While on the bus ride into Sapporo, I witnessed for the
first time a proper winter. Layers of thick white snow covered everything. As
many visitors to Australia endure heavy rains and piercingly dry heat, things
we natives just deal with, the Sapporians live with powdery snow for as much as
five months of the year. When it first snowed in Tokyo I genuinely was not sure
how to combat it; what clothes? ride or train it? Until I asked my Scandinavian
buddy C, whom just lives through it bicycle, normal shoes and all.
After changing from the bus to the metro, we stepped out
onto the street for the first time and where all surprised at the extremity of
the snow and ice on the local roads and pathways. Locals where dressed
accordingly with layers of duck down, snow boots, beanies, and thick gloves. The
small children looked like puffed up ottomans that any moment would suffocate
within a fluff and nylon abyss. We searched for our backpackers Ino’s Place. As
we took our first few breaths of the open air we broadcast our appreciation for
the crisp and clear air Alas, we found the humble looking Ino’s place and
ventured inside with our bulky luggage. A kind lady welcomed us, whom I can
only assume was Ino herself, I hello to a fellow Aussie on the road named Dale and
then we made our way upstairs to the 10 share room. I was thoroughly impressed
by the Ino’s fit out. Everything was well made, clean, and generously sized.
The downstairs sitting and living area was well appointed with all sorts of
pamphlets, cd’s, movies, books, things for sale, meals tables, couches and
computers. What struck me the most was the elaborate array of acrobatic party
trick paraphernalia for sale. Juggling pins, balls, spirally things, twisted
do-ops, bits and bobs, blunt machetes and other stuff. I couldn’t quite work it
all out to be honest.
We chilled out for a bit, had a shower, and headed out for
what we planned to be our one and only big night considering it was Saturday. After
exiting the Tozai subway from Odori station, darkness had already begun to fall
and the Sapporo snow festival in Odori Park was buzzing with life. The Sapporo
Festival runs from Feb 6 to Feb 12, and this year was its 63rd
installment. Thousands, including ourselves braved the -7 degree temperatures
to see what all the fuss is about. The sculptures ranged from big to enormous
and from architectural icons to anime characters. The highlights for me were
the Taj Mahal ice sculpture and the Brazilian meat stall…not an ice sculpture
but a warm hearty meal. After we had seen enough, we headed towards the Suskino
ice carving area. We stopped at an alfresco ice bar, drank hot wine, got cold
again from not moving and quickly moved on. The ice carvings where skillfully
created although the final one with frozen fish included seemed rather odd. I
took photos nonetheless. After wandering
around outside for quite some time our next plan was to participate in the favorite
past-time of Sapporians, drinking beer. We were not sure where to go but we stumbled across a bar on the corner of Lilac Street. As we approached, the door
opened immediately and rather arrestingly, a middle aged Australian guy abandoned
his conversation with others and invited us in, sat us down, quickly fixed us
up with drinks and proceeded to talk to his odd looking mates. I was baffled,
it came across as though he had no authoritative association with the bar but was
broadcasting his identity as ‘I am a tragic alcoholic and foreign regular here,
please come in fellow foreigners.’ He then barged over and assumed correctly
that we were after a destination for a good night out later on. He handed us a
map with basically all the places that Lonely Planet has recognised. At this
point I didn’t want to take any ‘nightlife’ advice from this fella but there
was no alternative. A lonesome New Caledonian named Aoyan then came over and
introduced himself and we talked crap for a while about Japan and snowboarding.
He was a really nice dude. The vibe was great and beers kept flowing, suddenly
a random plate of nachos arrived along with a Brazilian guy. I didn’t catch his
name as I was concentrating on other things. The conversation was loud and coarse;
its subject quickly turned towards the plan for the evening. The Brazilian guy
had been here a few years and offered to take us somewhere…
As we finished up, we hit the white streets primed to
continue the partying. We were led to a place alarmingly named ‘Booty’. I feared
the worst. However as it turned out Booty is great place with a comfortable and
somewhat refined lounge upstairs and intimate dance area downstairs. We all had
a fun and debaucherous night drinking tequila and beer, dancing and yelling. At one point a guy passed out and
locked himself in the unisex cubicle so I clambered over and awoke him to let myself
and the line of busting party goers liberate themselves. A large group of
cheerful American’s became great company as the night warred on into the wee
hours. When we had laid down our last moves on the d-floor a tick past 5am, we stumbled out to grab some cheeky gyouza near by and then grabbed a cab back to Ino’s place.
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