Ahh,what a trip it was. I planned for 7 days, and at first I thought it was too long, but now that I'm back home, it feels too short. Where did all that time go? I actually manage to see most of what I planned to, with one or two parks a little difficult to get to. For the most part, I've traveled to places where subways and streetcars are available, with the exception of Historical Village of Hokkaido, where I had to take subway and then change to the local bus service. I was awfully anxious about deciding whether or not I want to go, and anxious all the way to the night I flew. (A good indicator that my anxiety is going up again.)
It's more or less a close to perfect trip,but of course I screwed things up here and there. Since it's my first ever trip to Japan, my biggest mistake is not learning any Japanese, and I naively assumed that there'll be at least some english speaking locals around. Nope, barely anyone spoke english even in downtown Sapporo. Still, transportation is super easy, no talking needed, just need to use IC (prepaid) card to tap in and out just like Ez-link cards here in Singapore. Having to struggle to communicate when ordering every meal is a pain in the ass, but I did pick up a phrasebook, but I realised that there's no point. Even if I pronounced every word correctly, I won't understand what they'll be saying back to me, and that doesn't make things any better. Using google translate is a pretty poor idea, as meanings are lost in translations.
For this trip, I chose not to get any sim card/buy wifi to get around, instead, relying on an app that connects me to local free wifi,so my ability to use internet required apps are restricted to wherever I am at the moment. I packed 60000 yen to go, and ended up only spending ~27000 yen, for 6 days (7th day was going to airport for my noon flight). Budget hostel was ~2600 yen per night, breakfast included. Return ticket for my budget airline (Scoot) tickets was total of $663, including purchased luggage ($130), leaving the air tickets alone at $530, which is really cheap for a popular destination like Sapporo. Admittedly, because of the struggles to communicate when ordering food, I chose to buy most of my dinners from local convenient stores, and to be honest, they taste so good anyway. I had to spam onigiri every convenient store meal, because I felt like a single packed meal (don't know if I can still call it bento) isn't enough. Good job I have a 7/11 right next door to my hostel.
Day 1 was more or less orientation day, and luckily for me, it was around 6 - 8C, so it wasn't a straight plunge into the Hokkaido winter right away. Day 2 was raining almost the whole day, but with temperatures going up to 13C, which I appreciate, but by nightfall (sun sets ~4pm), temperatures were jumping down to ~-1C the next day, with already a thin coating of snow. Well, for the rest of the days there, it's just snowing and snowing until the Days 3 and 4 was more sightseeing as usual. Day 5 was a literal off day, I only left my hostel to look around for a good meal and that is about it, To be fair though, I was sure that I've already seen most of what I wanted to see. I only needed to wait for a clear sky to get up to Mt Moiwa. Day 6, finally the weather was forgiving and allowed me to get up to Mt Moiwa for an amazing panoramic view of the city (heard it was the 3rd best view in Japan). Meanwhile, I spent most of my time walking, trying to avoid taking transport as much as I can, mainly to experience to cold, and I can now say that I've lived through -6C and came back alive anyway. Unfortunately, if I remember correctly, I slipped hard on the 4th day there and hit my elbow joint and my waist. Needless to say, the remaining days I literally had to walk on thin ice on the pavements. I slipped again on the 6th day, but it didn't hurt as much as the first one.I checked my fitness watch app, and did 89km from when i left house in Singapore to and back home. Not bad at all, hopefully didn't gain any weight from all that eating.
As someone who loves to have a cozy room to retreat to at the end of each day, I can say I really loved the room I was placed in. It was a 6 bed mix dorm room, and I had the bed that had a window view of outside scenery, and my bed was right next to the heater, and MOST importantly, it had a curtain which gives some privacy. During my 7 nights, I've had people come and go, and I had 2 nights where I was completely alone in the room, and it was just amazing. First thing I woke up is always to gaze outside and watch the snow fall before going to freshen up and downstairs for breakfast. I find it strange that the hostel provided two bedsheets, one to line the bed and one to put below the duvet. I had to read the instruction given to me by the hostel staff, and then use google lens to translate the Japanese version just to make sure I'm not seeing things wrongly. Room is pretty small for a 6 bed dorm (but the individual bunk bed is bigger than any hostel I've ever stayed), so I ended up not doing any laundry because there's just no space to hang my laundry. I also forgot to bring a pair of slippers around, so ended up walking around the shared areas with my boots. Bought t-shirt and shorts to wear to sleep, and it works as I expected. Comfortable, with heating. A little cold in the common areas as there's no heating there, but otherwise there's no need to buy specific warm clothes just to wear to sleep.
It kinda of got a little boring traveling by myself, so I decided to join a Sapporo international group and we met up for a little walk around the Christmas Market. On my way to the airport, I met a Japanese man who spoke good english, and we chatted until we went our ways at the underground walkways, so it definitely made the trip a little more interesting. Also met a Japanese man while leaving my hostel, and we talked a bit and he gave me his business card. Simple things like this helps make the trip just so much more worthwhile going. Other than interacting with the hostel staff in english, I kept to myself when I'm up and about. Still, most locals are probably in school or working, so the photos I've taken always feels quiet and empty of people.
Now, more observations from me because I like people watching. I noticed that people (mostly females) are really petite there, to the point where they could fit into small spaces on transport that I thought won't be occupied, as well as using umbrella to hook onto the handgrip because it's a hassle to reach up all the way to the handgrip. Not sure if it's me, but females there tend to have higher pitched voices too. Also, most people have black or grey winter clothing, and it's like stepping into a sea of black when you get to crowded places. The service wherever I go is of course impeccable, as that's what Japan is famous for. A quite annoying feature is that their public toilets have tons of buttons that have no english, unfortunately, and some requires you to pull a metal bar behind the toilet (no, not like SG toilets where there's a lever next to the toilet bowl's water storage). Their cubicles are awfully small, it's just so tight to have to maneuver around. Speaking of toilets, their toilet paper is 1 ply. That's right, 1 PLY TOILET PAPER. I admit I'm too used to 2 ply paper, but their 1 ply paper feels flimsy. Unfortunately, I'm not a bidet user nor was it available anywhere. I guess if you're so used to winter weather, you could afford to wear a little less. I've been seeing ladies there wearing skirts and high socks and exposed legs at 0 to -3C temperatures. How they manage to keep warm boggles my mind. What also puzzlesd me is that people can walk with just sneakers, work shoes, heels on ice covered pavements like it's fine, while me, a walking boots wearer, felt like I had to tread carefully on iced covered paths. Only in downtown areas were the snow shoveled away before they turn into ice. On the observation decks at Mount Moiwa, I keep seeing schoolgirls with exposed legs too. They're kids, and they're taking selfies, while me, with gloves on, is freezing my fingers just hanging around (It was -7C at that moment).
Now, I don't enjoy eating most seafood and raw food, so I thought my options will be quite limited as Hokkaido is famous for seafood. Still, there's plenty of options, and I manage to eat at a few places and had stuff like katsu curry (SGD$8), Sapporo style ramen ($12 for normal bowl and $14 for big bowl), fried rice with gyoza ($8), some chicken cutlet set in a restaurant (12) and of course, convenient store meals. To be honest, there was so many places to eat, but avoided as many as possible as language barrier is a pain to deal with. Plus, the fast food restaurants do not, DO NOT, have any touch screen menus to order. I find it weird that their ramen stores has touch screen menu and payments, but fast food chains don't, but it is what it is. I did had Mos burger on my very first night though, and it's pretty good too. I gotta admit that their ramen feels pretty normal (tried their shoryu/soy sauce and miso broth), though their char siew (roasted pork) is way different from ours, but it's presented in slices and tastes as good as our char siew.
I definitely will be looking to go to Japan again, with hopefully some basic Japanese to get me around easier this time. I will not be turning to anime and manga to learn the language and become absorbed into the weeb culture. I don't think I've mentioned it before, but this is kind of stepping stone towards my goal of working overseas. It's not a long stay, but it helps me understand myself better when I'm immersed in a different culture from mine and how I respond to things I don't understand. That's why I think backpacking allows me to absorb more of the host country's culture than guided tours and holiday packages ever will.If I was nervous before flying to Japan, I was unusually emotional when I left Japan. Got a little teary sitting in my plane taxi onto the runway for takeoff, one of those moments where I just feel like staying a little longer, like the hardest part of leaving after a holiday is to say goodbye to the place despite only spending 7 days there. I guess I'm just feeling a little sentimental.
Mental tips for myself and for anyone else who wants to go for a winter holiday. Accomodations always have heating, no need to buy all those heattech or specific warm clothes for lounge wear. Get actually proper shoes with good tractions to handle walking on icy paths better. Learn some words of the local language at host country. Book early for better air ticket fares and accomodation prices. Browse through different kinds of accomodation and see what suits me (private accomodation is best, but a little expensive, so small sized dorms is ideal).
At the end of the day, all I wanted out of this trip was to get out of Singapore, do something new for a change instead of being a hikikomori, escape the heat and enjoy the winter wonderland, as well as understanding myself a little better in a different environment. I got all that, so it's as close to a perfect trip as an imperfect human like me could come up with.
