Sapporo has turned on the spring weather, with clear skies and above zero degree temperatures.

We ate soup curry, a Hokkaido specialty, consisting of a spicefilled soup with flash-fried vegetables and slow cooked meat, with rice on the side. Its Stephen’s favourite Japanese food, so he’s loved trying different soup curry restaurants and comparing the dishes. Sapporo didn’t disappoint.
We also went to a popular sushi train restaurant, which was so good! We ate so much delicious fresh fish and seafood.

We caught the subway until we picked up our hire car. The subway in Sapporo is highly effective. Everyone politely queues in lines of two and quickly files in/out of the carriages. It’s smooth and efficient and relatively cheap. It is great to have a hire car now though, having not had the freedom of our own car for 4+ months it’s great to now be able to go wherever we want whenever we want. We have a little k-car, which is surprisingly roomy inside. It’s small and simple and our mode of transport for the next week.

And lastly for now, we visited the Hokkaido-jingu shrine in the Maruyama district of Sapporo. It was so interesting to watch as people came to pray and pay respects. It was also fascinating to see the kannushi (aka the ‘preist’ or gods employee) bless people’s new cars, to protect them and their travels.

That’s it for Sapporo. We’re now on our way to Suttsu.
See ya later.
S & M.