Sapporo Day Out: Ippudo Ramen and Moiwayama Observatory Views
Travel · Published 7/5/2024 ·
When you travel, something always throws a wrench in your plans…
But rolling with it is kind of the whole point, and there are a hundred ways to sort things out… so there’s really no need to get annoyed. The original plan was to grab breakfast… but the franchise ramen place I wanted to hit was way too far. And I also needed to work a store that sells underwear — Nike, Under Armour, that kind of thing — into the route… so I headed to the Daimaru department store at Sapporo Station, or the JR Tower, to take care of it… and in the end, I didn’t manage to get it done today. Why? I don’t know why, but the moment I step out of the house I’m just not that hungry. And every restaurant… doesn’t open until 11.
[Ippudo
Japan, 〒060-0005 Hokkaido, Sapporo, Chuo Ward, Kita 5 Jonishi, 3 Chome, Sapporo Stellar Place CENTER 6F
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I killed time until 11 by wandering around window-shopping, picked up a bag at the Patagonia store, and showed up at the ramen place right at 11. Ippudo? Ippoodo? The locals seem to call it Ippudo, I think… Anyway, maybe because it’s in a big arcade, the place was spotless. The staff were friendly, of course… We ordered the special? ramen and a gyoza set. I was curious what that little soy-sauce-dish-looking bowl propping up the spoon was for, but I never did figure it out. They even had them in the bathroom…
It looked like a seasoned bean sprout dish, and it was delicious. Unlike in Korea, in Japan vegetables seem kind of expensive — there aren’t that many veggie-heavy dishes.
They also gave us something like pickled ginger as a side dish… well, “gave” — it was self-serve, with a sign telling you to help yourself.
The chopsticks were disposable wooden ones…
And finally, the ramen… miso ramen. This is the special, with seaweed added to make it look as much like a Japanese manga as possible. That seaweed had a surprisingly strong aroma. Which is my way of saying it was good. The miso-based aroma completely tamed the gamey smell of the pork.
I think it was a rice bowl topped with stir-fried meat — I can’t quite remember…
Here’s the full set.
This is the tonkotsu ramen I ordered. It’s not that there was no pork smell… but it was kept well in check. The seaweed topping has a strangely strong aroma. It’s not thick or anything, though…
Rice topped with pollock roe… nothing inside. Just rice…
Cleaned my plate.
3,240 yen. Not bad for two special ramens.
I was curious about the Starbucks in Sapporo’s underground mall, so I ordered an iced americano, grande size.
The manager was super kind…
It struck me as interesting that everywhere in Japan there’s this little tray for taking your money.
A double-wall paper cup… and a paper straw — they’ve standardized on a single cup you can use for either hot or cold drinks. The taste was exactly the same as it is in Korea. Which, when you think about it, is probably to be expected… I guess.
A score from Patagonia — a backpack that doubles as a tote… There’s no foam padding or anything to keep its shape, so it’s light. It’s a versatile bag, good for a 3-to-5-night trip or for business travel and quick errands.
It was fascinating how a ton of buildings were all connected underground, like one big shopping center.
Odori Park in Sapporo… I started walking along the park toward Hokkaido Shrine.
A bit over an hour away… eh, what’s 4 kilometers… ^^ Google Maps is useless back home in Korea, but in Japan I leaned on it desperately and it worked great.
Odori Park reminds me of what some architect once said — that stretching a park out in a long line lets a huge number of people benefit from it. After walking a good while I got hungry, and since there was no decent restaurant around, I decided to buy a bento and eat it in the park.
Maybe because it was made-to-order, it was on the pricier side.
They made it exactly like the picture.
I added a croquette too, then headed over to Maruyama Park.
The temperature is just lovely. 16 degrees… at the end of June… Summer in Hokkaido was a total escape from the heat.
I settled into a spot while keeping a wary eye on a crow — practically an eagle — that I’d watched eat rather aggressively. The bento tasted great and the portion was generous. I remember being surprised at how hearty the portions were across the board. People say you get small servings in Japan, so I’d just assumed that’s how it’d be, but that really wasn’t the case.
There’s so much greenery that the light and shade were just wonderful.
The shrine entrance…
The front courtyard inside the shrine… neatly kept and quiet.
I looked up the route to take a bus to the Moiwayama Observatory, which is said to have great views of Sapporo, and hopped on the number 10 bus. Other than the fact that you can’t transfer, public transit in Japan kept to its scheduled arrival times and was easy to use.
They say it takes an hour and a half to hike up to the Moiwayama Observatory on foot. But I’d already walked a lot today and my feet were hot, so I decided to take the cable car up.
[Mt. Moiwa Ropeway Sanroku Station
5 Chome-3-7 Fushimi, Chuo Ward, Sapporo, Hokkaido 064-0942, Japan
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Round-trip tickets only, 2,100 yen. It’d been a while since I’d ridden a cable car, so I was excited hehehe.
I reached the observatory, and the whole panorama of downtown Sapporo opens up at once.
I bought a few snacks at a convenience store. Got the bamboo-shoot version of Choco Songi, a melon bread, a Pocari too… Maybe because they’re domestic products, they were cheap. Compared to that, I have no idea where Korea’s prices are even heading…
Tastes just like Choco Songi ^^ Shaped like a bamboo shoot.
At 531 meters it’s not a tall mountain, but it’s on the west side of Sapporo and you get a great view of the city.
Below 16 degrees with the wind blowing, it was cold. I hadn’t brought a windbreaker, so I ended up buying one to wear. T_T
B… bears, apparently. There are bears. The sign says to be careful… but I’m not sure how exactly I’m supposed to be careful. All it says is to be very careful.
The sunset is really beautiful. The air in Sapporo is so clean. When it’s cloudy, it’s beautiful in a cloudy way… when it’s clear, beautiful in a clear way… With no fine dust or anything, you see things in their true colors. Point the camera anywhere and you get a fantastic shot.
They say Sapporo’s night view is beautiful… but I’d have to wait over two hours for the sun to set. We just headed back down… It feels a little odd to talk about the “ride quality” of a cable car, but… it was an incredibly smooth ride. And no noise at all…
After coming down, I also stopped by the Daiso attached next to Lawson Mart. Bought a coin purse… I can’t stand the jingling of coins in my pocket…
Back to the lodging… the one I booked through Airbnb.
In Japan, supermarkets start their sales at 5 p.m. After 6 there’s almost nothing left, so be careful. If, like me, you’re getting by on bentos and the like… rather than chasing the discounts, you’re better off just buying when stuff is actually in stock. In areas with lots of apartments or mansions nearby, the bentos sell out really early, so watch out.
In the end I paid 200 yen each, 400 yen total, to take the streetcar to a Lawson Mart in another area (the mart from yesterday…), bought some food, and headed back to the lodging.
It was fried chicken, and pretty tasty. The batter was thin and it looked like chicken breast.
Sushi and soba… a set.
You’d think the soba noodles would’ve gone soggy and mushy… but they hadn’t.
Rather than moving around on some set plan, I’m just picking maybe two spots a day to visit, wandering the area, taking it all in, eating street food, and going at it slowly. It’s a foreign country, but Japan is familiar enough that I’m getting around with both body and mind at ease.
Thank you.
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