Sapporo Means Beer

4/28

Amazingly, I had a very good nights sleep on the train- it was a bit older so the seats were wider and soft from years of use, like an old sofa chair, and ugly, of course.  I woke up right before we got to the Sapporo station at around 6 a.m.  It was freezing.  Literally.  Of course, I only had my black hoodie, which I'm sad to report is insufficient for Siberian weather.  Since it was too early to check into my hostel, I left my backpack in a locker there and started to walk around the city. 

The weather really sucked and I wanted a hot chocolate in a warm cafe to keep me hot but it was too freaking early for any of the coffee shops to be open, so instead I walked over to the Nijo Fish Market.  As it started raining I wished I'd brought my umbrella- safely stowed in my backpack in the locker- with me.  The fish market was not fully open, again because it was too early, though by now it was about 6:30, but some of the stalls were and one kind fisherman let me try two different types of crab: Hair Crab, which he told me comes from Hokkaido, and King Crab.  It was really good, but it was, as it should be, cold.  I walked over to see the T.V. Tower, which was less than thrilling.

I was completely miserable; it was cold, wet and windy.  I found an internet cafe, which is expensive, but gets you free soda/tea/coffee and a private half-cubicle booth, and hung out there to dry.

Two hours later, I was ready to face the rain and walked bravely out of Comic Land Sapporo into the slush rain.  I looked dutifully at the Clock Tower, which apparently we're supposed to recognize as the symbol of Sapporo, though it also has the real symbol of Sapporo, the red beer star, on it.  From there I walked along the Odori-koen promenade, where they hold a giant ice sculpture festival during the winter, thought I couldn't ever imagine it getting colder than this.  A LED display showed the temperature as 5*C but I assume that wasn't taking the windchill factor into account because it was really much colder.  I was cursing myself for the lack of umbrella and feeling sorry for myself because it was so gross when it started to snow.  Just barely.  Very light snow that didn't stick, I admit, but those white clumps of frozen water doused my hoodie.  I wanted to kill someone.  I hadn't seen snow since last winter sometime, December of 2008 or January 2009.  I don't necessarily dislike snow, but I wasn't in the mood for it and I like snow to either be pretty, falling gently, or on the slopes.  Otherwise, I don't want be cold.  I wanted my permanent summer back ASAP.

It didn't help that I couldn't find the Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art I was looking for.  I finally went into a strange looking building and found a woman to give me directions.  That got me as far as another random art museum and they were able to give me directions from there.  The museum was small, but actually quite good, though that may have been simply because it was warm and I hadn't been to an art museum in a while.  An interesting exhibit was on called On the 750th Memorial for Shinran Shonin: The History and Treasures of Hongwanji.  Most of it wasn't that good, as the majority of it was scripts with descriptions exclusively in Japanese, but near the end, they had lovely gold paintings, exquisite windows and jewelry to die for.  I also quite liked the permanent exhibition which had several woodblock prints by Sadao Abe, an exhibit of Arinori Ichihara's prints which played around with different textures, effectively, in my opinion, which seems to be difficult to do in abstract art, and a Contemporary Glass Art exhibit and I always love glass exhibits.

Though it was still snowing, I braved the cold looking for the subway station which was supposed to be just two blocks away.  A lady at the information desk inside the museum had even given me a copied handrawn map and had told me it was easy.  Ten minutes lost in the snow is equivalent to about an hour lost in the sun so I was again, miserable.  At this point I decided that there was no freaking way I was going to stay in a place where it was snowing, so I would have to take the night train back in the opposite direction.  I finally asked someone else who gave me better (and just verbal) directions and found it tucked away in the side of a building with a small sign indicating the station.  This experience, of someone telling me that getting somewhere is easy and giving me a copied handrawn map with some English writing on it, and me trying to use that map and ending up lost, seems to be becoming a pattern. 

I freely admit that I'm terrible with directions, but that's why I get so excited when someone tells me it's simple.  The problem is that these maps tend to omit certain intersections or street names or alleyway/streets or will show most, but not all, of a certain type of business on the map.  I'm sure most people just assume they're going the right way anyway, but even when I try that, it just doesn't work.  I'm also much better with visual cues for directions than numbers or names.  For example, I can tell you, even now, that to get to the place to go up to the observation deck at the Petronus towers, you exit the subway station, going up an escalator with an advertisement with a northern asian woman who is crying about love in one picture and happy above love in another.  You turn left from her, then pass by several bakeries and a juice stand on the left side, through the mall, and you walk until you see the Shisheido makeup area (with a Dior makeup ad visible on the floor above it) and turn right to go up an escalator, passing Chanel.  Go towards the Prada store, and just past that exit into the main lobby (past the two banks of ATMs on either side) and turn right.  Walk a short while and you'll see an escalator you go down and turn to the right at the bottom.

Now ask me the name of the street my hostel was on, that I left about an hour and a half ago.  I want to say it was Nanjing.  I just looked on the business card.  It was on Changan West.  How many blocks was it from the bus station I walked to directly from there?  Maybe half of one up, then two or three over, then 2?3?4? blocks down.  I know people would normally say 1 block North/East/South/West but I have absolutely no clue which direction was which.  I can't even guess.

So, that was random. 

There's a tiny little underground alleyway of noodle shops in central Sapporo called Ramen Yokocho that's supposed to have incredible, wait for it, ramen.  Ramen styles vary regionally, though they're ubiquitous and I never noticed a huge difference, but Hokkaido style is supposed to be really good, and with the weather as it was, hot soup sounded great.  I got a bowl in one of the shops and spent a while working on it.  It was good, but nothing spectacular in my opinion.  Once I was slightly drier and slightly warmer, I headed out to the subway station to go out to the only thing left to do, and the most important thing, the Sapporo Factory. 

The one I saw was the original factory- they don't make any beer there anymore, just keep it for historical value, tourists and events.  My guidebook had said I could take a 50 minute tour which was followed by 20 minutes of all you can drink beer, without stating the price.  When I got there, after another ten minute walk in the (at that moment) rain, I saw an old wood stove lit by the entryway, inside the vestibule.  I pushed back the guarding grate so I could stand just inches away from the fire and just huddled for about ten minutes, hoping the two Receptionists wouldn't yell at me.  Finally feeling nearly warm, I headed in.  As it turned out, there was no actual tour, just an exhibit that was only in Japanese.  They had a large English packet that they gave me though, which was actually quite complete so I learned a bit.  Even though the exhibit was free, sadly, the beer was not, though it was still cheaper than it would be even to buy it in a convenience store.  I walked through the exhibit, learned a bit that was very interesting at the time, but which I forgot almost immediately and got someone to take a picture of me.

The two things I learned that stuck with me were that: Sapporo Classic beer is actually the original beer they made and is only available in Hokkaido because it's formulated without preservatives and only lasts for two weeks, and Yebisu cans or bottles with two red fish on the label are lucky because only one such label is printed per hundreds produced (most Yebisu labels show the red fish in the front but not the red fishtail sticking out of the basket on the left).

After all that hard learning it was time to drink!  I started with a sampler that included these beers: Black Label, Yebisu "The Black" and Kaitakushi Beer.  Surprisingly they were all very good.  I expected them to be more bitter, especially "The Black" but they really weren't.  I liked them all enough to get another sampler, but I had other beers to try instead.

At this point I went to their other bar inside the factory, passing by this awesome photo opportunity on the way.  It's a terrible picture of me, but it's a fantastic picture (currently my Facebook photo).

Now at the other bar, I tasted the Sapporo Classic, which was also very good, Yebisu, which was pretty good, and their beer of the month, a German inspired/type beer.  Lastly, I bought a Naporin orange soda because it's also only available in Hokkaido (nothing special).

Back in central Sapporo, I stopped at Hall Stairs Espresso Bar which my stupid, useless guidebook described as "unique."  It wasn't.  It was just a normal bar, with black walls.  Quite disappointing.  Still with quite a lot of time to kill and not wanting to drink anymore, I went back to Comic Land Sapporo internet cafe for a couple of hours.

I think I grabbed some dinner in the train station while waiting for the train back, then left that hell that was white; snow white.  (You'll get my undying respect if you can guess what I paraphrased that quote from.  Also, I think Sapporo might be quite a neat city in proper summer, it was just frozen hell when I was there.)