We had a nice chill Sunday in Sapporo. We kept it simple and paid for the breakfast buffet in the hotel lobby. A friend of a friend was coincidentally also in Sapporo and she speaks Japanese fluently so she was able to find us and book us an all day onsen experience that included lunch and a massage at a hotel called The Grand Blissen Hotel. From where we’re staying in Sapporo it was roughly an hour bus ride but that went pretty smoothly for us, no complaints.

Today is the start of the Sapporo Snow Festival which we did in fact plan the timing of this trip around. It lasts a week and features tons of snow sculptures in a park spanning several blocks. The Sapporo TV tower is also in the path of the festival, which you can go into and do some shopping or ride the elevator to the observatory. It’s pretty funny that they have a cartoon character mascot for the TV tower and each level of the staircase features him in different scenes and “did you know?

Our cab ride back to Sapporo was about 2 hours from Niseko and all went off without a hitch. We’re staying at the Tokyu Stay Sapporo which for better or for worse is back to the small, utilitarian city hotel room. What it lacks in roominess or luxury it makes up for in practicality and location – we were able to leave the hotel, turn a corner, and be in a main mall drag.

To get from Tokyo to Niseko we flew to Sapporo and then took a chartered cab the 2 or so hours drive. Flying domestically in Japan was pretty painless although it was a long day of taking the JR to the Skyliner to get to the airport, then actually flying, then doing the drive. You can take the Shinkansen but as I understand it it’s a pretty long train ride.

Monday was our final day in Tokyo. For breakfast, we went to Cafe 1886 which is actually the lobby cafe for a local Bosch office. It was funny because I thought it was just a themed cafe for a while. They’ve got Bosch products on display and the order number stands were machining prototype blocks. While it’s pretty funny to eat a random company cafe on vacation, the food and coffee were actually pretty good.

For breakfast on Sunday we went to White Glass in an effort to try out as many local cafes as possible. I forgot my phone for pictures but I thought the coffee was decent and the fruity crumbly cake was good. It seems like in Japan sweets are typically less sweet and more mild than in the US. We headed over to Yoyogi Park which is an awesome place to walk around.

Today we got up to get breakfast and coffee at Hoshino Coffee which is a chain in Japan. I got a breakfast sandwich and a coffee. Look at this tiny milk pitcher!! Our main plan for the day was Teamlab Planets Tokyo. This is an art exhibit slash sensory experience. Sort of between a normal art museum, Museum of Ice Cream style Instagram photo ops and something like Meow Wolf. For Teamlab Planets specifically you take your shoes off and walk through this maze of sorts with different rooms that have their own sensory experience and story.

Ohayo from Japan! I am super stoked to be in Japan for a few weeks for my first trip abroad since COVID happened. It’s my first time in Asia and Japan so I’ve got a lot to experience in a short time. My boyfriend has been to Japan a few times and he loves it here so we knew when COVID restrictions were lifted this would be one of the first places we’d want to go.