onsen Tourist Information centre. I forgot to print it out and I found it in the tourist centre. How lucky but I forgot to present the vouchers when I got the ropeway tickets! *bonk self*

At one point I was having a blond moment, thinking that the next departure time was in 45 minutes! Of course I was wrong, it departs every 15 minutes, scheduled at every quarter of the hour. Haha.

Sorry I have been harping on this, but if you are driving, then you won't be binded to the bus or train schedules. Public transportations are not very regular, unfortunately. There are only 4 bus that travel between the two places.


Schedule taken from Toyako Onsen information centre in September 2012

Usuzan Ropeway departs from 火山村 (Kazan Mura), volcano village. There's a eruption experience room, as well as restaurants and souvenir shops.



Great views to greet you right after getting off the gondola! Actually, great view all the way!

There's water, and there's mountain :)

After spending time oogling admiring at Showa Shinzan, must make time to see Usuzan.

You'll need to exercise your legs a little to get to Crater Basin Observation Deck

Gin’numa Great Crater

The more rest and relax way to see Showa Shinzan and Usuzan was taking the ropeway and get to the observation deck for both. If you want to do a bit more, you can do the Outer Rim Boardwalk. The round trip is said to take about 2 hours. Oh well, if you walk out, you'll have to retrace your steps to get back.

The Outer Rim Boardwalk circles the Gin’numa Great Crater which formed during the 1977 eruption of the summit. It is the largest of the existing craters. My mother was not too thrill about me wanting to do the trail as not many people walk it. I didn't finish the whole walk as I was worry that I'll miss the last bus and mom was waiting for me at the Crater Basin Observation Deck. Personally, I think it is worth doing the walk. Don't miss it if you can, though a word of warning, there were 600 odd steps that you will need to tackle.

Don't say I didn't warn you about the staircases!

and more staircase



and even more! More pictures to make up for the effort of climbing those stairs

There's life under the staircase... actually I was resting from climbing those staircase :P

So there you go, I love this place, will love it even more if I managed to finish the whole Outer Rim Boardwalk :(



Side note: Alright, I should get stock up on chillies for my sambal experiement :P

Toyako Onsen: Night walk and Hanabi

The battery in my primary camera died but the older Ixus isn't too great on night shots, especially when I have forgetfully left the tripod back home. We were killing some time before dinner which was scheduled at 7 pm. Our preferred time would be 6.30 pm but the 6 to 7 o'clock slots were all full when we checked in. The lady in Noboribetsu Manseikaku actually checked us in earlier, as we were not going to our room anyway. We were not checked in when we dropped our bags at Toyako Manseikaku though. Anyway, a walk would be good to work out a good appetite :D



Touron no Yu

There are also a few free hot springs to usage by general public along Lakeside Path. Touron no Yu is actually a foot spa. Imagine enjoying a foot spa with beautiful Lake Toya as view. How cool is that?



Castle or ferry?

A variety of windows

This shop is not along the Lakeside Path, it is along one of the roads and if you can't tell from the looks, it is actually a souvenir shop. LOL. Just thought that the windows are pretty interesting, one standalone building but with different shapes and sizes windows.

After dinner, it was time to wait for the fireworks. Lake Toya has 20 minutes firework displays every night between the end of April and the end of October. The fireworks are launched from a boat on the lake. Shame that the fireworks is not exactly continuously for 20 minutes non stop. What really did happened was a few launches of fireworks, stopped, then the boat moved a few metres, then launches a few more fireworks and the cycle repeats itself. I suppose that was fair, to give occupants of each hotel a fair share of better views. I guessed I watched too much animes on super long, non stop fireworks :P



See the boat?

If you are feeling generous or want to splurge a little, you could book yourself in on a cruise to watch the fireworks. To be honest, I was not too impressed, maybe I have set my expectation too high because the last fireworks I saw in Japan at the Wakakusa Yamayaki was absolutely brilliant.



Oh.. raining hanabi

Side note: Any good movies coming up?

Toyako Onsen: Sculptures & Lakeside Path

Yup, it was a hot, hot day

Lake Toya is an almost round shaped caldera lake, extending up to about 11 km east and west, 9 km south and north. This ninth largest lake of the nation measured 50 km around, 70.7 square kilometers in area and 117 min mean water depth. There are four islands at the centre of the lake.

I was only at one tiny spot at area A. Many more places to cover!

The map above and information are courtesy of Hokkaido Toyako tourist info. We were only there for a night, there was barely enough time to scout out the area around. I would've love to walk to Fruit Garden Course trail map and see the Sobetsu Fruit Village. I was there in September, so grapes and apples were in season! It was said that apples can be enjoyed till early November.

See... I told you, pretty map!

The Takarada Area Tour Course trail looks pretty good too. I have not been to either but the map sure looks pretty. Maybe next round I should opt to stay in Sobetsu Spa Resort!

Anyway, I digress. Ok, back to Lakeside Path. Most of the hotels in Toyako Onsen area has an entrance or backdoor overlooking the lake. Magnificent view from the hotel, and you could watch the nightly fireworks from the comfort of your room (if you got a room with a lake view!) As mentioned in the my earlier post, we stayed in Toyako Manseikaku and it was just next to the Paper Lantern Street.

The lanterns look a little dated though :/

The town itself was rather quiet, even at the Lakeside Path where one would expect to have a chokeful of tourists. Maybe we were strolling about right at noon time, under the bright, hot sun.

And these are just outside the hotels!

Sobetsu Town, Abuta Town and Toya village are promoting a sculpture park project, called Gurutto Chokoku Koen (Sculpture Park). As part of this project, sculptures in accordance to the them "song in praise of life" were placed surrounding Lake Toya. There are 57 sculptures in total, with 18 of them placed in Sobetsu. Considering the widespread area, I have only seen a few of the sculptures.

Cheer up, sculpture!

And the Academy winner is...! (kind of reminded me of Academy Award trophy :p)

A different kind of rainbow?

This is my favourite actually - this makes me feel like the sculpture was happy ^_^

Side note: It still amaze me how anyone can go shopping in 3 inches high heels shoes... hm..