Don’t worry. I’ll upload pictures to the posts and get some stuff up on the gallery when I get back. The blog interface doesn’t quite work as designed with whatever version of IE that is resident on this machine.
(0)Archive for the 'Travel' Category
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Kirin has produced two recreations of their historical brews, one Meiji-era lager, and the other a Taisho-era Pilsner. Both have cans representative of the labelling during those respective eras. The Taisho one has the Kirin emblem that we are familiar with, but the older Meiji one has what at first appears to be a weird little dog. Both are 5% ABV, but the Taisho pilsner has rice as an adjunct as opposed to the pure malt of the Meiji brew. Both have a stronger bittering, but the Taisho pilsner has the distinct “ricey” finish common to American lagers that are adjunct-heavy – It’s not bad: It’s just not as malty. Continue reading ‘Kirin Retro Beers’
Finished packing for the most part and hunger was setting in, so I walked down to MOS Burger and tried the new Tobikiri Hamburger with cheese. Not bad. From the brief examination of the menu blurb, it might be domestic meat. The cheese is white and melty like a fluid or sauce. The meat is brushed with a teriyaki sauce before assembly. Those who know me know I don’t particularly care for teriyaki-anything, but since this sauce was more on the salty side and less on the sweet side, I could accept it. It was good overall, taste and quality wise. Since it is gettng into winter, the salad fixings are getting rather unhappy – the lettuce is pallid, and the tomatoes grainy. Value-wise, it is about on par with other midrange Japanese burgers, in other words, a bit expensive compared to what you’d get in The States, and volumetrically much smaller. I’d still get this again, though I would have preferred the cheese being less runny. Continue reading ‘Last Lunch’
The crew will all remember walking in the cold down to 7-11 at the bottom of Kita 3 from the ekimae Century Royal hotel in Sapporo on many an occasion. Well, there’s a Family Mart on the first floor now. I think you can even access it from inside the hotel lower lobby. Kuso!
The section of street between Oodori and the JR Sapporo-eki is all ripped up and is a sea of undulating metal plates and temporary asphalt. There will eventually be an underground arcade connecting the two, but for the past couple of seasons, it’s been a mess. Couple this with the younger generation who doesn’t know how to “walk left” like lanes of automobile traffic, and you have anarchy! Chikusho!
There are no actual bike messenger services in Sapporo to my knowledge, but there are at least half a dozen hipsters on their stupid fixies doofing around town making a mess of things. Double-kuso!
(0)The predicted snowfall for the latter part of Friday didn’t materialize until Saturday morning. I awoke to the sound of a snow blower around the corner and the guys over at Nissan shoveling snow with the big plastic scoop. In deep winter there would be the front-end loader rumbling up and down the street. In a light flurry of giant conglomerated snowflakes, we headed over to the JR Sapporo-eki to catch a bus up to Sounkyo-onsen. It wasn’t immediately clear which stop was the correct one, but we were told to wait inside instead of a the platforms. Eventually, some uniformed attendants with signage appeared and set us up with seating assignments and got us queued up for the buses. It was Saturday, so there were enough people for 1.5 buses. Occasionally, a heavy flurry of large, round conglomerated snow would beat down then stop. Continue reading ‘Sounkyo He!’
There was supposed to be some precipitation of some kind overnight on Thursday, but not a whole bunch came to pass. It was my last riding opportunity on this trip, so I bit the bullet and headed out – albeit late – for the bus terminal. I generally avoid the later buses because the subway rides over to the bus terminal get progressively more crowded as the school and work rush kicks in. At least this time I was encapsulated in schoolgirls instead of tobacco-stink oyaji on the tight train. I got my dirtbag feed bag from 7-11 – a coffee, an Aquarius, and three onigiri – and headed up to Oodori and crossed the street to the terminal. I was early, but inside was crowded, so I waited out by the platforms and watched the clockwork comings and goings of both scheduled long-haul buses and city buses. My bus arrived, and with one couple, the bus started out on the journey to Kokusai. A significant number of people got on at JR Sapporo, but other than around three or so, the remainder were Korean tourists, all reeking of the requisite tourist fare, “Ghengis Khan”, the mutton yakiniku that all local and foreign guidebooks demand of visitors to Sapporo. A note to those of you who haven’t experienced this stuff yet – go at the end of your trip, since even if you put your jacket in the plastic bags that many places provide, the stink will transfer off your clothes afterwards and you’ll end up smelling like a barbecue joint for the remainder of your trip. Continue reading ‘Hard Day’s Ride’
Ugh. Although it was fun at Snowbasin, I took a coreshot from running over a obscured or hidden rock.
Coreshot!
Luckily, I had the stuff to do a field repair, just had to go buy a lighter from the store.
Fixed!
Ready for action again!
I was debating whether to go out today or not. On the way back home from dinner at Ubusuna Okinawa Ryouri, it was raining in town, so my guess was that if the same weather system was over the entire adjacent area, there would be snow falling at Kokusai. The morning webcam check was inconclusive, and in fact showed wet roads indicating rain out at Nakayama Touge, so I was not excited. Waffling over breakfast, I decided to go for it, and it ended up being a good call. Heading out on the expressway, the mountians above Teine were clouded in. Onze was scraped away to dirt, and Asarigawa was pretty much melted away at the bottom. Heading up the valley past the dam, there was fresh snowfall just past the first snow shed where the freezing level started. Kokusai was pretty much abandoned – heck, until the second stop, I had the bus completely to myself, aside from the driver and ticket girl! I geared up and headed out just as the ground opened. It was just under zero C at the bottom which was a good sign. Continue reading ‘Socked in in Sapporo’
Okay, clear skies and no new snow overnight, and my legs are somewhat tired from yesterday. I think I’ll head down to the otaku district and look for some manga and toys today. It’s supposed to get cloudy in the afternoon, so there should be some new stuff tomorrow morning. Maybe I’ll head out tomorrow. No sense wasting my energy and $40 for unnecessary punishment today.
(0)No amount of running can get you on the 07:20 bus for Sapporo Kokusai when you’re still on the subway train at 07:20. Luckily there was a second bus at 08:20. I stopped by 7-11 for bevvies and second breakfast, and went over to the bus terminal to wait for the next bus. Considering how late I was, the wait wasn’t long. There was ongoing tunnel repairs along the Jouzankei route, so the early season bus was running out toward Otaru on the Sasson expressway, then heading up the back way from Asarigawa onsen. Onze was pumping out their base with snow making machines, but only had one run operational. Asarigawa ski area looked pretty good on top, but was mostly grass toward the base. This route seemed quicker than the Jouzankei route, and if I didn’t already know how close the Sapporo area snow areas were to each other, seeing them along the way would really drive this home. Continue reading ‘Hot Tuesday’