I’m here for six days, so it’s going to say Sapporo a couple more times.
I was trying to figure out what to do today and I was IMing my sister. I also had ZERO beers yesterday and my head hurt a bit so maybe it’s my sinuses. Anyway, I was trying to figure out what to do.
My sister’s google found different things than I did, and she suggested a chocolate factory. That looked like a kid’s thing, but why not? And sort of on the way was an Olympic ski jump that a Scottish guy I met was talking about with a ski jump simulator. Sounded interesting.
Of course I putzed around for a while and had to get moving to catch one of the few buses I figured I’d see a coffee shop with a morning set on the way but I WAS WRONG. I used my usual trick of just grabbing some food (a can of coffee and a juice plus some bread products) at a combini.
Google Maps is really screwing up the directions on the iOS app. Google thinks they drive on the right side of the road so I’m being consistently directed to the wrong bus stop. In any case, I got on the bus, which turned out to be a highway bus (!) on the way to Otaru! I could’ve just gone to Otaru today, but I figure Sunday is probably not the ideal day for hitting that touristy spot since it might be too crowded on the weekend.
After the first bus there’s a 20 minute walk to the second bus (Google’s “best” suggestion wasn’t the greatest). You can see the ski jump up the mountain if you look very closely.
Even after the first bus, there’s another 10 minute walk uphill to the ski jump. But it was all worth it just for the view.
The jump was the scariest looking thing ever and I couldn’t figure out why there were tracks at the top and astroturf on the way down until I saw two high school kids doing jumps! The top part had rollers, and the landing zone had astroturf that was watered down with sprinklers.
My next stop was going to be the Hokkaido Jingu shrine and then off to other spots. But I was sidetracked by the sounds of baseball. Maruyama Stadium had something going on, and I could hear the oendan (the cheering sections) and the hit of the ball on the aluminum bat. It was a high school baseball tournament that only cost ¥500 for entry.
Even with so few people, there’s a big cheering section (sort of like the pre-MLS Timbers).
I watched the last few innings of that first game (it only went seven innings) and one side was clearly better than the other. High school baseball is really serious in Japan, and those kids hustle. There’s no walking to the batter’s box, it’s running. There’s only three players conferences allowed on the field during a game. And at the start of the fifth inning, both sides have their cheering squad (perhaps the JV players?) rake the field. And warm ups are insane. The second game seemed more serious (there were radar guns and videos analyzing the pitchers) and it was pretty exciting. A nice way to spend the afternoon. I even indulged in some ballpark food, a Japanese katsu curry!
Afterwards, I finally made it to the shrine and there was a wedding taking place (or at least the wedding pictures).
After that it was time to head back to the hotel and I ran into a LGBT Pride Parade!
After that it was time for dinner. I wasn’t that hungry and I was dithering on whether to have Genghis Khan (barbecued lamb) because when I IMed a friend who grew up here for what I should do, eating Genghis Khan is the only suggestion she had.
That’s lamb tongue on the wire grate, and marinated lamb (Genghis Khan) and regular lamb on the “Genghis Khan” grill.
Well, that’s enough for today. Tomorrow I have to fly to Wakkanai and rent a car to see the northernmost point of Japan!
(That’s just a soda, not a hard cider.)