Sushi day

Day 26

I had been wanting to have sashimi breakfast at a fish market ever since I arrived in Japan. I lost the opportunity in Tokyo but I embraced it in Sapporo.

Nijo fish market is small, tiny compared to Tokyo's. Half of the shops were closed and there didn't seem to be a lot of clients. Reviews said it is usually crowded with tourists but we were the only ones. Actually, now that I think about it, we haven't seen many tourists in Sapporo. Apart from some chinese and americans, no one else. The most rated tourist attraction in Sapporo is the Snow Festival which is obviously in Winter. Therefore it seems safe to assume that crowds of tourists are only in Winter. 

After going around the market twice we realised that there was only one sashimi shop, not very cheap. The lack of option can be dangerous and the boys were not easy to convince but in the end they indulged me. 

The shop had lots of pictures and autographs and bank notes from different countries. There was one from Macau, when it still was a portuguese colony. Cool! 

Although it was the tiniest shop I've ever seen and we had to squeeze ourselves in the chairs, we did good because the fish was deliciously fresh.

The shopping arcade was nearby so we checked out the shops. We haven't done souvenir shopping yet and this is our last stop. I found a shoe shop that handmades typical japanese sandals. I'll be back!

We also found bears, Hokkaido trademark.

Sapporo must have a very harsh Winter. There is an enormous shopping arcade underground that traverses almost half the city centre and it's lined with cafes, restaurants and shops. You can tell that construction has been done in different stages as layout and decor differ from section to section. Overground you don't see many people walking around but as soon as you descend the stairs to the underground passageway a new city emerges. Filled with people, walking in different directions. It seems like it doesn't matter what the weather is outside, people are used to walk underground and continue even when the weather is good. It is dry, warm and you avoid traffic lights. It took us about 30min to walk from the overground shopping arcade to the train station, all underground.

Al fresco dining underground style:

Underground market:

The rest of the day was spent at the Nopporo Forest Park, a train ride away from Sapporo city centre.

The first thing we saw when we got there was a huge tower erected in 1970 to commemorated the 100 years of Hokkaido colonisation. Manuel was mesmerised by it. He kept saying it looks like Sauron's tower and decided that it was the prettiest tower we had seen in Japan. You can tell he's partial to the Lord of the Rings. He does have some point...

There are plenty of pedestrian paths in the park and a walk is probably worth it in Spring and Autumn.

A bit further down we found the Historical Museum of Hokkaido. I regret not seeing more museums in Japan, specially in Tokyo and Kyoto. Our initial experiences with the museums in Kyushu island were bad as there was barely any translation to english. However, this museum set it all right. Half is translated to english and there are even laminated reading charts in every room translated to several languages. 

We saw the skeleton of a mammoth. Amazing!

The museum explains very thoroughly that Hokkaido island was inhabited by a race called Ainu and tells you a bit about their costumes. They are natives like the american indians were the natives in North America. So the dominant japanese race are for the Ainu what english and french settlers are for the native american indians. It is a very interesting museum and worth a visit!

Look at an old iron griddle where the jingisu-kan we had last night is made:

I am a little slow in museums. I love museums and I am annoying enough to read all that's written. By the time I finished both Jorge and Manuel were seating, holding their phones and browsing the internet for some distraction. We also did not have much time remaining for the Historical Village of Hokkaido.

We were hungry by the time we got to the village so we had lunch at the cafe. We were the only ones when we arrived. The cafe is huge so you can tell this site is popular during tourist peak time.

We had miso ramen and soy ramen, local specialties. They look the same in the photographs and the difference is just in the sauce, the soy is the second picture and my opinion is that it's not as tasty.

The village has actual real houses that were donate by people, taken from their original location and reconstructed here. You can see shops, inns, a dojo (house to practice martial arts). There is a reconstitution of a fishing village, a farm village and a mountain village. Be prepared however to take your shoes off all the time if you want to step inside the houses. Have I mentioned how annoying it is to be removing shoes all the time? Please bring lace-less and easy to use shoes if you come to Japan.

Noodles shop:

Noodles's shop urinals. Note the sandals to use in the toilet area only (very japanese!) and the lack of flush:

Asian toilet (always by a window):

Sweet shop:

Sledge workshop:

Dojo:

Living room:

  Wood storage:

Lumberjack's accommodation in the mountain:

We saw about half of it and tried to stay away from the security guard's view whilst he started closing the houses one by one. We did alright for a while but then one of the employees politely followed us indicating the exit. Oh well, we tried...

Manuel was in the mood for cinema so we went to the JR Station shopping mall and checked out what was on. I never thought japanese cinema was this big. There were about 10 movies screening and only 2 were foreigners. We clearly had limited choice! We agreed on watching 'Jupiter ascending', after ascertaining it had subtitles. We seem to have picked the right day. Wednesday's are men's day so men get a discounted ticket. Women's is on Thursdays. ¥1800 for my ticket and ¥1100 for the boys. Not cheap!

I was desperate for an ice-cream so we walked several floors to find one. There was no need to go far as the cinema had ice-cream. How stupid was that? Vanilla flavour however tasted more like cream than vanilla. Either something was lost in translation or the vanilla is really of poor quality. Anyway, it soothed my craving.

I enjoyed the movie more than I thought but I still prefer Channing Tatum in 'Magic Mike', for obvious reasons! 

As in the west there is advertising before the movie starts but, unlike in London, it is not 20-30min. There was some general advertising before the due time for the movie to start and at the due time there was only a very healthy 10min of cinema advertising. Time is money and nobody is wasting mine! I like it!

Jorge had spotted a sushi restaurant when we were looking for the ice-cream. It had a big queue. One movie and 2 hours later, it still had a queue. 'Probably a good sign' we though. We took a number at the door and waited on the stools outside the restaurant. It's so popular it has permanent stools outside!

It was a conveying belt sushi restaurant. In Japan!! We were excited!

I was so excited that I started making a fool out if myself from the beginning... I set up my soy sauce dipping little bowl and started mixing this green powder which was located at the table. 'Must be wasabi' I thought, and I loooove wasabi. I had seen wasabi powder before (in a supermarket) but this one was rather difficult to mix. That was when the chef said 'No wasabi. Green tea!'. Ups! Powdered tea to mix in water and make a hot green tea. Gotcha! Embarrassed, I turned the bowl aside and started preparing a new one, this time with soy sauce only. The chef was kind on me and gave me a little bowl with wasabi. 'These crazy foreigners!' she must have thought.

On the pictures, note that there are 2 conveyor belts. One on the top for the food and one on the bottom for cups and dipping sauce bowls. How clever!

Lots and lots of sushi, of every kind and shape. Unfortunately, the sashimi we had at breakfast time in the tiny market stall was exceedingly better. When you taste good quality, you really start to realize the majority is average. It makes your dinning experiences rather dull but makes you a food expert. When you find a good place to eat, you find heaven.