Hokkaido Day 2- Sapporo (札幌)

After breakfast, our first stop is to visit the famous Ishiya Chocolate Factory(白之戀人巧克力廠) in Sapporo. Their award winning chocolate biscuit called 白色戀人 is very famous but I did not buy because I find it very normal. Outside the factory there was a park for us to take pictures, and inside the building we get to see the owner’s collection of tea glasses and antique toys which are worth millions of dollars.






After that we went for lunch, and then started our first of the many series of shopping spree! The reason why this tour was different from the rest is because it was full of shopping. It was quite unbelievable because we always thought that Hokkaido was more about sight seeing, and shopping never cross our minds. We were also lucky that our tour guide brought us to mid range shopping malls and was very encouraging to us for “enhancing the financial economy of Hokkaido”

We went to Tanukikojo Shopping Arcade(狸小路) and it was a whole stretch of shops on both sides, known to be the largest shopping mall in Hokkaido. We were given less than an hour to shop, and by the time it ended, we have to run our way back to the meeting point.

Following we visited the Nijo Fresh Seafood Market and bought some dried scallops.

Next stop was the famous Susukino Ramen Alley(薄野区), and there were more than 10 ramen restaurants. In Susukino, it was the night entertainment centre for discos, nightclubs and bars. We did not stop to eat because we just had lunch and the weather was too hot to eat in the non air conditioned restaurants.

We then went to JR Tower for another shopping treat. I bought a Blue Label bag from Daimaru, and Mom bought a really cool and good quality Transformer(Ultimus Prime) from Bic Camera for J. Again, we had to run back to the coach bus. Time for shopping was always not enough!

After that, we went to yet another shopping district at Odori Park(大通公園). This time we visited the 100 Yen shop, Daiso. Some of the things were similar to the Daiso in Singapore, but JPY 100 was about SGD 1.30, so the price is still cheaper than SGD 2 in Singapore.

All of us were tired from all the walking and shopping. By the time we headed to dinner place, I was completely drained with no appetite. This was only the first day! Dinner was table barbecue Genghis Khan style and sis ordered the famous Kobe beef which cost JPY 5,000. The tray which sis was holding were all the Kobe beef ordered by our tour group, and there was a certificate to show that the meat was genuine. Maybe I was too tired, I find the beef was over rated.

Next we went to APA Hotel, and this was the worst room we had. The room was big enough, but the room temperature was 27.6 degrees! The hotel offered another room but it was equally warm. After putting down our luggage, I was again energized to shop.

We went to a medium size supermarket next to the hotel, and it was UNBELIEVABLE. The stuff selling there was so much cheaper comparing to the prices in Singapore. No doubt since they were local Japanese products, but it still came as a nice surprise to us. I bought food products like seaweed, instant noodles, yakitori sauces(for BBQ), chilli powder, curry sauce, tidbits, green tea etc, most of the things were only JPY 100 to 300. People might think that we were crazy to travel so far and lugged back food stuff but it was really worth the effort. The prices were less than half the price compared to those selling in Singapore, and for us who cooked, it worth it all.