Teine

With all the snow available it seemed silly not to ski so I headed to the local resort known as Teine. On the way to Pole Town I passed what may be the worst job in Sapporo.

I took Pole Town all the way to the main train station and road out an hour to a neighboring city's bus terminal.

I had just missed the bus to the mountain so I hung out in Mr. Donut for a while waiting for the next one.  

45 minutes later the bus took me off on my ski adventure.

When we arrived a ferris wheel greeted us from the top of the bunny hill. I cant say I was too surprised. The Japanese sure do love their ferris wheels.

I took the lift up to the bunny hill so I could ride over to the gondolas. I instantly noticed the abundance of fresh powder. 

I reached the gondolas and headed up to the proper part of the mountain. I have never been in one before, oh the excitement.

The gondola only got me so far, and then it was back to proper ski lifts. At the top I was able to ski the course from the 1972 Olympics. I totally looked like I belonged.  

As the day went on the powder diminished as the crowds grew.

I decided to take my talents to the back country. Although the signs tell you to stay on the main runs, I had read online they don’t do anything if you stray off, so down I went.

This was some of the best skiing I had done in a while. Deep powder, steep drops, and no one else around. It was a fantastic decision. I spent the rest of the day deep in the trees and boy did my legs pay for it. The way back was pretty uneventful. Just more shuttles, buses , and trains.

After my day of skiing I ended it all with a piping hot bowl of curry udon. It hit the spot rather well.   

Pole Town

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.

 

Invisible Capitol

The morning greeted me as the night had left me, with snow continually falling.

All rested from my day on the train I started with a nice hot breakfast. I ended up with some strange saucy noodle concoction complete with a small birds egg on top. It was actually quite good and the warm meal really got me going.

After breakfast I ventured out into the city. The first attraction on my list was the former Hokkaido government office. This was the former site of the government for the prefecture of Hokkaido. They were responsible for developing the primitive ground of Hokkaido. As I was making my way to the old capitol I started to realize how much snow engulfs this city.

It was a workout just getting around.

They even have salt dispensers on the corners so that you can help keep the sidewalks maneuverable.  

As I plowed my way through the snow I was unable to locate my destination. I had a map, I could read the street signs, but for the life of me I could not find it. A bit frustrated I abandoned my plans and headed for the sight that was impossible to miss.  

The Sapporo TV Tower. It was actually built by the same guy that planned the Tokyo Tower, and like its ancestor is still fully functional as a TV tower. Although it didn't look that tall from the bottom, the views were quite breathtaking.

I am lucky that I went when I did because not too long into my visit a storm came and clouded the view. It pretty much snowed constantly for the rest of my stay.

In addition, It had started to get dark as I battled my way back to the hostel. There were many hot food options along the way.

I ended up settling with one of my favorites, a nice plate of curry.

I spent the rest of the evening watching the storm from my hotel window. It was quite pleasant.