While walking though downtown Sapporo,
I often came upon signs that said “Pole Town” with a staircase
leading underground. Thinking it was a massive cosplay strip club I
gave it no notice and went about with my business. But today I
decided to see what this Pole Town was all about.
To my amazement, Pole Town was a
massive underground heated walkway with shops lining the sides. What
a fool I had been. I thought the streets of Sapporo looked a little
empty. In reality everyone was smarter than me and instead of hiking
through snow drifts were casually strolling through a heated
wonderland.
Pole Town runs the entire length of the
main street in Sapporo and ends at the main train station. I never
traveled long distances in the top world again. Still in awe of this magical underground street, I headed to the surface to once again try
and find that silly government building. Once again I failed. I have
no idea how I cant find this friggin thing. All of that aside I saw a
few interesting things in my searching.
Around lunch time I stumbled into a
blue collar lunch counter and ordered tempura prawns and soba in
broth. I felt super out of place but the food was delicious and
extremely cheap for Japan standards.
Having failed yet again in my quest to
find this stupid government building I turned my focus on the Sapporo
dome. Built in 2001, the Sapporo Dome is the home field of the baseball team Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters (yes this is their real name and yes they are sponsored by a Japanese ham company) and the association football club Consadole Sapporo. Of course getting to the dome involved
multiple subways and walking on snow filled sidewalks, but I managed to
find it without much trouble. The government building still laughing
my my face.
With some dumb luck I caught the last tour of the
day. The dome is not in use during the winter so
there were no fields set up but it was still an impressive sight. To mange both soccer and baseball fields the bottom section of seats rotates to facilitate the
different field sizes. The soccer field is natural grass that is
housed outside and pulled into the stadium on pneumatic lifts. The
baseball field is just turf and is placed over the concrete.
We got to go on the floor and see the
dugouts;
The underground bullpen;
The locker rooms;
And the big blue elevator!
The elevator went to the top of the
catwalk and the observation deck.
At the top you could take a photo of
you holding a Nippo Ham Fighters emblem. I passed on the photo opportunity.
Throughout the tour I noticed the
creative ways the stadium recycles. They not only have a station to
dispose of the unused ramin broth,
but they found a way to recycle fire!
Having explored every nook and cranny
that the dome had to offer I headed home. On my walk back I ignored
the newly discovered pole town and went to look at the Sapporo Clock Tower. I was told it was the most visited attraction in Sapporo.
Boy was this underwhelming. Its worth a look I guess? Do not
remember what I had for dinner. It probably came from the convenience
store. The End.
