Hokkaido and Sapporo
After Tokyo, we went to Hokkaido island and activated our RailPass, using the Shinkansen bullet train that travels up to 350 km/h. There is also the Seikan Tunnel, which connects Hokkaido with Honshu island and is about 54 km long. It is the second deepest and second longest tunnel in the world.
We stayed in Sapporo, a city of 2 million people, which looks like it was built just a few days ago (all new buildings). For some reason, we noticed that a few more people stared at us (maybe there are not a lot of foreigners). The food was very good, especially the ramen, for which we had to wait in a long line, but it was worth it. The street food was also good. We wanted to go to the fish and crab market to eat seafood, but everything was closed on Thursday at 4 PM, even though it was supposed to be open until 5 PM.
The day before, we rented a car and drove to the lavender and flower fields, visited a canyon, and went to the popular Blue Pond lake. Our stay was in a beautiful traditional Ryokan, and the beds were super comfortable with tatami below. Each day, we got new traditional kimonos and slippers, and everything was great. We also noticed that each day we got a bunch of new stuff (toothbrushes, earpicks, soaps, kimonos, slippers, towels, etc.). Everything is packed in plastic, but there aren’t any trash bins in the streets. We carried our trash to the train station or the shopping mall. Very strange; it seems like they want to send a message that you should not produce waste, but on the other hand, they produce enormous plastic waste each day in every hotel room and shop. When you go to the bakery, they pack each piece you buy into a plastic bag. Every single earpick is packed in its own small plastic bag, as is every toothbrush that is delivered daily. The good thing is that everybody separates the waste, and they burn it, maybe using the heat to produce electricity.
We also visited the Daimaru shopping mall, filled with expensive branded goods. It seems like these items are not expensive at all for local people. We saw plenty of customers buying €7,000 leather bags and similar items. On the other hand, I checked the salaries, and they are not as high as in Switzerland, for example. However, we had a great café crema dessert that was even better than in Italy.
We liked how everything is organized. All workers are always dressed appropriately for the work they are doing, and everything is well-marked in traffic and on the streets. Warning signs for road work are everywhere, along with flashing lights. Road workers use red poles and flags to warn incoming drivers. There is no rush, just steady and constant work. A lot of respect is shown when a job is successfully finished (from hotel reception, ordering and finishing a meal, completing a purchase, after cleaning the train, at the entrance and exit from the metro—everywhere). In traffic, people are very polite. There is no rush or nervous reactions, not to mention road rage. Patience, respectfulness, kindness, and politeness are words that describe Japan. We liked it very much.
