Osaka / Hokkaido trip 2009

[Madmax]

Many people seems to have visited Japan this year. I went on a 10 day trip to Osaka and Hokkaido with my family. I shall share some of the pics I had taken. Hope you like them!

#1. Osaka Kansai Airport. Took an overnight flight to Osaka via KL on Malaysia Airlines. Reached Kansai airport in the wee hours and it was so quiet. The domestic flight to Hokkaido was not due to take off for another 3 hours. *Yawn*

#2. Sapporo finally! As with all winters, days are short! It was already dark at 4.30 pm.

#3. Sapporo White Illumination. This is the city's Christmas light-up at Odori Park. Nice....

 

[Madmax]

#4. We did what all tourists in Sapporo do - Go up the Sapporo TV tower and have a view of the city. The Christmas lights did add extra punch to the view.

#5. Another shot before leaving Odori Park.

 

[Madmax]

#6. Day 2 for us is to leave Sapporo to Noboribetsu. But in the morning, we had planned for our first taste of Hokkaido's snow crab (I am not sure what is the correct name - some people calls it king crab, queen crab?). So we visited the Nijo market.

#7. Cooked cold crabs!

#8. Our 2nd breakfeast meal. Some of the stalls has a seating area. This crab was caught live and costs us about 9,000 yen. We asked them to grill half and boil the other half. The verdict - The boiled half taste better.

 

[Madmax]

#9. Noboribetsu Bear Park. There are 2 enclosures. Enclosure #1 also has the 'human cage' where visitors go into a tunnel with windows. The bears look into the glass and begs for bear biscuits. You can purchase a small bag for 100 yen. You can dispense the biscuit thru a dispensing hole at every window.

#10. Enclosure #2. The bears are smaller. I am not sure whether they are females or just younger bears.

#11. Next destination? The 'whitesh thing' is ice frozen over the signboard.

 

[redname]

hahaha, i like the #10.

the bear looks like he/she is relaxing and looking at the humans instead while leaning over the fence

 

[Madmax]

#12. Hell's valley. It was wet and foggy and the view was bad.

#13. We stayed at Lake Toya Kohantei and asked for dinner to be served in our room. The food was delicious!

#14. Lake Toya in the morning.

 

[xyz123]

Thanks for sharing, madmax.
how heavy is that hokkaido snow crab that cost 9000yen? i see singapore selling SGD128 per kg. I ever asked the waiter before. Each one typically weigh 3 to 5 kg. so, it comes out to be at least $400 per crab... 9000 yen approx SGD140?

 

[Madmax]

#15. Next stop - Mt Showa Shinzan. It offers good, elevated views of the surrounding areas. For once, I see some light on a gloomy day.

#16. My final destination is Niseko, which is popular for its powder snow. The drive turned nasty as the weather became blizzard conditions.

#17. Our stop for the next 2 nights - Niseko Country Resort. The chalets comes in 2, 3 and 4 bedrooms configurations. We took the 2 bedroom. It is fully equipped with a living area, fully functional kitchen and washing machine. Best of all - TV equipped with English channels with HD. And our ride is a AWD 2.4L Toyota Ipsum.

 

[Madmax]

Thanks for sharing, madmax.
how heavy is that hokkaido snow crab that cost 9000yen? i see singapore selling SGD128 per kg. I ever asked the waiter before. Each one typically weigh 3 to 5 kg. so, it comes out to be at least $400 per crab... 9000 yen approx SGD140?

Ours weigh in at 1.5kg. It is 6,000 yen per kg for a live crab.

 

[Madmax]

#18. In the evening, we went to a large supermarket nearby to pick up some groceries. I could not help to take a picture of a very bored Lotto salesperson.

#19. It snowed overnight. Where's the road?

#20. There are 3 slopes where you can indulge in snow activities. The most popular being skiing and snow boarding. We went to the Niseko Hilton Village. My eldest daughter went for a very basic skiing lessons. During the day, the weather conditions range from heavy snowfall with strong winds to clear sky.

 

[bglow]

I like the pictures of the bear. Is it very natural for the bear staring at the window.

 

[Madmax]

#21. I reckon I will never be an expert in skiing within 1 day. So, my wife, younger daugther and I went for snowmobilling! It was fun! If you want to do this, do protect your nose and mouth. Ours hurt from the cold wind.

#22. Heavy snowfall on the 2nd night. We woke up to find our car missing and buried under 4 inches of snow.

#23. Leaving Niseko, we heard towards a ryokan at rural Sapporo, with stopovers at Otaru and Ishiya Chocolate Factory. We spotted a friendly rickshow puller in -3 deg C weather touting his services. And he speaks Chinese.

 

[DinoSG]

nice..more?

 

[Madmax]

#24. Ishiya Chocolate Factory. Inspection!

#25. The bottom worker was busy filling in the gaps left by the machines.

#26. There was a display with holographic projections...very cool. I think they were explaining about chocolate but it was all in Japanese.

 

[Madmax]

#27. I am very amazed at the presentations of their food products. It looks simply too nice to be eaten.

#28. Ishiya Chocolate Factory at the outside. If you are there, try taking the pictures during the night, I think it is much better. I could not as I have to rush to the ryokan.

 

[Madmax]

#29. More food pics. We stayed at the Nukumorino-yado Furukawa at Jozankei onsen. The ryokan served fabulous food. And this is actually a kid's meal.

#30. Part of the kid's meal. Actually, the kid's meal is good enough for an adult. :bigeyes:

 

[Madmax]

#31. At the onsen, snowfall was moderate. You can see the amount of snowfall accumulated over time. Truely natural unspoilt beauty.

#32. My daughter pretending it was a delicious yummy white muffin.

 

[Madmax]

#33. We are back in Sapporo. I think Japan must be the largest users of vending machines.

#34. Dinner is at New Ramen Alley. The cooks must be deliberating how to cook our ramen orders.

#35. The final product! *Shiok*

 

[Madmax]

#36. Bye bye Hokkaido! We promise we will be back. Osaka, here we come. For a while, I thought I took a space shuttle.

#37. This definately is not Osaka Kansai Airport!

 

[Madmax]

#38. Train commuters. I noticed about their fashion - they wear pretty dull colours. I wore a bright orange Timberland winter down feather jacket. I do get an occasional stare.

#39. Our next visit is the Osaka Aquarium, more commonly known as the Kaiyukan. Fresh water exhibit with very large arapaimas.

#40. Huh? Why are they facing 1 direction?