Day 7 : Home Sweet Home

Last day of our holiday =( Gotta wake up at 5am plus and catch the morning JAL flight back to Singapore via Tokyo.

Breakfast set that was packed by the hotel for us to bring on board the flight as the hotel knew that we got an early morning flight to catch. So sweet and thoughtful of them!

Lunch on board. No second round of Haagen-daz ice cream this time...

I was terribly excited on seeing large landmass in the middle of the sea!

They are likely to be one of the islands of the Japanese Archipelago.

A bridge linked the islands together. So cool!

An uninhabited island perhaps?

Okie dokie, this is the end of our 7D6N Hokkaido trip =)

Do stay tune for another post or two for random photos taken during the many hours of tour bus journey, hahaha...

Hope you enjoy the photos and my rumblings yah, hahaha...

Overall, this was a pretty good and fun trip and I will definitely return to Hokkaido again cos there are just so many attractions that I have not seen/covered!

Day 6 PM : Sakaimachi Street

Sakaimachi Street is a beautifully preserved merchant street in central Otaru. During the development of Hokkaido in the late 1800s and early 1900s when Otaru thrived as a port city, many trading and shipping companies constructed impressive Western style buildings in the city centre to house their offices and shops. Many of the buildings along the street have since been converted into restaurants, cafes, souvenir shops, boutiques and museums. There are also a few glass workshops for tourists to enjoy a hands-on experience in creating the local Otaru Glass.

Hello Kitty porcelain cup and saucer set.

There is a cafe named Silver Bell at the end of Sakaimachi Street (diagonally opposite the Music Box Museum) where you can enjoy a cup of coffee in an exclusive Hokkaido-Otaru Hello Kitty porcelain cup and saucer set, and later bring it home as souvenir. We bought a set too, cos it’s super cute and irresistible! Cost: Yen 700 without coffee (if I rem correctly).

Head store of LeTao located in Marchen Square.

Store selling traditional Japanese handicrafts such as jewelry purses and chopsticks.

Store selling soft toys. The band in front of the store is really adorable!

Store selling glass ornaments.

And then it's dinner time!!... at a do-it-yourself-barbecue restaurant along Otaru Canal where we gotta grill fish, salmon fillet, scallop, pork meat slices, potato and corn. Pretty fun experience, even though our dinner was burnt and I got scalded by hot butter oil that 'exploded' right in front of me, hahaha...

Checked into our hotel and our room had a really good view of the harbour!.

It's free and easy time after this and we wondered to a nearby shopping mall to check out its 100 Yen Store (where I bought ~30 items of Hello Kitty accessory bags, candies and quirky, clever Japanese merchandise) and supermarket (where we bought beers and cheesecakes for supper and more candies, etc to bring home)...

Aargghh!! I will definitely need to spend at least an hour to pack all these items into my luggage =P

Day 6 PM : Otaru Music Box Museum

Otaru Music Box Museum is housed in a century-old red-brick building which used to be the warehouse of a rice supplier. In front of the building stands a steam clock 5.5 meters high and weighs 1.5 tons and is powered entirely by steam. The clock plays a chime every 15 minutes and blows a steam whistle every hour to tell the time.

Otaru Music Box Museum and Steam Clock (left).
Entrance to the Otaru Music Box Museum is free.

On the second floor, you can learn about the development of music boxes and find antique music boxes of various kinds exhibited and sold with a high price tag.

Overview of the second floor of museum.

One of the displays featuring the development of music boxes from 1600s to 1900s.

All the musical boxes are so pretty and intricate!
It took us almost an hour to complete the tour around the floor.

The museum shop on the ground floor is the biggest shop in Japan which specialized in music boxes. Pretty cool to just browse around cos there is such a wide variety of music boxes on sale!

Small and intricate 'transparent' music boxes where you can see the mechanics inside.

Beautiful dolls.

Cute maneki neko (fortune cats).

Musical jewelry boxes.

Left: Carousel-styled music box that I like but didn't buy cos it's terribly expensive.
Right: Glass angels ornaments

Day 6 PM : Kitaichi Venetian Art Museum

Fourth stop of the day – Kitaichi Venetian Art Museum
Kitaichi Venetian Art Museum introduces the affluent lifestyle and flourishing culture of the historic city of Venice, Italy. The rooms and the interior decoration are modeled after the style of palaces in 18th century, the most glorious period of Venetian culture. Here, visitors can learn about the seasonal lifestyle and culture of Venetian aristocrats and find displays of around 3,000 pieces of marvelous Venetian glassware, clothing and furniture. Admission fee of 700 Yen.

Visit to the museum is not included in the tour and we were passing through to get to the other side - Sakaimachi Street, hahaha...

Appearance of Kitaichi Venetian Art Museum was built using Palazzo Grassi (which exists in Venice) as a model.

Experience being an ancient noble by taking a picture in noble dresses.

Gondola that British Prince Charles and late Princess Diana rode in when they visited Otaru.

Water fountain with glassware sculptures.

Parrots blown glassware made in the same style as Venetian Murano glassware.

Day 6 PM : Otaru Canal

Third stop of the day – Otaru Canal
In the early 20th century when Otaru was the only significant port on Hokkaido's Sea of Japan coast, many large vessels docked at Otaru Port to load and upload their cargos. To speed up the loading and unloading time, a 1,140-meter long, 40-meter wide canal was made and dozens of old brick and stone warehouses were built on both sides of the canal. These large vessels at Otaru Port were then unloaded by smaller ships which transported the goods to warehouses along the canal.

The canal became obsolete when modern dock facilities allowed for direct unloading of larger vessels and smaller ships (and by extension, the canal) were no longer needed. Now, the warehouses along the canal have been converted into glassworks shops, coffee shops, restaurants and museums. A section along the canal was paved and installed with 32 old fashioned gas lamps (now electric).

Otaru Canal and the warehouses along the canal.

Otaru Canal is particularly popular with visiting bus tours and it’s no surprise that many of the nearby shops are tourist traps, hahaha… The canal makes for a pleasant stroll during the day (minus irritating tourists of course!) and during the evening, when the Victorian-style street lamps are lit along the canal, the whole place evokes a gentle, nostalgic and romantic mood.

Rickshaw ride around the town is available as well. 8,000 Yen (~SGD 130) for 2 people for a 30 minutes ride round the canal area. Wow, sooooo expensive!! In comparison, the horse carriage ride at Odori Park is actually quite 'cheap'!

Day 6 PM : Odori Park

Odori Park (Odori meaning "large street") is a 105 meter wide park in the center of Sapporo running east to west, and separating the city into North and South. It was original built to operate as a fire break, but is now one of the best parks in the city. Odori Koen stretches about a kilometer and a half over twelve city blocks and offers a large pleasant green space during the non-winter months, replete with trees, flowers and fountains.

In mid-July to mid-August, Odori Park is the setting of the Sapporo Summer Festival. Beer gardens set up by various beer companies over the length of the park alongside stalls selling ice cream, corn on the cob, and other foods can be found. There are live bands providing entertainment as well and it definitely a great place for people watching.

Live band in the park.

Sculpture.

Flowerbed with cute garden gnomes.

Water fountain.

Stall selling ice cream.
We bought a chocolate ice cream cone (~SGD 5) to share cos the weather was so sunny!

At the eastern end of Odori Park is Sapporo TV Tower with an observation deck that offers a great view of Odori Park and panoramic views of the city of Sapporo. During the evening, the tower is illuminated and thus making it an attractive landmark in the night sky.

Sapporo TV Tower is just under 150 meters tall,
and the observation deck is at an elevation of 90 meters.

You can hop onto a Western-style two-story carriage that is pull by a Percheron draft horse called Ginta to enjoy a ride around downtown Sapporo.

Horse carriage ride for sightseeing.

Ginta’s carriage follows two routes: One is the Clock Tower Route, from Odori Park to the Sapporo Clock Tower and the Former Hokkaido Government Building; the other is the TV Tower Route, from Odori Park, to the Sapporo TV Tower and the West 9 block of Odori Park.

Cost: 1,800 Yen (~SGD29) for Lower level; 2,200 Yen (~SGD35) for Upper level ; 300 Yen per camera to pose for a photo with Ginta. Yesh, sooooo expensive!!

Time to return to tour bus with all our shopping bags!

Day 6 PM : Sapporo Shopping

Second stop of the day – Sapporo City Center
After days of sightseeing, today's the day for shopping! I had a long shopping list for Fancl beauty drinks, Kose skin care products, facial masks, etc... hahaha... Major department stores and underground shopping malls are concentrated mainly in the areas around Odori and Sapporo Station, thus our tour guide 'deposited' us near Sapporo Station and gave us 2 hours of free and easy time to do our shopping.

First department store that we checked out was Marui Imai, Hokkaido's biggest department store chain with a total of 3 buildings. Yesh, three buildings! I believe the main building is about 11 storeys high and houses general/mass fashion while the other buildings are about 5-6 storeys high each and one houses high-end luxury fashion and the other houses confectionery, food, etc. We quickly zoomed inside Burberry Blue Label and Black Label stores to see if there's anything worth buying... Erh, nothing; disappointing...

Next, we went to Matsumoto Kiyoshi (above), the largest drug store in the industry, that sells original-brand cosmetics, drugs/medicines, food, health products and many other items in reasonable price. Here, I bought a few Sekkisei Kose skin care products : medicated lotion (toner), moisturizer, facial masks, cleansing oils - plus a box of flu tablets which our tour guide claimed it's really effective plus other misc items.

Gotta to find a Fancl store!!... and so we ended up at an unknown shopping complex (above) that caters mainly for youth fashion and culture (re: similar to our Far East shopping centre).

Fancl store where I bought 32 bottles of TENSEUP EX beauty drinks.

Beautiful yukata for sale.

Fashionable ladies' clothes.

Lovely handbags for sale.

Tired BF VS Energetic GF.

The shopping bags were really really heavy though; 32 bottles of Fancl beauty drinks = 50ml x 32 Qty plus weight of glass bottles = ~3kg ; beauty products = ~3kg. I'm glad that I brought my 'camel' (poor thing!) along, hahaha....

Day 6 AM : Hokkaido Shrine

First stop of Day 6 of our trip – Hokkaido Shrine
Hokkaido Shrine is a Shinto shrine with an area of 180,000 square meters and is located in Maruyama Park in Sapporo. It enshrines four kami - three Shinto Deities: Sukunahikona, Ookunitama and Ookuninushi and the soul of Emperor Meiji.

General view of the compound leading to the shrine.

Purification fountain near the shrine's entrance for visitors to wash theirs hands and gurgle their mouths as part of the purification ritual.

Step 1: Hold the ladle in your right hand, fill it with water and rinse your left hand.
Step 2: Hold the ladle in your left hand, fill it with water and rinse your right hand.
Step 3: Hold the ladle in your right hand again, fill it with water, transfer water into your cupped left palm, rinse your mouth and spit the water beside the fountain.

Note: You are not supposed to transfer the water directly from the ladle into your mouth or swallow the water.

Entrance.

Hokkaido Shrine.

We encountered a traditional Shinto wedding ceremony where the couple were dressed in traditional kimono. So lucky!

The couple performed their marriage vows to the 'Kamisama' (god).

And time for lunch... Steamboat (again) with chicken, pork, vegetables, straw mushrooms, beancurd, etc. A really really average meal =(