From Noboribetsu it was time to go on to the last leg of our journey which is Sapporo. After checking out from Takimoto Kan, we took a bus ride to the train station. As we were quite early the missus and I explored the surrounding for a quick look and see at this quaint little town.
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| Nice Little Post Office There - Galaxy S23+ |
As soon as we arrived in Sapporo, we checked in at Mercure after a short taxi ride. Then I went to do laundry with Lindsay before finally going to Tanukikoji for dinner at Gyoza Osho. Again, I can't help but be amazed at how delicious the food at these fast food chains are as compared to their overseas branches.
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| Lindsay and Her Dinner - Galaxy S23+ |
Our first night in Sapporo was just an easy and quiet night, we returned to the hotel and called it a day after refreshing our memories of Tanukikoji.
After a good night's rest, it was finally time to explore other parts of Sapporo. Our itinerary for the day was to visit Maruyama zoo, I was hoping we'd get to see some penguins there. Unfortunately it snowed really hard, the animals were mostly hiding while we were soaked wet from walking under the heavy snow. But the snowy sight was amazing, to say the least.
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| Walking From Maruyama Park Under Heavy Snow - Galaxy S23+ |
From Maruyama Zoo, we took a bus and train ride to Sapporo Factory. I had planned to visit Hokkaido Jingu which was nearby Maruyama Park, but the snow cancelled that part of the itinerary.
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| A Solitary Wolf Under The Snow - Galaxy S23+ |
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| Monkeys of Maruyama Zoo - A7RMk3 + FE24mm F1.4GM |
On arrival in Sapporo Factory (which took quite some time to reach to) we played some capsule games where Lindsay ended up with a Kirby keychain (lucky her!). We then explored a bit further before going for lunch at a cafe called Meer Lounge.
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| Late Lunch - Galaxy S23+ |
The food was amazing with a nice selection of apple pie, pizza, French toast and baked curry rice. After lunch the missus shopped for her new favourite character Monchichi; oh, she got so many of that character there in Sapporo factory.... She also got some Japan limited Adidas merchandise there.
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| Looking Nice in There - Galaxy S23+ |
From Sapporo Factory we then went back to the hotel, went to Book Off near the hotel and then finally back to call it a day.
On the following morning we went on to our next itinerary which is Makomanai Takino Cemetery to see the Moai statues and Atama Daibutsu. I can't possibly say how much I love Makomanai, the place is so serene and beautiful with white snow everywhere.
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| Not Christmas Island but Sapporo - Galaxy S23+ |
The giant Buddha statue was really grand, I couldn't help but be awed by the amazing sight.
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| This Is My Main Reason For Visiting Makomanai - A7RMk3 + FE24mm F1.4GM |
The missus also seemed to enjoy the visit, she kept on taking photos near the moai statues and kept on pestering me to take photos with her.
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| The Missus Enjoying The Snow and The Moai - A7RMk3 + FE24mm F1.4GM |
From Makomanai Takino cemetery we made our way to Mount Moiwa ropeway station. Again, it was a journey that required long walks at icy roads. I was particularly cautious when we walked uphill towards the ropeway station. The ride in the cable car was quite distressing. I hated the dark and crowded condition. When people around started talking, I felt terrified and had to hug Lindsay closely to calm my nerves. I was quite surprised that I was still susceptible to panic attacks, even during holidays. The ride up to Mount Moiwa required us to take 2 cable car rides. Once we reached the top, the view was absolutely stunning.
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| Night View From Mount Moiwa - A7RMk3 + FE24mm F1.4GM |
I thought Hakodate mountain's night view was amazing, but Mount Moiwa's night view is also really beautiful. Seems like I have a new spot for night view in Hokkaido now.
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| My Cute Little Baby - A7RMk3 + FE24mm F1.4GM |
I took more photos of Lindsay there while we were outside in the observatory. But we couldn't stay outside for long as the wind was really strong and it only took us a while to feel the chill.
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| She's All Grown Up Now - A7RMk3 + FE24mm F14GM |
From Mount Moiwa we then returned to Susukino for dinner and then back to Mercure. That night we had what probably was the scariest experience in our lives. At about 11:30 p.m. we experienced a magnitude 7.2 earthquake that rocked the hotel building for more than 1 minute.
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| The Biggest Earthquake of Our Lives - Galaxy S23+ |
Throughout the rocking and shaking, we felt the building rocking back and forth with creaking sounds that made us thought the building would fall apart. Amazingly, aside from the moving light fixtures, nothing fell down or toppled over. Although the Front Office advised us to store some water in the bath tub for emergencies which we promptly did. After that episode I experienced a full blown panic attack which made me rush down immediately. The cold air snapped me out of that episode and I finally could return to the room. Lindsay was terrified till she wanted to go back home early. But doing so was out of the question as I couldn't afford to spend more than I already did... So we braved through the next one week of our stay in Sapporo.
On the following day we continued with our itinerary to Otaru. It was supposed to be a short half day trip. On arrival at Otaru we took a precarious trek towards Sakaimachidori to visit the shopping street. We could see this year Otaru's atmosphere is extremely muted with a lack of Chinese visitors, although frankly I don't mind that, because they are raucous and rowdy. But I suppose the business owners there think otherwise.
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| Back at Otaru - Galaxy S23+ |
In Otaru we made a quick stop at Snoopy Chaya and Hello Kitty Cafe. I didn't even bother to go inside the music box shops. We had some good soft serve from a Meg Milk cafe (pity I didn't take a photo of that). In any case it was a quick stop as we left for Sapporo in the late afternoon. For some reasons, Otaru was not that charming. Maybe it's because we arrived during daytime and didn't really enjoy the night atmosphere of the city.
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| Snoopy Custard Taiyaki - Galaxy S23+ |
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| The Missus at Otaru Hello Kitty Cafe - The Missus' iPhone 13 |
On arrival at Sapporo we had early dinner at Ippudo, a quick shop at Daimaru and walked back to Mercure via the biggest and longest underground mall in Japan. After doing laundry it was time to call it a day.
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| Very Early Dinner at Ippudo Kay - Galaxy S23+ |
On the next day we just had a free and easy day at Sapporo Station's Stellar Ace where I did some shopping at Snoopy Town and Disney Store Sapporo. After that we had lunch at a restaurant called Akaguma where I had a delicious chicken katsu curry rice.
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| Delicious Lunch - Galaxy S23+ |
From Sapporo Station we made our way to Sapporo Clock Tower, which I had always wanted to visit too. It was a nice visit where I got to know about the clock tower's history, some knowledge about the people in Hokkaido back then, as well as to get an idea of how the society was like, back in those days. Apparently the clock tower's machinery was imported from America and most Japanese then used to go to America to learn about farming and rearing livestock.
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| Hello Sapporo Clock Tower - Galaxy S23+ |
From Sapporo Clock Tower we continued our journey to Sapporo TV Tower, walking through the Christmas Market at Odori park. Since I'm already familiar with the illumination installation there we didn't spend a lot of time and headed straight to the TV tower.
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| Making Our Way To That Famous Landmark - Galaxy S23+ |
I was really excited when I finally got to the top of the tower, it had been my deepest wish to get up, take a good photo of Odori park at night, and just have an almost bird's eye view of the city.
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| Another Bucket List Item Checked - Galaxy S23+ |
After that visit we returned to the hotel via Tanukikoji again to spend our last night in Susukino.
On the following day, it was time to check out and head to the airport. As we were waiting in Cocono which is near the hotel, we experienced another earthquake, but this time it was a magnitude 4.5 earthquake and we were on a lower floor, so it wasn't so bad although the warning on the phone did make me worry for a while.
In any case, we took our luggages from Mercure and made our way to the airport bus stop opposite Mercure. It was an uneventful ride although for some reason I felt my panic attack coming back again. On arrival at the airport we checked in and explored the airport.
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| Lindsay Quietly Enjoying Her Time During The Ride - Galaxy S23+ |
As the time to our flight drew closer, another drama happened again when I suddenly received a notice that our flight has been cancelled. I rushed to the check-in counter and after waiting for 2 hours, we were extremely lucky to get a replacement flight on the following day onboard a Singapore Airlines flight direct from Sapporo to Singapore. But we still had to stay the night. As we were worried we couldn't get a hotel in the airport, we rushed to store our baggages at the airport lockers. However, in the end I managed to get a room at the airport hotel.
The room we got was a smoking room which was extremely smelly. But it was better than spending the night on the floor at the airport terminal for sure.
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| Our Smelly Emergency Room - Galaxy S23+ |
On the following morning we then checked-in and anxiously waited for our seats to be assigned, because apparently on check-in we couldn't get our seats yet.... But in the end we managed to sit close to one another.
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| Boarding Gate Area - Galaxy S23+ |
The flight took a good 8+ hours, after which we arrived in Changi airport, which marked the end of our eventful holiday for this year.
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| Finally Comfortably Seated For The Flight Home - Galaxy S23+ |
I really enjoyed the trip despite the eventful close shaves. And frankly, it was a much needed break, which I really can use again. I hope I'll be able to make another Japan trip this year, but let's see how things turn out.
Here's a closing shot for the last entry of our Japan Holiday 2025:
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| Goodbye From Shin Chitose Airport - Galaxy S23+ |
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