Chocolate

Our Last adventure was a visit to the Ishiya Chocolate Factory. We tried some of their famous chocolate cookies called "White Beloved Ones." This cookie is only sold in Hokkaido and it is very famous throughout Japan.






After watching the factory workers put together the chocolate cookies, we got our hands dirty and made our own.



One of the more memorable experiences we had was a trip to a local microbrewery with a friend of mine from the hospital. John and Sarah are recent home-brewers and John came across a web-site for the "Beer Inn Mugishutei (Beer Joint)." This place was owned by Phred Kaufamn. He Has spent the past 25 years in Japan as a resident of Sapporo. Mugishutei ( Beer Joint) was started in June 0f 1980 and with over 300 varieties from over 50 countries has the largest selection of beers in the orient. This place has the feel of the Brickskeller in Washington DC. His selections included Gordon Biersch. Phred was a gracious host.

Beer

A trip to Sapporo would not be complete without a trip to the beer museum. In fact, the Sapporo beer museum is the only beer museum in Japan.









Beth had a little too much fun at the museum bar...

Ice Sculpures

The ice sculptures were more elaborate than the snow sculptures. They were displayed in Susukino (the main shopping district). My favorite was a jeep with snow boards on top.









We were not sure who this guy was, but he was popular with the locals.

The Sapporo Snow Festival

The 57th Sapporo Snow Festival is one of Japan's biggest winter event of the year, with approximately two million people turning up to view the glittering ice sculptures created by professional artists in spaces all over Odori Park, Makomanai Park and Susukino (the main shopping district).

Few have been more surprised by the current scale of this event than the people who started it all in 1950, when some students left six snow sculptures in Odori Park. This has now grown into an international event, with teams from Japan and all over the world competing in the International Snow Statue Contest, the highlight of the event. Some sculptures are the size of buildings several stories tall.

Below is a replica of the Horyuji Temple. Situated in Ikaruga in Nara, it is the world's oldest surviving wooden structures dating from the 7th century. It was originally built by Prince Shotoku (the son of Emperor Yomei) and Empress Suiko during the Asuka period to fulfill Emperor Yomei's deathbed wish to build a temple and an image of Buddha for the recovery from his illness.






Our favorite snow sculpture was a tribute to Ai Miyazato, a Okinawan professional golfer. Below is a description of the sculpture and what appears to be an advertisement for Okinawa. "Brilliant sunshine" sounded good.



The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was also very cool...



For more information see:
http://www.snowfes.com/english/place/

Sapporo

After 3 days of skiing/ Snowboarding, we left Niseko for Sapporo.






We discovered that Sapporo was no warmer than Niseko, averaging about -2C. This makes Sapporo the perfect place for a Snow Festival...

Niseko

We decided to leave the tropical weather of Okinawa for a ski trip to northern Japan.
Sitting in the southwest corner of Japan's northern island of Hokkaido, Niseko is one of the snowiest places on the planet, receiving well over 500 inches of snow a year. Storms from Siberia pick up a sudden surge of moisture from the Sea of Japan and slam into the 4,000-foot peaks of Niseko.



It seemed like all 500 inches fell during our stay. It made for very good conditions.






Click on photo twice to enlarge...