After battling the chilly winds and intermittent rains to get back to Miyanosawa subway station, it was time to space out on the 20 minutes ride to Susukino on my way to Mt. Moiwa. The plan was to transfer to the streetcar to get to the Ropeway Iriguchi stop which was right in the middle of the line connecting Odori to Susukino. As such, I should have just alighted at Odori and got on the streetcar instead of taking the extraneous step of transferring on the subway to get to Susukino instead. But in any case, it was nice to catch Susukino before dark and it was my first streetcar ride in Japan!~
This picture seems somewhat off-centre. Strange.
There's an odd charm to riding streetcars, that bumpiness and grinding noise as it trundles along.
The single compartment streetcar had a seating arrangement that mirrors itself from one side to the other and also there are driver sections at both ends.
After a bumpy 20 minutes ride on the streetcar and a grueling 7 minutes hike, it was time to take the ropeway up to Mt. Moiwa for that lovely night view of Sapporo city. The round trip ride was supposed to cost 1,200 yen (about 15 SGD) but Miki had very kindly helped me to find a discount e-voucher so the ride only cost 1,000 yen (about 12 SGD). Strangely enough I was the only one ascending to the mountain peak, so I had the whole compartment to myself to take as many photos and from as many angles as I wanted. The view was quite breathtaking but that was because I have not been to Mt. Hakodate at this point.
Up, up and away!~ Really like the snow-covered slope as we ascended.
Even though I was the only one going up, there was still an attendant explaining to me the various sights you can see from the ropeway all the way to the top. Japanese service, world class.
Did some more souvenir shopping while at the observatory floor. Bought Mt. Moiwa shoyu and miso instant ramen which was absolutely heavenly, am still conserving that one last pack of shoyu ramen even 2 weeks after I came back. The peak was so damn cold which meant that quite a few of the photos taken turned out somewhat blurry. Wonder how the staff taking commemorative photos at the peak can stand being exposed to the elements all day long. And they were so kind to take a photo for me for free despite the fact that I flat out reject to take a commemorative one. ^^;
I think I bought half of the available flavours... that is like 5 or 6 boxes of caramel candy.
Together with the Moiwa mascot while waiting to ascend from the mid level
Would have really liked to stay out longer to enjoy the view not through the glass but so cold...
Susukino すすきの
The way down was more packed but the dim lighting and fast speed of the ropeway made it really difficult to get good photos and I also realised that I was getting very hungry after all the walking and hiking. So it was time to have dinner back at Susukino. I was told to avoid Ramen Alley (元祖さっぽろラーメン横丁) even the supposedly original one as the shops there are overhyped and the ramen was only so so. So I ended up heading to Suage+ for another of Hokkaido's specialties - soup curry. It tasted like the usual sweeter Japanese curry but there was a greater emphasis on spices such as coriander and cloves. Although it was more watery (soup base, duh), the taste was not diluted and had quite the spicy hint to it which was uncharacteristic of Japanese food. The staff quickly figured out that I was not Japanese as although I ordered in Japanese, I got the entire sequence the other way round. You had to choose the base set first, before deciding on spiciness and rice levels. The chef was very nice though, giving me extra beef and potatoes as service. As usual, there's the "You come from Singapore? I know Singapore, Merlion!" refrain when you speak to Japanese people. ^^
This was their all-in deluxe soup curry set. I had free refills of the curry soup base, it was that good. Did I mention that the yoghurt drink was a perfect complement to the Indian spices?
Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars
Susukino at night is quite different from the day, it remains as bustling and crowded from a Hokkaido perspective but there are a lot more different people out on the streets. There were a lot of promoters for karaoke for one thing and also the usual pimp trying to get you laid. I usually speak English to defeat them but there was a very brave pimp who tried to continue conversing with me, going as far as to say "No Japanese, okay! You eat dinner? ... You shopping? ... You have sex?" in about 2 minutes of brisk walking. That was really quite direct and shockingly so from a Japanese cultural viewpoint.
Susukino at night... this picture is not off-centre like the previous one
Tanukikoji shopping street. Spans quite a few sections but by the time I was there the shops were already closing.
One of the more interesting karaoke promoters with a cutesy but functional cap
Still felt a bit hungry and convinced myself to eat something else after walking around in Susukino. This was an unplanned food stop, so I decided to head where most people seem to be going. The miso saba set meal turned out to be rather savoury and was extremely affordable.
Ofukuro no Aji (おふくろの味)
Address: 北海道札幌市中央区南3条西5丁目 ＮＫＣ３５ビル１Ｆ
The super lovely miso saba set meal at only 760 yen (about 10 SGD)
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Decided to walk to Sapporo station and back to my hotel as it was 2 subway stations away from Susukino. Seems deceptively near, the key word being deceptive. I was deceived, to emphasise the point. Took about 20 minutes of brisk walking to reach Sapporo station, though I did stop by a couple of places, some of which are photographed below. I saw Ippudo but I was seriously way too full to consider another bowl of ramen. Also passed by the Odori streetcar station that I never did manage to catch a ride on, despite the plan to do so in my itinerary. Was also really lucky to catch the Sapporo TV Tower in its full illuminated splendour as I heard that they turn off the lights by 9.30 pm. I was in the Odori Park vicinity facing the tower at around 9.10ish pm as evidenced by the clock timing in the photo below.
A curiosity that I've thus far not managed to sate: Is the Ippudo in Japan better than the overrated and overly expensive sister branch in Singapore?
Odori felt like a poorer cousin of Susukino, but all that is glitz and glamour may not be as such underneath. At least there was not as many promoter around the area.
Brief stopover at Sapporo TV Tower
The chilly spring (felt like winter to me) breeze diffused the warm yellow lighting which gave the tower and its surroundings a rather surreal and ethereal feel.
Just as I was about to leave for my hotel satisfied with having caught the Sapporo TV Tower earlier than expected in my itinerary and also looking forward to a good night's rest with the Japanese variety shows on cable, Keiko replied that she was in the area with her Skymark batchies! The serendipitous awesomeness was that they were having dinner at Hanamaru which was totally where I had wanted to go the previous night, so despite being totally full I decided that I should at least go say hi. Reached there just in time to make the last soup orders, and the piping hot crab soup was just the right pick-me-up after having spent close to half an hour in the freezing outdoors. Could not resist ordering just a few plates of sushi which turned out to be quite huge but lipsmackingly delicious. Was quite interesting hearing about their views on the recent miniskirt furore, apparently it was not such a big thing when the company made its internal announcement some time back but they became a lot more self-conscious when the media began to report widely and scrutinise the new dress code's appropriateness.
Nemuro Hanamaru STELLAR PLACE (根室花まる JRタワーステラプレイス店)
Address: STELLAR PLACE Centre 6F, underpass connected to JR Sapporo Station
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Had Keiko ordered the sushi of the day, unagi and ebi maki for me (kiasu personality) but ended up I would have easily made the 10.30 pm last order cut for sushi.
This. Da bomb for the night, mainly because I was too full for solid food and also because it was the warmest item ordered for me. The last order cutoff timing for soups are much earlier than sushi, so do not visit Hanamaru too late!
Sushi of the day: Meijiki (Swordfish)? Can not remember as it tasted just like normal sashimi (sadly I really am not appreciative or understand sashimi at all)
Had to takeaway the unagi and ebi maki as I was simply too full. Was really tasty while watching variety shows on TV in the comfort of my room later though.
We left slightly after Hanamaru's closing time of 11 pm and I finally got a chance to take a video of the twin conveyor belts before rushing out to meet Keiko and the rest. Was a bit paiseh to record while we were eating earlier as there were other customers seated to my right. The really cool thing is that they have all the non-sushi items such as the togarashi/shichimi and wasabi on the hidden conveyor belt below the main one. By the time I was finally done with the takeaway sushi I had in my room it was like 2 am, definitely not an early sleep as envisaged earlier.
Don't miss absolutely breathaking Lake Toya in the next post, click here.
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