Sapporo Day 1 - Planes, Trains, and Monorails

This weekend I made the last long baseball trip I had left, up to Sapporo to watch the world-famous Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters at the Sapporo Dome. Getting there was a bit of a headache, though.

First, since my credit cards don't like to work in Japan, I had to find another way to pay for the plane ticket. Luckily, since Japan is still a very cash-based society, there was another option in place. When I made the reservation (a couple months back) all I had to do was head up to the 7-11 with the cash. That was the easy part.

Saturday morning, I got up nice and early and walked to the train station, got some coffee, and jumped on the early shinkansen for Tokyo. Then I just had to transfer to the Tokyo loop line local train, then transfer to the Tokyo monorail to get to the airport. Flight was of course delayed. Then, once I got to the Sapporo airport, the plane parked on the tarmac and a stairway pulled up, so you have to take a bus to the terminal. Then I took a train to Sapporo station, a subway, and a short walk, and I was at my hotel by 2:30.

I was meeting my Japanese teacher there around 4:00. She's from Sapporo and was going to be there anyway, so she volunteered to show me around town. While I waited, I went to check out the big park that runs down the middle of town, Odori Park.

During the winter, Sapporo is famous for the snow festival that takes place in Odori park. During the summer, they set up beer gardens instead. The park is around 12 blocks long, and each brewery sets up their own beer garden, taking up about a block of the park. All told, there were 7 or 8 city blocks worth of beer gardens.

They've been doing this for a while, so they know how to cover all the bases.
After I met up with my teacher, we went to see the sights. First up was the former Hokkaido government office building. It's a big brick building, mostly famous because it's old.
Next, we went to Sapporo's most famous attraction, the Sapporo Clock Tower. Also mostly famous for being old. It's also not as big as you think it will be. That's why it's on the list of "3 Most Disappointing Sights in Japan".
Last stop before dinner was Sapporo Tower, an imitation Eiffel tower. There's an observation deck that overlooks the park, so we went up and had a look.
After the tower, we went to have sushi. My teacher had a favorite sushi place she wanted to take me to, so I got a taste of what good sushi is, as opposed to the conveyor belt stuff I usually eat. After dinner, we went to a couple of bars for drinks, so I got an idea of where to go for the nightlife in town. Then we called it a night and I went to bed. I had big plans for Sunday. First a temple, then the ballgame, and finally the beer garden. Better rest up.