Nagasaki’s diverse cuisine is regarded as one of the most unique in Japan. It offers plenty of interesting dishes, perhaps none more famous than this Chinese-Japanese noodle soup called champon.
A specialty of Fukuoka prefecture, motsunabe is a hot pot stew made with beef or pork offal. Innards like beef intestines and tripe are allowed to simmer in a soup base seasoned with soy sauce, garlic, and chili pepper. If you’re visiting Fukuoka and like offal, then you need to try this dish.
If you’re unfamiliar with the term, an izakaya is a type of gastropub in Japan. It’s the Japanese equivalent of an American bar (like Cheers) or an Irish pub. They’re informal and unpretentious establishments where office workers would go to loosen their ties and get a quick drink after work.
It’s interesting to learn that the Sapporo Snow Festival began as a one-day event way back in 1950 when six local high school students built six snow statues in Odori Park. Today, it’s become an annual event attracting over 2 million visitors every year.
Otaru is lovely. Spend a few hours there and you’ll understand its appeal. Unlike Sapporo which is a busy metropolis, Otaru is a small port city known for its well-preserved canal and heritage buildings.
This Historical Village of Hokkaido is an open-air museum on the outskirts of Sapporo. It features about 60 period structures spread out over an area of 54 hectares. All the buildings are from the Meiji and Taisho eras (mid-19th to early 20th century) and were recreated to reflect what pioneer life in Hokkaido was like.
When doing research for this trip, I saw many locals refer to Ramen Alley as a tourist trap, a place to steer clear from if you were serious about miso ramen. They warned of the ramen restaurants in downtown Sapporo that served them with sweet corn (gasp!). Sweet corn in ramen is for tourists they said, and something to avoid at all costs.
It’s funny, Snowmobile Land gets a little sexist when it comes to riding in pairs. For safety, they don’t allow women to ride together. In the event that a man and a woman share a snowmobile, only the man is allowed to drive. I know it’s because the steering on snowmobiles is a little heavy, but still. Try telling that to Xena.
Otaru is a small port town less than an hour away by train from Sapporo. It’s a lovely town known for its beautifully preserved canal, its wealth of dairy shops, and the freshest seafood. Some say that the best seafood in Hokkaido can be found right here in Otaru.
We visited Nijo Market a few days before and oysters there were priced at JPY 150-200 apiece. At Gotsubo? Just JPY 105 each for a minimum order of five. If that isn’t enticing enough, the owner throws in an extra oyster or two if he likes you. Just kidding. He does it for everyone.