Exploring My Favorite City in Japan | Sapporo, Hokkaido

Exploring My Favorite City in Japan | Sapporo, Hokkaido

[Music] oh [Music] greetings from sabaru the capital of Hokkaido Island in Japan and it’s the fifth largest city in Japan and also the youngest major City in Japan back in 1857 the population was only seven people and now it’s 1.9 million so it became so famous back in um 1972 when they held the Olympic Winters uh here in this particular Park it’s called odori Park and earlier I was uh all the way down there it’s really big Park uh and the this Major Street actually separates the city north and south so I am actually in the Heart of the City and my um hotel is about 10 minute walk from from here so I got here yesterday around late at night around 9:00 p.m. and today is actually my second day and this site happens to be the first site to to explore since I am not into major cities and towns I like to explore the uh small villages and towns I not uh planning to do a lot of filming in the actual major city so most likely my second my next videos will be uh about uh remote areas here in Hokkaido so I took the uh um the flight I actually flew into saaru yesterday as opposed to taking the Shen Canen train and left from sandai so I was based in sandai prior to my Hokkaido visit and the flight actually cost me only $80 us only I made a mistake in my previous video I said $100 is actually $80 us that includes luggage and uh seat selection as well on Japanese uh with Japanese Airline Japan Airlines I should say and the the shanson train is actually more expensive than U than uh flying the shansen train is the bullet train is very fast train but it takes about 6 hours from uh saai because they don’t have direct train that goes all the way to Subaru I have to uh stop in another city and then I have to wait and transfer so it’s it’s not convenient and it cost about 1508 us so I said I will just uh fly even though I prefer trains because when you take a train you don’t have to go through the um the security checkpoint and uh and go to the airport and then dealing with how to get from the airport to the city and all that kind of stuff which is true when I flew yesterday the um uh sabaru airport is kind of uh very far from the from the city itself it’s about an hour train journey and uh this building seems to be very beautiful I’m not sure what uh what this building is all about it’s in Japanese uh oh there is it says admission free okay admission free but I don’t know what that building is all about I don’t know it’s maybe it’s a museum but as I said uh today is uh it’s just uh doing random exploring and I started actually my uh my day right there from the beginning of the uh of the park there is a very beautiful Tower right there I went all the way up and I paid about 1,000 yen to get a view of the of the this beautiful Park but I did not uh uh film that part because that part of the park because it’s very very very crowded with so many people with so many families and kids and I said it may not be appropriate to walk and film um walk and film people may not be good for privacy reasons uh they may not be comfortable seeing somebody holding a camera and do the walk and talk so I said okay we will do the filming in another part of the park where I see no people and this section happens to be uh perfect for that let’s uh go inside this building and see what’s inside and they don’t they don’t have any uh any sign for no cameras um I guess I am allowed to go and film it says former court of appeals okay is is it a court room but uh there is another what backyard in the back that might be oh this is this is closed [Music] it’s a museum but the location of the museum is so beautiful it gives you access to to the view of this park right there [Music] see it turned out that it’s a museum and it’s free but everything is in Japanese I did not understand a word and it’s a almost a hustle to to use Google Translates all the time and and uh there is a backyard right there I just want to check it out before I continue my walk toward the uh the tower the big tower over there hopefully the crowd that I saw earlier might be uh gone by now but for some reason I like this uh building it’s really quite um quite environment as opposed to that uh area and I don’t want to go back to my hotel area before at least filming some parts of that beautiful park it will be a shame not to to do that and the the area that I am staying in is called suzu Kino which is very very uh beautiful night District at night uh it’s really really happening a lot of uh restaurants and bars and and a lot of options if you are into night life so let’s walk down the the park all the way to get to that beautiful Tower see I like this sound tat toot tatat toot I don’t know why they have that sound all over uh Japan when you Ross the uh the street the major Street you wait for the green light and then when it turns green that’s how it sounds but it’s really nice I uh I love it so I’m walking now toward that uh to uh Tower as I mentioned before and I hope people already uh left that area because there was some kind of uh an event with the loud music and that’s one of the reasons why I got turned off and I did not want to film earlier but as I am uh walking toward that direction and um if you are traveling to Japan in the future there is something called I see card something that looks similar to this one like the one I am holding right now this is called pasmo passport the way it works is that uh you you buy this card and you wait for not you wait you put money on that card like for example um 1,000 yen or or 10,000 Yen let’s let’s wait for this traffic to turn on and then uh the the the light to turn on and then I will presume the subject all right now it’s green and the sound is back I will try to go to a little bit quiet area on that side so back to the IC card it looks like it looks like this one and there is another one called SOA card I got this one about a month ago and unfortunately it’s not uh valid anymore because it’s only for 28 days and they currently have a shortage of uh of permanent IC cards because of the shortage of Chip something like that we are already in May 2024 and they still have that issue so now I have a problem when I go to take a train or Subways or buses I have to buy a ticket using the vending machine and the vending machines here are not that easy to use so uh every time I use the public transportation I have to buy a ticket but when this card was valid it was super easy I just tap the car on the machine the Turn Style machine at the train station and I go without having to worry about buying uh tickets separately but because I’ve been now in Japan for over a month so this card is no longer valid so I try to to renew it when I was in sundai I went to the to the gr the Japan Rail Railway company it’s called Jr East uh office the official we uh the official office in suai they told me that they currently have it only in Tokyo Airport I told them I’m not going to Tokyo I’m very far away from Tokyo is there a way to create some kind of uh an exception to the rule to renew it because I’ve been in Japan for over a month now and I am staying for over for another a month and a half so and my uh I’m not I’m not going to back to Tokyo I’m going to Hokkaido she said Unfortunately they don’t have any uh any alternative so in other words this um this card is useless now but I still have hope I am holding it now I kept it I did not throw it away I kept it because I have hope that maybe in the future maybe when I go to uh to Osaka probably or even here in Hokkaido I have not tried the Jr office their official office here cuz in every region they have a separate office and every region has separate rules separate rules and requirements that’s why I uh I kept it look at this view it’s really nice so I I kept the card with me even though it’s already expired hoping that uh one person will cooperate with me and will validate it will activate the card somehow and I am even willing to buy another one I told her is there a way to buy another one she said no they don’t sell it at all because of the uh shortage of uh chips and I can tell you that um it’s a a Hustle to to buy tickets separately every time you hop on a bus or a train or a Subway but uh the majority of people who visit Japan they go they arrive in Tokyo and they buy this car the temporary one this one from Tokyo Airport and almost 99.9% of visitors tourists who visit Japan they stay they don’t stay more than more than a month that’s why they keep those cards valid for only 28 days because they know that the majority of people don’t stay longer than a month on one visit so I am kind of an an outlier I don’t I am outside there uh the uh the majority of people VIs s so they have to create some kind of rules for people such as me who who are staying longterm all right see earlier there was some kind of a concert going on right there in the middle of uh over there so I’m glad that they uh they they left so my plan worked beautifully which I said okay I’m going to walk all the way to that beautiful building which turned out to be a museum and I’m going to start filming from there while waiting for these uh people to go home which uh actually worked out so they’re gone now since they are gone I’m just going to keep walking all the way to the end of the park because if you happen to be watching this uh video and you’re planning to visit sabaru most likely you will come to this park because it’s very famous Park it’s one of the top attractions to to visit [Music] so the uh the other area that I will I might walk and film if I have the energy is called susukino and susukino is where my hotel is and it’s located on that side right there and it’s about 10 minute uh 10 minute walk all the way that that that uh Direction and it’s really nice area for night life and I I found I found that actually I was not actually planning to to stay in that area I was just looking for a cheap hotel decent cheap hotel it’s three star hotel it’s very nice hotel for about $67 us has a nice uh actually a bigger size uh room than the the ones that I stayed at in other regions in Japan so far and uh what I noticed so far in Hokkaido region is that I do see a lot of uh foreign Travelers who do not look Japanese to me but when I was in uh maaji region I did not see any they were all Japanese tourists look at this landscape it’s really beautiful see as I am approaching the uh the tower up ahead the crowd keeps uh getting bigger and bigger yeah but it’s still less crowded than earlier so that museum that I went to had uh a cafe coffee shop inside so I got myself coffee there inside that museum that I have no idea what what it is all about is if everything is in Japanese so maybe after I do filming I’m going to go go Google it and see at least I get the name of that museum we just finished something called the Golden um week in Japan where where the local people have a a holiday every year around this time and they call it the golden week so it’s over now but still I see a lot of people out and about I have no idea what he’s saying but I think it’s part of uh campaign or something like that they have uh maybe an election coming up and they are struggling with their yen currency their yen currency is uh getting weaker by the day not sure what’s happening but it’s good news for me good news for everybody anybody who’s using the US dollar because when you convert it into Yen you get a really good deal but as of today actually um it went down to 152 or 153 from 160 so $1 us was 160 Yen about 10 days ago and now it’s actually getting stronger back to 152 all right I’m getting closer to the to the tower right there it’s called the TV Tower and you get a really nice view of the uh of the park behind me right there from uh up above but the problem is if you’re suffering from vertigo or some kind of motion sickness you got to be very careful because the elevator when it goes uh up you might uh suffer a little bit uh vertigo it reminds me of the eel Tower in Paris where when I took the elevator I just closed my eyes I did not look at the uh what’s uh down there as it went all the way up and I use the same technique today to avoid getting um sick because I suffer vertigo I have that issue I get uh dizzy and that’s why I don’t like to to travel uh using cruise I don’t like to be on a boat and also going up to a a big building like that using the elevator with the open uh windows that expose you to the that might expose you to that uh situation let’s go to the other side right there to capture better view yeah I switched to this side to get a a better view of the tower you might be able to see the elevator the elevator is in the uh in the middle goes all the way all the way up they’re right there just going to walk a little bit further just to give you a good sense of what uh you might come across if you do decide to visit this beautiful uh uh site [Music] [Music] and then next I’m going to go to uh I’m going to go to the area where my hotel is and that area is called susuk Kino and it goes I think let me find out without looking at Google Maps it goes this way which is really nice area that I would like to film I would like to film part of it because I’m done with uh with this place I filmed enough now time for susukino [Music] welcome to S enjoy you see this is a major Street too that takes me all the way to susukino a lot of uh shops along the way I walked down this street last night when I was looking for something to eat and I saw some kind of uh an indoor mall along the way that I you will see shortly see I am approaching that mall and look at look at it wow but I’m not here to go to the mall I’m here to walk all the way to susukino this is actually already part of susukino actually I already arrived but I want to give you um a quick uh view of the uh the hotel that I’m staying at so that you might you might consider it if you are visiting uh this this place because I really like the location of the uh of the hotel and it’s really nice good deal for 67 us and I booked it for one week and my plan is to stay for two weeks but they don’t have uh rooms available for for 2 weeks so I’m not sure what I’m going to do the week after after uh after that or even if I need to consider staying for another week in Hokkaido I have not decided yet we will see because the weather forecast shows a lot of rain coming in in the next few days see the hotel is right there that big building that you see right there it’s called an REI hotel or something like that REI and uh the main attraction of susukino region susukino District area is that building that is the entrance to the V very very famous street so as you can see I am just few minute walk from from where the fun stuff is happening at night so this place at night is full of uh lights and bars and restaurants and we will go walk and capture some uh some of it all right that is susukino susukino building right there I’m quite sure you saw this building somewhere on the internet if you uh did some kind of research about Subaru it’s like the Town Square area in New York similar to uh similar to it even through the and imagine uh imagine you staying in this area in a nice hotel for only $67 us but if you’re staying in New York Town School and you get a a hotel room at the same level like that one it will be minimum $500 per night so I just walked past uh some people who have uh an American accent they speak English with an American accent which is the first time I’ve heard that for a while because I have not seen any foreign Travelers in my uh in my last three weeks uh in uh in ISO region and myagi region you know after being in Japan for over a month so far the uh you might ask me how do I feel so far as far as St in Japan for over a month so far and I would tell you that the uh so far everything is perfect the only thing that I learned over the course of my one month stay is that if I do decide to to book a a hotel room I will always consider a lot large a big room size because the hotels the hotel rooms here in Japan are very very small I don’t even have space for my uh suitcase uh bag so that’s the only thing that I will do differently this the the other thing that that is a little bit uh annoying is the uh the lack of uh the the the language barriers is very difficult to communicate with people because the majority of people here don’t uh speak uh English all right let’s go let’s go this way and I am going to wrap up the video uh soon because I need to I need to get back to the hotel to do some uh some stuff the because of the time zone I am uh working with other people that are in the US so that their time zone is different so I have to go there before they go home I need to process something so the uh the language barrier in Japan is the the the the think that will uh bother you after a while you get tired to uh it might be okay for one month for one week two weeks but after a while if you rely all the time on Google translate and you get tired after a while so that’s what uh that’s what I observed so far what is this is this a shrine this is a beautiful Shrine right there so it will be nice if I keep um if I film this area at night because as I say it’s really beautiful uh beautiful area to to walk the entire uh district and I did not film the whole thing because the area is huge they have like uh they go by blocks so the block that I am in right now is the main one because of that um main building called suu suu Kino but I had uh dinner yesterday on the on the other Street parallel to that one to the one that I am in right now so uh you will uh you will see more of Hokkaido in the in the next videos so like I said today is just the the second my second day here in uh in Hokkaido and you will see more of this beautiful Island I got him you can adjust the settings to your preferences please touch okay to confirm your order pleas please insert money please wait the ticket is now print take your tickets and change [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] today is a rainy day and I decided to visit some uh indoor buildings and this is one of them is the clock tower of subu right there it’s historic from my understanding it’s a historic building and that clock on the top was actually shipped from um Boston the United States back in the late 1800s so uh I decided to walk to the train station sauro train station because there is an observation deck that will give me a nice view of the city and also the station itself is very nice station to visit since it’s raining it doesn’t make sense to uh to be outdoor exploring uh the uh exploring outside the building so let’s go to that station and uh and see how beautiful that building is ch [Music] [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] [Music] go [Music] [Music] the train stay is actually a a big shopping mall is huge and it’s easy to get lost uh but I am trying to go to the tower the observation deck right there and that’s where I am going it’s called Tower 38 right there let’s go unfortunately the rain is going to block The View 38 here we go this is the The View right there but it’s raining the lady ask me if uh if I am sure I want to go up because it’s raining and I may not like the The View I said sure since I’m already here I will uh do it plus it’s only 740 Yen so that’s uh about what uh $5 so it’s not a big uh big deal let’s keep walking and see what they have up there it’s actually better than the other one it’s called the TV tower this is actually higher than the other one and I kind of like the view right here the glass has no water no rain drops here is a cafeteria and a small shop souvenir shop since nobody in the restroom I said why not film it because it looks interesting to me wow this is the first time I’ve seen a restroom like this offers you this beautiful view while you do your stuff right here it’s really nice

Walking through the streets of Sapporo in Hokkaido, Japan.

✅ You might enjoy watching these videos:
✔️ The Historic Village of Hokkaido: https://youtu.be/b8lnjfAaM38
✔️ Exploring Mount Moiwa: https://youtu.be/nrGCirqsyNk

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✔️ 🇯🇵 My Japan Tavel Videos:
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#japan #sapporo #hokkaido