2019 Japan Trip - Day 12 - More of Sapporo

Day 12 - More of Sapporo

The next day, we spent some time walking, bussing, training around to see more of Sapporo.  

On my daily morning walks around the area we were staying in, I found that Sapporo has these walking/biking trails running throughout the city.  “Trails” has the wrong feel to it, though.  They’re more like pedestrian thoroughfares.  Highways for walking.  With their own on and off-ramps and signs for direction.  It was nice finding a way to go that go you away from cars and traffic.

On the list of “Things to Do in Sapporo” when you search online is a visit to Asahiyama Memorial Park.  According to Wikipedia, it was opened in 1970 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of Sapporo.  It’s surprising to me to think of a city in Japan being so young.  It’s one of the things that lends one to thinking of the city and the rest of Hokkaido as Japan’s frontier. 

The park is a nice place to hike.  It reminds me a bit of Griffith Park in Los Angeles, though the trails I walked in Asahiyama were not as wild or as strenuous as some of those in Griffith Park, which I think covers a bigger area.  But like Griffith Park, Asahiyama Memorial Park gives you some pretty good views of the city where it belongs.  

Hard to translate since it's written honorifically, but I think it says, "Various people have, to give young people a desire for wisdom, hope and action, present this bell of hope that they make a big leap into the future."

“Be Careful!  Let’s not get in the water in order to keep from putting dogs in the fountain with their muddy feet.”

Not something you see either in America or Japan very often anymore.  A phone booth.

It takes ten yen to one hundred yen coins.  From about a dime to a dollar.

 After the park, we spent some time walking through the Tanukikoji Shopping Street.  The shopping street is a typical example of a “shoutengai,” or shopping area in Japan.  The best image I can give you is a street turned into a shopping mall, often covered by a high, plexiglass roof.

The Tanukikoji Shopping Street takes its name from an animal called the “tanuki,” or raccoon dog.  In Japanese folklore the tanuki is known as a mischievous and jolly, able to change its shape and disguise itself, but also somewhat gullible and absent-minded.  I don’t know if that’s a good image for the sellers on the Tanukikoji Shopping Street, but a lot of the stores are decorated with images of tanuki.  

 I liked visiting Sapporo.  It’s a nice, cozy town that I’d like to come back to see again.  Maybe in the winter when it’s famous snow festival takes place.