From Narita, just outside of Tokyo, we took a one-hour flight to Sapporo. Sapporo is in Hokkaido, the northern island of Japan, and is the largest city in Hokkaido, the 4th largest in Japan. Fun Fact! The Shinkansen (Japan’s high-speed rail) doesn’t yet go to Hokkaido and plans to connect in 2030, so our one-hour flight would’ve taken 8 hours by train!
Sapporo might as well have been another world from Tokyo. I have never felt so at home and at peace than stepping out of the train station into downtown.
For those of you who don’t know, I am a cold weather girl. I love the cold and while Sapporo is cold (highs of 18-20°F and lows of 9°F while we were there), it’s also a bustling walkable city. Even with the chill, everyone is out and about in giant coats and driving on snow-packed streets. Now Ryker, on the other hand, is a desert boy and despite his Montana roots, the cold only exists for him when he’s strapped to a snowboard or skis. So while I was happily basking in the snow and trying not to slip, he was making a beeline to Uniqlo to buy some more layers, mainly gloves; I have never seen this man move so quickly over ice with a 20lb backpack on.
After the gloves were secured, we checked into our lovely hotel. It was fabulous—a massive sauna (one for the boys and one for the girls), free ice pops for after, and I was the only one in my sauna each night I went for my nightly steam.
Ramen Alley
Now Sapporo is known for two things: access to some of the best skiing in the world and miso ramen. So naturally we set off to the famed Ramen Alley to find some.
Ramen Alley is tiny, itty bitty if you will. Maybe 14 shops, each only sized to fit max 8 people, all along a little alleyway. We popped into the first one we emotionally felt was right and settled into a bowl of ramen each. We watched the chef and only worker in the store cook and plate each and every bowl. Mine came with corn and, unexpectedly, a massive glob of butter.
With ramen checked off the list, we now had two more days in this snow-covered city and three goals left: ski, get Ryker a new watch, and visit the Sapporo Beer Factory.
Ski by Ryker
Skiing in Japan…I know you’ve seen it all over social media. It feels like everyone and their mother knows of the legendary powder in Hokkaido. Well, both Meg and I, as you may know, are skiing fanatics. And if you know even more, I’m a fantastic skier… and snowboarder…and I am also known to be pretty humble too.
Meg and I woke up on a cold Wednesday morning and… well, by “we woke up” I mean that I woke up, made tea, hopped in the shower, and got dressed all by the time Meg was able to wake up and open her eyes. No shade … she’s just a sleepy lil gal. Meg and I made our way walking 30 minutes in 15-degree weather to the Sapporo main train station to meet up with our tour group. This was the only way we were able to make it from Sapporo out to the mountain with zero gear or transportation. We booked through a tour company which was primarily filled with Korean and Chinese tourists who were also coming for the powder. We met up with our tour group in a cloud of about 500 people all getting on buses to different activities at different mountains. It was a 90-minute drive from Sapporo by bus to the Kokusai ski mountain.
We drove up to the slopes and found ourselves surrounded by massive snow piles and guess what… it began snowing on our way up there. We arrived and there were probably another 6 inches of fresh Japanese powder freshly fallen on the ground!! In our tennis shoes and t-shirts, we made our way inside and ditched the tour group. We got fitted for our skis and boots, and they also provide ski bibs and jackets at this resort! We rented those and rushed out to the slopes. While it was a small ski mountain, there was a massive gondola that took us up immediately to the top of the mountain. Our first run down the slopes was heavenly. What they say about Japanese powder… or J-pow, is completely correct. We came on a normal weekday and the snow was as good as the best powder days I get skiing back home in Kalispell, Montana.
Our rental skis were too skinny and cut right through the powder. After our first run, we went back in to get the appropriately sized boots for Meg, and I switched into a snowboard, because you know I’m not about to let this powder go unshredded. We made it back out and spent the next few hours having the time of our lives. I reached into my backpack and pulled out soju, whiskey, and Sapporo tall boys. Love ‘em. Meg and I found a quiet pull-off to hide on the slopes to drink our beverages, and for the next hour we talked about how much we love skiing and how we want to spend our time on this world trip.
We realized that spending time doing things we love and that align more closely with our values is how we should be spending this year, and not jumping from city to city, wandering around aimlessly. It should be a month of skiing in Hokkaido, a month of learning how to scuba dive and surf in Indo, a month of learning Muay Thai in Thailand.
After a spectacular day of powder, powered by the Hokkaido pioneers (Sapporo BEER—fun fact: the star on the Sapporo Beer can/bottle represents the early beer pioneers from Hokkaido who traveled to Germany in the 1870s to learn how to craft beer), we made our way back to Sapporo, tired, excited for the future, and ready to sleep.
The Alpinist
I used to be just like you, a watch noob. I knew they told time, Rolexes were fancy, and that’s about it. But after spending almost a full day flopping my way through every watch store in Sapporo, I am now graduated from noob to just minorly clueless.
Here is what I learned. Watches are to men as diamonds are to women. The men love them, and they get all nerdy and excited about how the clock ticks and what it’s made out of and, of course, how nice it looks on the wrist. Outside Switzerland, Japan is actually also known for watches, specifically Seiko watches, which are known for quality.
Ryker actually got a Seiko the last time we were in Japan, but this time he was looking for an upgrade: something classic, a memento of this trip, something that could go with us to every country and be durable but not flashy. A watch that could become a family heirloom. He did his research and we went to THE Seiko Grand Seiko store in Tokyo to learn more. After much time on the interwebs, Ryker had narrowed down what he wanted:
- A Seiko (of course)
- A sapphire face (the 2nd hardest stone after diamonds) which is almost impossible to scratch
- Something that fit his wrist
- A band that could be replaced with something canvas and still look nice
With this in mind, Ryker found his dream watch. It ticked all the boxes: a Seiko Alpinist with a white face. So off we went (first in Tokyo) and then with renewed vigor in Sapporo, to dozens of watch shops. Each shop we went to had this year’s Alpinist in either a black or green face but not the white, so we left each shop sure the next one would have the elusive white face.
That was until we walked into a shop in Sapporo, on our first day there, and asked if they had what we sought. The watchman kindly informed us that what we were looking for was almost impossible to find. You see, what we didn’t know is Seiko stopped making the white face for the Alpinist in 2009 after releasing the colorway in 2006 called the “Unicorn,” and similarly the Cream Alpinist was last made in the 1990s.
“Oh,” we said. But Ryker was not heartbroken. He did what he does best: he pivoted. After taking time to regroup and think about it, he came up with a new plan. Get the black faced Seiko Alpinist and replace the silver metal band with a cool color.
And so we did. We marched back to that watch store, to the very nice watchman, and bought Ryker’s timepiece. He even got a Seiko pin (that’s now proudly displayed on his bag) and some stickers.
We celebrated by getting some curry and I ordered some curry that was so spicy, not the flavorful spice, the red hot can’t taste anything but pain spicy. After struggling for about 45 minutes and eating (I think a good showing) about 75% of the dish, I got lightheaded, which can apparently happen with spice, while Ryker chowed down on his reasonably spiced curry. But that’s not really the point; the point is Ryker got a really cool watch and he is very happy. He might have even skipped out of the store.
Sapporo Beer Factory
Fun Fact! Ryker and I like beer. This is a new thing for the both of us and we have found Japanese beers to be our favorites, specifically Sapporo. So how quaint that we were in Sapporo and could see the motherland where our favorite beer comes from.
My expectations of the Sapporo Beer Factory were low. All the Reddit reviews of the factory were negative and underwhelming, but still we trekked a mile and a half across Sapporo to the beer factory and we were pleasantly surprised. The building was huge with three floors, tours were self led and free, and the tastings were right next to the gift shop.
The third floor held a massive copper thing for storing beer. Floor two told the story of how Sapporo Beer came to be. Essentially the government was like we should brew beer and they called the government entity in charge of this Kaitakushi! So they hired some guy named Seibe Nakagawa to train in Germany and hired another guy named Hisanari Murahashi to build the factory in Tokyo, but that second guy was like hold the phone, Tokyo isn’t a great climate for brewing beer and the government was like “I don’t know bro figure it out.” So he went to Hokkaido and was like this is perfect (as cold and ice is important for the fermentation) AND the gods gave them a good sign, wild hops growing in the region. So the factory was built in Sapporo and called the Kaitakushi Beer Brewery in 1876.
At this point the beer in Hokkaido went private. The beer industry in the late 1890s consisted of four major firms: Sapporo Beer, Nippon Beer, Japan Brewery Company (Kirin Beer), and Osaka Beer (Asahi Beer), which all eventually consolidated into one company called Dainippon Beer. That’s right, a beer monopoly! At this time beer was still super new in Japan and really expensive, especially because Japan didn’t yet have the technology to build and make their own glass bottles, so they were importing them. Beer was marketed as a health tonic and sold for what would be in today’s dollars over $100 per bottle! That’s right folks, some things do get less expensive over time.
But then came World War Two and after the Japanese surrendered the Americans came in and were like “a beer monopoly!! This is outrageous, we do not stand for this!!!” And they split up the monopoly into different companies, which is where we get the names Sapporo, Kirin, and Asahi today. Sapporo still uses barley and hops grown in Hokkaido for their beer!
Armed with our new fun facts we got to the real reason we were there: the tasting. See Sapporo sells 3 kinds of beer (all very similar tbh). One, “the Classic,” is only sold in Sapporo. We got to try all three and had a good old jolly time. Such a good time that we got little tiny Sapporo beer can keychains. Very Kawaii! (Ryker’s new favorite word and Japanese for cute).
Other Fun Things That Happened
- I started reviewing restaurants and places we go and I got a response from this place that served insane seafood bowls
- Some Japanese children came up to us and said “hero!” Very excited to practice their English. Was incredibly adorable.
- Found out our hotel served late night ramen for free and got some! We tried to learn Classic Gin Rummy for two and failed.
- I (Meg) also looked at watches but did not find one that suited my fancy
- We left for Sapporo super early in the morning, were the first people in security and the only people in the airport
- In both Narita Airport and Sapporo Airport we could not buy food before our flight and this led to hangriness
Sapporo stole our hearts with its perfect blend of winter magic, incredible food, and authentic experiences. From the legendary powder to the cozy ramen shops to the fascinating beer history—this northern gem is a must-visit for any Japan traveler seeking adventure beyond Tokyo.