Day 264: Train to Sapporo

If you didn’t already know, Kieran loves football and Gap Year has prevented him from fully enjoying the 2023 and 2024 season. We made an agreement that for a little rest we could stream the Buffalo Bills vs Ravens game from our hostel. Hilariously, the hostel WiFi went out right at the beginning.

After the game ended, we trained two hours to Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido. The train curved around the island and the tracks lay next to the ocean. The trees and nature mimic the Atlantic Northeast with red, orange, and yellow peeking out between dark green evergreens. However, the housing colors match the Pacific North West with maroon reds, dark blues, and dark greens. It was so beautiful and recommend looking up these towns and neighborhoods on Google for this time of year.

We picked up some huge dumplings / shumai and located our little apartment for the next three days. Hokkaido and Sapporo are known specifically for a dish called Jingisukan which translates to Genghis Khan. It’s similar to BBQ but it’s all lamb. We found a place downtown that serves it and decided to walk 30 minutes there to enjoy the city. The restaurant was Japanese retro style and we enjoyed the counter top atmosphere and the two female chefs butchering away at the lamb to cut us pieces. It was so good. Big fan of Sapporo and Hokkaido so far and adding it to the list of places Mary will move to if we don’t make it 😉

Food:
Jingisukan
Dumplings

Spots:
Sapporoもっと詳しく