Hokkaido distinctively has its own merits for each season not just its well-known fluffy snow in winter. As we ended up spending our trip in autumn, we were greeted by beautiful autumn foliages and very fewer tourists.
I had learnt from my first Hokkaido visit that it is truly vast with immense nature and untamed landscape. The island does offer pretty well transportation in terms of trains and buses into the urban areas. Nontheless, they still limit your freedom of exploration. This is what make a self-driving the ideal way to plunge into the beauty of Hokkaido wilderness.
With a group of 11 people, we rented two 6-passenger vehicles from Niconico Rentacar with full insurance coverage and ETC (Electric Toll Collection System).
Day 3 (2019-10-15): Furano – Sapporo
Farm Tomita
In spite of the typhoon Hagibis striking the eastern part of Honshu island, Japan mainland, we were blessed with an exceptional sunny day and blue skies on our third day in Hokkaido. You can also see our first two days of this trip in Part I & Part II.
Farm Tomita was our first destination today. We had the fields to ourself as it was not the season for flowers to bloom. All lavernders were surely left. However, when compare to the fields at Shikisai no Oka we visited the other day, they seemed to be more lively. Flower crews still thoroughly sticked around in their own cluster. Some wild butterflies were spotted dawdling with those effloresces. One great morning stroll was exquisitely accomplished at Farm Tomita.
Blue Pond
A recent emerged must visit spot in Hokkaido is Shirogane Blue Pond and we of course didn’t forget to put it in our itinerary. We once tried to find out when is the best time to admire the beauty of the blue hue of the pond but it turned out to have its own merits all year round. In spring, the water has a sign to to get bluest as the rising amount of aluminum in the water. In summer, the green colour of the trees brings out the beauty of the blue water in a different kinda way. In winter, the unusual hue of blue and the surrounding covered up with snow illustrate such whimsical look of the pond. And in fall, emerald green is frequently obsearved. On top of everything else, the ponds backdrops are tinted in red and yellow as we were about to witness.
Shiroi Koibito Park
Time to make our way out of Furano since it had been extensively probed. And the last two nights of our stay we decided to get exposed into the sole perky city, the capital of Hokkaido, Sapporo. It took us roughly 2.5 hours to get to the heart of the city from Blue Pond. As soon as we arrived, we made the first stop at Shiroi Kobito Park to escape the weather for an evening. Shiroi Koibito Park is a theme park by Ishiya, a local chocolate company. The place is always pinned at the top of to-do list in Sapporo because it houses to many facilities and memorabilia avaliable from a chocolate and collectibles museum, cafe and sweet shop, mini theme park to its cookie manufacturing factory. Unfortunately, we didn’t have much time to experience them all. But we surely did admire the beauty of the park which stands out from other buildings in the vicinity by its Tudor architectural exteriors. There were some full-bloomed roses still in sight giving out such fanciful vibe when passing through.
Jojoen
As it might have been said that Hokkaido is famous for its top-notch seafood and farm products. However, since we were planning the trip to Japan we didn’t forget to include ‘Yakiniku (Japanese barbecue) dining’ in our itinerary even here in Hokkaido. So, after a long day from exploring Farm Tomita and Blue Pond, we all were up for delicious yakiniku.
Located in Susukino, the most bustling and hustling street in Sapporo, Jojoen is raved by the locals and international visitors. It is actually a Japanized version of Korean BBQ restaurant that has many chains throughout the country. The exact location of this chain is on the 9th and 10th floor of Kitako S4 Building. We were having a bit of difficulty finding the place at the time we arrived. The sole English word was its name ‘Jojoen’ and it was super super small. I recommend you to look up for the brands logo instead.
We ordered various assorted beef and pork, all of which were beautifully marinated. Our friends went extra for salad and Yukhoe, a raw meat dish. As someone who has been living in Seoul for years I personally found everything here could be qualified as Korean-taste standard with a tad better quality of meats.
Turned out their salad was my favorite dish that evening. The lettuce leaves and sliced cucumber were very fresh and they were lightly marinated in the most mellow dressing. The sides were regular – rice, kimchi, and a miso broth with seaweed. All the dinner position we got was about 6000JY each. As for the service, it was nice and attentive. Overall, it was decent enough for the recommend to come over despite its chain status.
Where we stayed: For the rest of our two nights we chose to stay at House Hotel (Mashu) Sapporo in the city of Sapporo which we booked through Airbnb. It is located nearby Hokkaido University within a short-walk distance from Soen station of the JR line. But if you visit with a vehicle, there are 4 free spacious parking lots by the house. Although the house is not very big but it is practically functional and can be occupied upto 14 adult guests. It has all amenities you’d need. The kitchen is lovely equipped and the living space is perfectly open for a group to mingle. However, at our stay the house next door was under construction so it was kinda noisy. The work seemed to get started from 7 o’clock and the hamerring sound did wake us up every morning. Despite this unfortunate event, the place was terrific.
Also, see my first two days in Hokkaido from the links below:
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