Days 13/15 - Sapporo Beer and Wandering...
This will be a bit different post. Because of timing and weather, the wanderings in Sapporo itself were limited. We always planned to spend a good bit of time at the Sapporo Brewery, but the weather was a disincentive for some of the places we wanted to go; Sapporo is surrounded by a lot of nature which is nice in good weather, but. We also planned to spend a day at a nice seaside town, Otaru, which fell between these two days (and will have it's own post).
Sapporo Beer - A Step in Modern Japan
This day was going to be mostly heading to the Sapporo Beer site, visit the museum, and drink some local beer. I've been to the old brewery a couple of times when living in Japan and looked forward to another tasty trip.
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First we have to get there, which is less convenient that expected. While there are some buses that drop you there from Sapporo Station, for us it was better option to hit the subway and walk the 20 minutes to the Sapporo Garden Park. |
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The walk from the subway was through a modest neighborhood you would expect to find in many big cities - apartments, houses, everyday businesses. The first sign that there is a famous neighbor is the brewery's old smoke stack popping through the surrounding buildings, complete with it's Sapporo Red Star and branding. |
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Finally arriving at the old, red brick brewery, with hints of a church (for those of us so inclined) -
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Inside plays more with the reverence some think beer brewing deserves, with vaulted ceilings and stained glass... |
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Much of the museum had many old photos and documents showing the founding and development of Sapporo Brewery as an example of Japan's re-entry to a modern world - the story of the founders travels to Europe to gather the information and skills needed to start it along with funding from government sources; Sapporo Beer was founded in 1876 but didn't become a private company until 1886. |
More interesting, and better images, are the display's of marketing campaigns through the years.
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And that, after a quick Genghis Khan lunch (basically yaki nikku with lamb instead of beef) we are done for the day at the brewery. |
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Sapporo Downtown Wandering
The day after Otaru (the next posting), it was time for Marie' to get back to Tokyo for work. This meant that most of the day was finding a place for lunch, which she had already scoped out, and getting her to the station.
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One of the reasons for visiting Sapporo, in addition to the brewery, was to stuff as much sushi/fresh fish into ourselves as possible (much of it in Otaru, as we'll see). Sushi Bowl, Marie's find, was basically good, fresh, seafood on top of a bed of rice. Mine was scallops sharing space with fresh crab. |
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Like many modern cities that have severe weather conditions, Sapporo, which gets a LOT of snow, has extensive underground called Chi-Ka-Ho. This in some ways mirrors the covered malls above ground but links two subway stations with the main JR Sapporo station. Some parts look like classic malls, but it also includes small plaza's that act as parks where folks can rest.
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And we end this post with our robot overlord's representative warning us not to run and be careful of the slick surface from the rains... |
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There are some, but not many, additional photos in the Sapporo Beer Day and Sapporo Short Wandering galleries.