to hokkaido and tokyo

[slipperss]

I visited Hokkaido and Tokyo during late may. My trip was 11 days - around 8 days in Hokkaido and 3 days in Tokyo. I would like to share my pictures and experiences here because I visited this forum quite a lot for help in planning my itinerary, so i hope my thread can help others too!

Here is the basic outline of my trip. (The detailed posting can be viewed in my blog)
Day 1 - Singapore to Narita, took a domestic flight to New Chitose, Rera Outlet, Sapporo.
Day 2 - Day trip to Otaru, Back to Sapporo - Susukino, Ramen Village
Day 3 - Sapporo to Asahikawa, took bus to Asahiyama Zoo
Day 4 - Drive to Furano, Kami-furano, Biei
Day 5 - Drive to Yubetsu
Day 6 - Asahikawa to Abashiri, Nonkey (Higashimokoto) Farm, rental car from Abashiri to Shiretoko
Day 7 - Shiretoko 5 lakes, Shiretoko Pass, Rausu, Kushiro
Day 8 - Kushiro MOO, Kushiro Airport, Arrive at Haneda Airport, Ueno Park
Day 9 - Skytree, Shibuya, Harajuku
Day 10 - Tsukiji, Nippori Textile town, Ginza, Yurakucho
Day 11 - Narita to Singapore

It was an enjoyable experience, I would say, and rather fulfilling also. If I could, there were a few places I would like to change. It would be good to check out the period of flower blooming because some places (i.e. Biei) were so sparse and thus we almost made a wasted trip there, thankfully for the slightly spoilt GPS which brought us there in Day 4, saving us from going there in Day 5. Hence, we made an impromptu trip to Yubetsu in Day 5. Some other places were also impromptu, mostly sourced from brochures picked up at hotels and JR station. The brochures were also very useful for they promote places which were less travelled by foreign tourists, making it a more unique and tailored experience.

It was also a good choice to choose to drive, because most of the places are not very accessible by public transport. Having a car saves you the trouble from checking the timings of the bus and trains and gives you a lot of flexibility. I would recommend Nippon car rental, for the service they provided was really good - from the readiness to receive us, the free map code guide book, and the free shuttle service from their kushiro airport rental car outlet to the kushiro airport itself.

Some important websites that were useful in my planning:

For JR train timetable: HyperDia |
For Food choices: ???? - ???????????????????
For Rental car: Japan Online Car Rental
For Map codes*: 地図検索ならMapion

*Map codes are numbers to key in to the GPS system which will direct you to your destination. One can also use telephone numbers too.

Day 1

Went to grab some Macs at Narita Airport before getting on to our domestic flight.

We tried the tonkatsu burger, which was not bad!

While waiting for our plane

 

[twtan14]

For Biei, the ideal period to visit would be July onward. I visited it in late May and there were hardly any flowers except the tulips, muscari and pansies. Even the famous trees there were still botak.

 

[slipperss]

For Biei, the ideal period to visit would be July onward. I visited it in late May and there were hardly any flowers except the tulips, muscari and pansies. Even the famous trees there were still botak.

the entire fields were so empty and dry! late may seems to be the period for tulips

 

[slipperss]

After touching down at New chitose airport, we took a free shuttle service to the nearby Rera outlet mall.

There wasn't much cheap deals though..

Grabbed some takoyaki at the food court.

Then we headed to Sapporo. It took us around 20 mins from JR minami-chitose to Sapporo via the rapid airport train.

It wasn't quite cold when we first touched down. But when the sky turns dark, which was when we reached Sapporo, it suddenly turned very cold. And it didn't help when it was raining.

We stayed at Hotel Keihan, a rather good hotel chain. The hotel was newly renovated, as such, rooms were clean. We went down for a meal after that, at this nearby ramen stall operated only by one man.

 

[JetFixation]

Did you end up buying anything at the Rera outlet? I considered visiting but ended up going to a Salmon farm which was I felt was pretty interesting.
I actually managed to find something nice at the outlets at Odaiba years ago but since then outlet shopping as been very uneventful in general.


Also - I've not tried McD in Japan but out of curiosity how is the Filet o fish compared to Singapore?

 

[slipperss]

The ramen stall is owned by single handedly by one man, who takes the order, washes the bowl, cook and clear up. His ramen was quite good too!

The gyoza was oozing with soup!

This was somewhere near JR Sapporo station

Then we were hungry and went to hunt for some desserts. We saw St.Marc Cafe, which have a branch in Vivocity too.

We randomly ordered one dessert. It was wayyyy too sweet though, but the pastry was good. It was somewhat similar to Tiong Bahru Bakery Kouign Amann.

 

[slipperss]

Did you end up buying anything at the Rera outlet? I considered visiting but ended up going to a Salmon farm which was I felt was pretty interesting.
I actually managed to find something nice at the outlets at Odaiba years ago but since then outlet shopping as been very uneventful in general.


Also - I've not tried McD in Japan but out of curiosity how is the Filet o fish compared to Singapore?

I bought some clothes at Rera.. but not much. I would think the salmon farm would be a better choice as the outlet wasn't exactly cheap.

It tasted quite good, probably because of our hunger!

 

[slipperss]

Day 2

Morning sun in Sapporo!

They even provide reading glasses at the ticket counter!

Oyako don from Nakau. Tasted pretty good to me, probably I'm a little biased towards Japanese rice.

Morning set. It comes with a raw egg, bowl of rice, and stew. Mix the raw egg into the rice and match it with the hot, and full of ingredients stew for a hearty breakfast.

 

[gundamhamtaro]

Also - I've not tried McD in Japan but out of curiosity how is the Filet o fish compared to Singapore?

You should try! However not the usual menu items which are in McD all over the world; try those JP only menu stuff. Most of the time jp Mcd will have some kind of limited period special item on sale. The Filet O Fish is just normal, like what you have in SG, the fries too.

 

[tokyofanboi]

try their kfc too, love them, it just taste different

 

[gundamhamtaro]

Yeah the chicken is almost always hot and juicy, and the taste of their chicken strip (colonel crispy) is completely different! I love the batter that they use for the strip

 

[slipperss]

Headed towards otaru! It only takes about 30 mins to Otaru - great for a day trip.

 

[slipperss]

We were greeted with a bright blue sky at Otaru. The weather was really good, cool and not too cold. A jacket will suffice.

There is a board showing the map of Otaru, and also different pathways one can choose to tread. There is the short path, for time constraint people, long and even longer path.

Then we passed by this old tracks, where many people were taking photos because of the apparent cherry blossom, which wasn't.

A closer look on the pink flowers.

 

[slipperss]

We decided to head left,in the direction facing the sea and was in search for lunch.

We walked for quite a distance, until we saw this cafe - Press Cafe. Noting the prices first, we realised it was quite reasonable, around 890 yen for a set meal that comes with a main, coffee, salad and a dessert.

A rather interesting and old-school theme cafe. A good place to relax and get away from the cold, while enjoying the calm and peaceful ambience.

 

[slipperss]

You should try! However not the usual menu items which are in McD all over the world; try those JP only menu stuff. Most of the time jp Mcd will have some kind of limited period special item on sale. The Filet O Fish is just normal, like what you have in SG, the fries too.

I tried their special item prepared for the world cup there too. It is quite unique and the meat seemed more authentic than what we have here.

 

[gundamhamtaro]

I tried their special item prepared for the world cup there too. It is quite unique and the meat seemed more authentic than what we have here.

Great!! Which country did you try? Personally France wins hands down for me lol. I had great expectations for Germany but the mushroom sauce was too little and disappointing. France on the other hand completely exceeded all my expectations lol

https://dragoncapypara.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/img-20140618-wa0003.jpg
https://dragoncapypara.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/img00030.jpg

Yum yum

 

[slipperss]

We ordered the keema curry set, which tasted quite different from the normal japanese curry. It was delicious in its own way.

It also came with a salad and a coffee.

And not forgetting a slice of cheese cake

It was a nice cafe, unique in its own manner. And not forgetting the cheap lunch set.