Furano and Sapporo

[Seat0B]

Sunday 9 Feb 25 - Sapporo Snow and Ice Festival Illuminations

Well, the Snow and Ice Festival was absolutely spectacular and totally worth braving the cold and slippery conditions. It was pelting down snow and the pathways around the sculptures were quite treacherous. Snow accumulated on our hoods and Mr Seat 0A's backpack. And it was cold. Around -12 degrees.



There was a lovely vibe - lots of young couples out canoodling, groups of teenagers hanging with their friends (but not at all loud and threatening like some groups can be back home) and families with older children all there to enjoy the sights and have a good time. There was also amazing street food, but we were still full from afternoon tea/drinks at the hotel.



I was astonished at the level of detail in the sculptures.



My favourite was an anime style fierce girl defending Sapporo Odori Park (the site of the festival) from attack by a destructive dragon. It was so good, and incredibly detailed. Note the people below and the high rise buildings in the (snowy) background for scale. At a guess O would say this work was about 8-10m high.



After about an hour, we were quite cold, so we headed back to the hotel to warm up with hot chocolate by the fire. What a perfect introduction to Sapporo.

Edit:

Once again, I found the seriousness of the recycling process quite hilarious -as did one of the bored workers who interacted with me!

 

[Seat0B]

Monday 10 Feb 25 - Sapporo Part 1

Enjoyed a lavish buffet breakfast today - some selected shots below.



Then had a bit of debate about how to dress today. It's a clear blue day with temperature expected to peak at -5 degrees. We plan to visit the snow festival again, and then try to do some shopping in the underground malls, which we know will be very hot.

I compromised on 1 layer of Japan Heat Tech Extra Warm underlayers, heat tech pants and a long sleeved t-shirt under my big coat. Spoiler alert, this was perfect for the snow festival but way too overdressed for the shopping, as I feared it would be. Basically, the two activities were fundamentally incompatible, clothing wise .

Anyway, the snow festival did not disappoint. The sculptures looked spectacular against the clear blue sky, and the daylight revealed even more detail on some of the ones we had seen last night.




We also saw the sculptors giving a bit of daily maintenance to their works.




There was a different vibe today as well, with guests tending towards parent and grandparents with pre school-age kids, and school groups from tiny tots to high schoolers. It had the air of a country show in Australia, just a lot colder and the activities were largely free instead of outrageously priced. We stayed for several hours, taking it all in, and really enjoyed ourselves. The photos show the scale of some of the larger pieces. They were huge. We don't know who the J-Pop/K-Pop darlings were. But there was a fair bit of screaming and other fandom going on in the crowds.

 

[Seat0B]

Monday 10 Feb 25 - Sapporo Part 2

Next it was time for lunch, which was delicious and cheap. Butaniku man (steamed pork bun) and gyoza.



After this, we found the international entries in the competition. I really liked the entry from Lithuania, which I think came third. It was a deconstruction of the kanji character Shiawase (happiness), accompanied by a short explanation.





The other one I really liked reminded me of Munch - The Scream



And then there was this community effort - too cute!



The shady side of the exhibits was quite cold and the paths were slippery, so we called it over and headed to the underground shopping mall Aurora.

I had a grand, if excessively sweaty, time buying a pretty floral case for my specs, some extravagant hairclips for Seat Granddaughter, some little bottles for decanting lotions and potions that meet the travel size requirements and a pair of gloves labelled as windproof. If they are, that will be great, because the only part of me that has been consistently cold this trip is my fingers. Even my trusty Oyuki brand gloves aren't doing their job in these colder temperatures. Last night I actually wore my ski mittens to the festival and was warm enough, but they were a pain for accessing tissues, my phone, cash etc. So I really hope these do the trick. We also visited the local Mega Don, leaving with bags full of flavoured kitkats (matcha latte, strawberry shortcake, sakura etc) which make wonderful gifts for family and friends. By now I was so sweaty that I passed up a visit to Daiso- this is my must go to in Japan, so that tells you how overheated I was feeling
.

Traipsed back to the hotel, and got well and truly stuck into happy hour at the bar! Then I soaked in the very deep Japanese style bath in our room and read a book.

All up, a really enjoyable day and nearly cracked the 20,000 steps with my phone saying I had managed 17,786 steps today.

 

[Seat0B]

Tuesday 11 Feb 25 - Sapporo

Slept a bit later today until 0830, and boy was breakfast a zoo!

Another clear blue day, with a maximum temp predicted to be -1, so today I left off all the Japan Heat Tech underwear, and headed with a purposeful stride to Daiso, where I invested a very enjoyable 2 hours stocking up on my favourite things - various hair clips and bands for Seat Granddaughter, stickers for Seat Granddaughter, origami papers for Seat Granddaughter, sparkly beads for threading with....Seat Granddaughter - that child is keeping me perpetually broke . Also added a set of drawer dividers, a range of USB to various cords for charging devices, and some Japanese candy - you know, all the things you didn't know you needed until you went to Daiso.

When we left, our sunny blue day had been replaced with strong winds and heavy snow fall - about 5 cm had accumulated on the pavement during my shopping spree. It was beautiful, but very cold. You guessed it, I was under-dressed today! Here I am, happy with my purchases. And those are my new gloves from yesterday - yes, they were windproof, so I went back and bought a second pair. Very happy with that outcome.



We quickly made our way to the huge, and apparently famous Donguri bakery. It was a Japanese bakery on steroi_s! Absolutely spectacular, so we oohed and aahed, took photos and bought a large selection of pastries to have for lunch in the customer dining area. What a highlight.



Thus fortified, we headed over to the snow and ice festival, but I was too cold to persist with it, so we trudged home in still heavily falling snow. It looked really pretty.




I'm falling into a pattern now - a long soak and a bit of reading in the bath, then down for happy hour in the bar, where I again filled up on bar snacks and could not be bothered to go out into the cold and snow in search of dinner. I'm definitely not in the same foodie class as @rbjhan!



My Apple Airtags tell me that the ski bags are both at New Chitose Airport, so all good there. Tomorrow we will be heading home.

 

[rbjhan]

Well I did have some konbini meals here and there

 

[Seat0B]

Here are a couple of photos I forgot to add to earlier posts.

Some examples of yukitsuri - the protection of trees from heavy snow.



The hotel looked just beautiful in the snow.

 

[Seat0B]

Wednesday and Thursday 12-13 Feb 25 Sapporo-HND-SYD-CBR

Enjoyed a small sleep in, the breakfast, and back up to the room to pack. Arghhh. Have I mentioned how much I hate packing.

Anyway, we knuckled down and watched some Aussie TV on iView as we squished and squashed our things into our bags. Note to self, perhaps be a little more restrained with your shopping in the future . All finished and ready to roll by 1230, which was a bit annoying as we had a 1400 check out arranged to suit our 1700 flight from CTS-HND. Anyway, we decided that the time was better allocated waiting at the airport (which has a huge shopping mall attached!!!!!) than twiddling our thumbs at the hotel.

Easy check out, soon in the taxi and on our way to the Sapporo JR station, where we made our way to the ticket machines and got the first inkling that today might not be the smoothest travel day we had ever had. We were at the station just on 1300 and there were no seats available to reserve on the Airport train until 1430. So despite our experience on the way into Sapporo, we decided to chance it with the unreserved seats, and headed to the platform. Luck was with us, as there was an airport train just arriving, and there were plenty of seats, although not together. We settled in and the train progressively filled up before leaving a couple of minutes later. Then at the next 3 or 4 stops, more and more people piled on until it was absolutely jammed with people and luggage. We were very glad to have seats in the melee.

The airport platform was total mayhem, just as it was when we first arrived, and that chaos continued as we made our way to departures. Once again, I lucked into a seat in the food court, so sat there with our bags while Mr Seat 0A headed down to retrieve the ski bags from Black Cat. He was gone for ages, and I was glad of the extra time we had factored in by leaving the hotel early. He duly returned with the bags, and said that it was totally crazy down there too. So now it was time to check in, and so we headed over to the JAL check in area, past a very very very long line of people and trolleys loaded with skis and boards who were all waiting to check in. This was 100% a moment to be grateful for Platinum status, which allowed the use of the JAL First Class check in, where there was absolutely no one waiting and we had 2 check in staff to assist us. Literally just walk up and check in. We also got to use the separate First Class security line, which was appreciated, and then straight into the Diamond Lounge. Again, luck was on our side and we got 2 seats at the bench overlooking the runways where we could watch the planes come and go until it was time to board our flight JAL518.


We watched the de-icing crew at work



Fortunately this kept us entertained for quite a while as the food offering was sparse (miso soup, rice balls, croissants and nut mix) . There was plenty of alcohol, but not much else to drink (I am still not really liking alcohol since the chemo made it all taste dreadful). And ....our flight was delayed , which never happens in Japan. Well, hardly ever! There was an announced delay until 1730 due to late arrival of incoming aircraft. At 1730, boarding still hadn't been called, so clearly it wasn't going to be a 1730 departure, but it did say go to gate, so we decided to head on out as we were sick of the underwhelming lounge. This gave us the opportunity to witness the slowest imaginable pre-boarding of the elderly and infants, which took over 15 minutes. Again, not the usual process we have experienced in Japan. This was followed by a very slow boarding of Groups 1-6, with me (WP) once again allowed to board in Group 1, but Mr Seat 0A (LTG) relegated to Group 2 despite being on the same booking. This was followed by a lot of unexplained waiting on board, followed by a long, slow taxi and finally takeoff occurred just before 1900. By now I was feeling a bit anxious about the connection at Haneda. It's a 1 hr 15 min flight (takes us to 2015), then a 15 minute bus transfer to international terminal, plus any wait for the bus, which can be up to a further 15 mins (takes us up to 2045, worst case). The we still have to do security and immigration, however long that takes, and boarding for our flight commences at 2120. And with that, our leisurely 3+ hr transit in Haneda became something of sprint due to delays. Also, there was nothing to eat on this flight. We had somehow skipped lunch in the transit, and I was a bit hungry, andfelt a bit down that we would likely not even have the chance to eat in the underwhelming lounge at Haneda either.

And so it was, we arrived at the international terminal with less than 20 minutes up our sleeves. So there was no time to stuff around with QR code food ordering or even to have a shower in the lounge before boarding began. I was feeling a bit hungry by now - no lunch, no dinner, no real snacks on the way. So it was off on the long hike to gate 145 to board QF60 to Sydney.