Trip to Sapporo: Day 18 - Going home, what was the Top 5 of Sapporo?

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Sitting on my bus home from Arlanda Airport in Sweden (thx Swebus for the free wifi), I thought I would sum up the things I appreciated the most in an informal list. There are lots of other things but these ones I would like to give extra thanks for.

5. The Ishiya Chocolate Factory. It proved to be so much more than just a peek at the production line. Really quite the perfect goal for a family trip or anyone who is interested in chocolate, history, toys, english Tudor buildings, and/or gramophones.

4. The Tower of Sauron. Well, not really. But what do you call a 100 meter high monument made of iron that looks like an 1:1 replica taken straight of of Lord of the Rings? This is for sure one of the hidden tourist gems of Sapporo city.

3. The Snow. I mean - really? It was just fantastic how much snow Sapporo got, it almost snowed every day. To increase the effect, in Japan the snow isn't so much taken away as piled up in high walls so it is not unusual with 3 meter high snow walls even in the city. I got to rekindle my love for snow from when I grew up in the north of Sweden. I love snow(the video…)!

2. The Unexpected Friendship with Minami and Mikael. Just from a spontaneous contact made by Minami at the Mandrake store, I got to experience a genuine New Years celebration with them, but more important, we had some great times and I really appreciate these random encounters in life, they can mean so much. I wish you both the best of luck and I hope we meet again.

1. BUIE Gakuen, or rather it's residents and the openness of its welcome. I have already talked so much positive about the shared living of BUIE Gakuen in Sapporo, but again I must press how great an idea it is. People in the ages between 20 - 50 sharing facilities and lives instead of just living alone. This may not be the main point, but as a recently divorced man I want to point out that I know for a fact that several relationships and even marriages have started here. Everyone there, I don't know when I will come back, and many of you will have moved on by then, but I wish Kenji and all of you the best of luck with finding happiness.

Trip to Sapporo: Day 16 - Fine dining at Sapporo Grand Hotel

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One of the guys here at BUIE Gakuen works at one of the top four restaurants in Sapporo, Nukumi, and as he is a very ambitious worker (as most Japanese indeed are) he had decided to sample other top kitchens to better his own knowledge. He asked me if I would like to try it out too and of course I took the chance.
The Sapporo Grand Hotel is one of the finest hotel in Sapporo, built in 1934, and hosting several restaurants catering to customers that wants that little extra. Waraku is one of these, and their speciality is the Japanese kitchen. The reception and service was of that instant kind that I makes you feel an extra appreciation for the food.

The menu. You should definitely bring a Japanese speaking guide as the helpful explanations during serving and the details of the menu otherwise mostly gets lost. Still, ordering was mostly a case of choosing between one of four courses, in which I chose the "B", which had eight different dishes, while my friend chose the C, adding another one. The Japanese menu just held a more detailed description of every dish, which for a fine dining novice like me really didn't make a difference.
To this I tried some Plum wine, which was superb!, landing me on a total 9500 yen (630 SEK/100 USD)., which was completely fair when evaluating what I got for it.

Every dish was served in a unique way, with new and in itself exciting tableware. As it is with this level of dining, the amounts of food are smaller, but I found myself feeling satisfied in that sense too afterwards.

The white is fish roe looking like twisted yarn. Like much else served I was often surprised what hid behind for me unexpected forms.

This was another excellent example of the unexpected, at least for me as a westerner. What would you guess the above is? Pork? Well, it is something that I actually often enjoy back at home but then in this form:

Yes, it is sardine! But taken from a much larger specimen, and then treated more like meat. The skin is left and was all crispy like bacon. The olive looking things are sweet red beans, used often in east asia almost like a sweetener/dessert. You may also notice the white and orange balls, which were the daikon (swedish: rättika) and carrot (in some vinegar that heightened the taste and consistency). They was used in many of the dishes.

The red fish is tuna fish

This may look like a dessert but it is actually fish pieces (don't remember what) on top of daikon and carrot.

The rice, a dish on its own in Japan. In the background

This was my friends dessert.

When first tasting the dessert, with gold leaves on top, I was struck by a taste similar to the gruel you serve infants (in itself a pleasant taste), but then a sweet flavor followed. Another helping revealed bits of something like Turkish delight. Another crucial feature of this dish was the consistency, which I believe is as important a characteristic as the tastes of sweet, sour, salt, bitter (and umami). The gruel had a little lingering feel on the tongue more than the usual gruel has. This somehow prolonged the tasting experience. Again, hidden layers.

All in all, a really nice experience that I think one should enjoy a few times in life at least, even though the prices and time needed for it is not for everyday consumption. The element of experiencing Japanese cuisine beyond the all-pervading sushi haze of Sweden also was a big bonus. (^_^)

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Trip to Sapporo: Day 3 - Getting creative

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One thing that I had to bring on my holiday was my Fujifilm Instax Mini 25 camera. It is a camera that does those retro-style polaroid photographs, i.e. when you take a photo you directly get a developed photo on film coming out of the camera (well, it takes 3-5 minutes for the image to become visible). It is great fun and a real ice-breaker. At home I have a wall where I stick photographs of guests I have had; my children, friends, etc. It creates a really neat timeline and there is something very charming with the amateurish style.

Sp, what I did today was to by a board to stick the photographs on, so now I will just keep on taking pictures of people in the house and it will hopefully be a kind of fun memory. People necessarily don't stay more that long at BUIE Gakuen, so this kind of thing can work as a kind historical record of its previous residents too.

I was lucky to stumble on Sapporo's own Tokyu Hands, which is a kind of big arts and crafts store, but it really got all kinds of stuff for the home.

At the train station there was this manga/otaku store, so I just had to check it out for a while.

Among other stuff, I found this instructive book on how a girl should properly use an axe when attacking. This seems like it should be on the regular school curriculum, eh?...

Of course, in the land of homemade bento, there is plenty of kitchen stuff for preparing those.

Nice wooden clocks with moving parts.

Expensive leather wallets made in Japan.

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Trip to Korea and Japan: Day 18 - I will miss you, Sapporo! (また会いましょう)

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Last day in Sapporo meant a lot of farewells. Staying at Buie Gakuen has meant so much for me, and I have people and friends there, some who I actually think may last for a long time (I hope) even if we are separated physically. I know I am emotionally at a stage in my life where to be careful about these things, but still my impression of Sapporo as a whole is of a big city with a soft heart. It doesn't feel like a city you disappears in, instead it welcomes you. All my contacts with museum curators, professors, strangers and others has all started and ended in very positive tones. I know this is only scraping on the surface of a much more mixed bag of truths, but still, I will treasure its memory.

 Curry food is actually very popular in Hokkaido right now. This was a super delicious SoupCurry that Kenji-san treated me with at his favorite restaurant. The base tasted excellent but also all the vegetables and meat was so varied and nice. Mushrooms, egg, carrot,zucchini(?),chicken,...

And in the evening it was BBQ on the roof. Here you see Kyokushin Karate Master Francois (sorry, soo bad spelling) taking on Judo Sensei Ayaka in a fight to the death. Just kidding! But it was this kind of informal evening when everyone joined up and brought meat, potatoes, drink, and shared it together.  There was soccer (my team won, yay) and very hentai japanese words explained in explicit detail (I think, I didn't understand anything...).

Aw, this I will really miss. So, I am not saying sayonara, instead:また会いましょう. ^_^

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