Hokkaido

For my summer vacation, Hokkaido happened.  Hokkaido is the northernmost of the main islands in the Japanese archipelago, and it lived up to it's reputation amongst the Japanese people as the place to go for food.

For starters, I was lucky enough to go on this trip with a friend from college.  Thanks C.H. for coming all the way out to Korea!  When we arrived in Sapporo (like the beer), we didn't know any Japanese and we didn't have a place to stay.  Although Hokkaido is a very popular summer destination for travelers due to its temperate climate, we were fortunate to find it not too crowded.  We also soon realized that its popularity with tourists was in fact with nationals.  This fact became evident when not even our hotel spoke any English.

Inside of the city, there were several things to see, including a giant Panasonic clock styled like the Tokyo Tower and, of course, the Sapporo brewery.  We also toured a local sake factory.  The process is complicated!  We went to another old brewery that was converted into a mall, and we saw the Museum of Literature just off of Nakajima Park.

The city had a rich history, but lets be straight: this was a vacation for food.  Accordingly, as I prefer on my trips, there was non-stop eating.  Sushi all the time, some of the best shrimp I've ever had, crab legs, barbecue, grilled squid, okonomiyaki, street food, and mochi.  The pictures speak for themselves.

One of the best decisions we made was to take the train out of Sapporo and into the harbor town of Otaru.  From there, we took a ferry out and around the cape into a small town called Shukutsu.  It was a fantastic peek into the local culture (and flavor) of Hokkaido.  I want to live in this town when I'm old, fishing for squid and watching the fog roll in over the forest blanketed mountains.

Overall, a totally awesome summer break.  I think C had a great time in Korea too!  Open invitation to anyone who can get a ticket, as always...