Sapporo

We’ll build shops and hospitals and barracks, right under their noses, right under their feet. Everything we need: banks, prisons and schools… …

There was a hint in the previous blog regarding the Snow and Ice Festivals. It helps you to guess what the good people of Sapporo put up with. They get nearly 5metres of snow, in old money 16ft 5″ of it every winter. Walk outside your house, look up to the gutters, it’s about to there.

They deal with it. However, to help them deal with they dug a tunnel, a proper tunnel, not like the Artillerymans. 500m long and and about 20m wide with shops, cafes, gardens, restaurants, toilets, exhibition areas, it’s all air conditioned and leads mostly across town to right under the train station. It’s a wonderfully bright spacious area, they call it Chi-Ca-Ho, so obviously not named by that English fella. It feels just like a street with a lid on.

Oh hang on, they have one of those as well, 7 blocks it goes, 1km.

The covered Street, Tanukikoji, was home to a more eclectic range of shops than the large underground one. Designer fashion, vintage and food feature heavily.

Otaru

Lucy and me travelled off to Otaru, about 30 minutes eastward along the coast. Lucy to catch the train off back to work, me to head towards the sea, for the dish of the area, Sushi. Lucy’s train headed south to the mountains, I headed north towards the sea and Otaru’s famous canal.

The reader may have noticed a recurring theme regarding the weather over the last few days. Do pictures give the impression of cold, they should, the temperature in Otaru was -4 (minus four).

So instead of Sushi, I had a wonderful Ramen, duck and leak with thin flat noodles.

Whilst travelling around the coastal areas, been seeing these signs

It’ in case of Tsunami, if gives you the height you are above sea level, and were the place of safety is. Somethings we just take for granted.