2019 Japan Trip - Day 10 - Travel Day to Sapporo

Day 10 - Travel Day - Sapporo

Day 10 was bright and sunny as we left our hotel in Otsuka.  It felt like the Japanese weather was mocking me.  The day before was a rained out baseball game.  And the day before that was another perfect day for baseball.  That’s what Japanese weather is like.  Cloudy and miserable one day, perfect and clear the next, back to overcast and rain the next.  

We had made arrangements to fly up to Sapporo to see a game between the Nippon Ham Fighters of Sapporo and the Lotte Marines of Chiba, the same team we were planning on seeing the day before the game was rained out.  Something about having their home game rained out put the Marines on my bad side.  I usually pick the home team’s side in Japanese baseball games when the team I support in Japan, the DeNA Baystars of Yokohama, weren’t playing.  I decided I was definitely rooting against the Marines this time, to get back at them for having an open-air stadium on a rainy day.  

Getting through security on a domestic flight in Japan was remarkably easy and fast.  One big difference between security on an American domestic flight and a Japanese one is who handles the security check-point.  In America, all pre-flight security checks are handled by the Transportation Security Administration, or TSA.  In Japan, it is handled by the airline company whose plane you’re flying.  Since we were flying by All Nippon Airlines, or ANA, we went through the ANA security gate.  

The experience reminded me of something I had learned in my recent Lean Six Sigma class that I had finished.  The concept of the Voice of the Customer, and the difference it makes when you pay attention to it.  In America, we are not the customer of the TSA.  We may ultimately pay their salaries through taxes, but when it comes to the process itself we are actually the product.  The thing being handled.  Their job is to get as many of us as possible through the process with the time and resources they have.  It does not impact them if we are late for or flight or inconvenienced in any way.  They just keep processing us through.  

In Japan, though, we ARE the customer.  ANA will be impacted by how we perceive the experience.  If it’s bad enough, we may choose to use a rival airline the next time we fly.  Going through security is not something customers are willing to pay for, it’s required by government regulation.  This makes it what is called a “Non-Value Added” process.  Essential it is a form of waste, but one which is necessary due to regulation.  Therefore, it is something that should be managed in such a way that it’s impact on the customer is minimized to the greatest degree possible, if it can’t be eliminated entirely.  

This is what the Japanese do.  As usually, I was bracing myself for the experience, but was through the security gates so quickly that I was left wondering that had just happened.  I made a point of reminding myself to pay better attention on the return flight to make sure this wasn’t just a fluke in terms of my experience. 

We took the bus from the airport to the stop closest to our hotel.  We then went walking to see the sights.

Safety First on Japanese buses.

A familiar business on the way to Sapporo

Sapporo Dome spotted on the way to the hotel.  A very alien looking building.

Sapporo is a lively town, with lots of people walking around downtown and lots of things to do.  We had been told that Hokkaido was famous for its ramen, so the first place we went to was to the Sapporo Ramen Yokocho, or Ramen Alley.  It’s a small pedestrian side street where all of the shops are ramen restaurants.  There are You-Tube videos about the place.  

The entrance to Ramen Alley in Sapporo.

A very narrow place.  They could have called it Ramen Hallway.

We went walking down the alley trying to figure out which place to pick when one of the places picked us.  The owner of one small shop saw us looking at the pictures of the type of ramen he offered and called out to us, “Irashaimase!”  That’s a standard greeting Japanese store owners give to customers entering their stores.  I asked him about about the ramen he offered and we ended up going inside.  

The ramen we ate was very good.  It was miso based stock with pork and vegetables added.  The best thing about it was that the spiciness level was perfect, exactly where I would want to have it.  

After that, we found a place where we could rent time in a batting cage called “Sluggers.” We decided to go in and take a few swings.  

I hadn’t swung a baseball bat at a baseball in years.  Based on my performance in Sluggers, I probably would have been sent back down to the minors to work on my swing (I kept swinging early).  But it was fun and made me want to try again sometime after I got back home.  

We continued wandering Sapporo for a while after that, just looking at the sites.  There were a number of places that were clearly for “adult entertainment.”  I contented myself with just taking some pictures before heading back to the hotel.