The Chocolate Factory

For our last stop in Sapporo Matt and I traveled to Ishiya Chocolate Factory where the famous Shiroi Koibito is produced. The Shiroi Koibito is a langue de chat (French for cat tongue) which is two butter cookies with a layer of chocolate to cement them together. The Shiroi Koibito are differentiated from other langue de chat by using white chocolate, and the name in Japanese means "white beloved one."

The Shiroi Koibito is made on location, and Matt and I could smell the chocolate before the large building came into view. From the exterior all you can see is a large brick building with an imposing wrought iron gate. Once inside, however, there are multiple European-style buildings surrounding a garden.

We paid around six dollars to walk through the museum. The entrance fee included an English translation to the exhibits and one Shiroi Koibito each! Yum! We walked through a chocolate box display, a hot chocolate cafe, a diorama of historical Chocolate production in Europe, and finally windows overlooking the factory floor.

While the museum was interesting enough, my favorite part of the location was the rose garden in the courtyard. This was free to tour, and I believe I spent more time looking at roses than chocolate. Each variety had its name and country of origin labeled in English. Surrounded by roses in full bloom and clock towers I felt like I was in a European fairy tale despite being on the exact opposite side of the globe.

The Sapporo Tower

The Sapporo TV tower was designed in 1957 by Tachu Naito, the same architect of the Tokyo tower. It stands on one side of Odori Park in the center of the city. We took the stairs to reach the third floor where we hopped on a glass elevator to the observation room. All along the stairway were posters with Tawakkie, the cartoon mascot of the tower. There were comic strips of Tawakkie eating a hot dog at the Statue of Liberty and a baguette at the Eiffel Tower, but the children in Sapporo were crying with no TV tower so he returned. The entire tower family of Tawakkie greeted us in English!

The observation floor was a simple room with huge windows and stunning views. The sun was already beginning to set by 4pm, and with all the sunlight streaming in the room grew very warm. We only stayed long enough for Matt to snap some shots of the city before we descended in the elevator to explore more of Odori Park. 

We found the theater!

The Sapporo Overview

For our third anniversary Matt insisted we travel to Sapporo, Japan. He selected a hotel overlooking the Toyohira River and a short walk from the subway system. I booked the flights while he was training in a foreign country, and waited anxiously for him to return so we could begin our trip! And waited...and waited... Matt's return was delayed by several days and we cut it close. He got home only 36 hours before our flight left for Sapporo. He had no time to unpack his gear before we were on our way!

Sapporo is the largest city of the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido and the site of the 1976 winter olympics. It is surrounded by mountains, and a popular location for skiing. We planned our trip for before the snow started falling. We had to take two different flights with a layover in Tokyo as well as a half hour train ride into the city center, so we arrived after dark with no time or energy to sight-see the first night. We woke up the next morning delighted to see trees changing color! I finally got to experience autumn! I drank hot coffee in the crisp morning and wore sweaters and boots. I really enjoyed the change in temperature from Okinawa which is still in the balmy 80's every day. Matt figured out the subway system so we got to explore different parts of the city.

My necessary hot beverage!

I found colorful trees!

Odori Park

A whole restaurant devoted to pancakes! Breakfast food for lunch!!!

Matt's savory pancakes with "Mint" stamped on one.

We toured a chocolate factory!

My favorite part of the whole trip had to be Matt's gift: tickets to see Phantom of the Opera! It is my most loved musical, and I was afraid while living overseas I would not have any musicals in my life. The lyrics were in Japanese, but since I have every word memorized already I did not miss any of the plot. While the props and special effects were the same, the theater itself sat much fewer people than the theaters in the states. The theater was probably the same size of my high school auditorium. I had more leg room and felt so close to the action!

I had a wonderful trip to Sapporo with my husband of three years. More blog posts to come with descriptions of some more sites of Sapporo!

The Breakfast for Lunch

When new friends ask for my hobbies while living in Okinawa, I have to admit my favorite activity is eating out. The food in Okinawa is fresh and different, and tiny cafes can be found around every street corner. I love seeking out a new cafe and trying new food. However, Matt has been gone to foreign lands with work and only recently returned. Without Matt I usually stick to restaurants within my comfort zone, and as a result I had not explored any new eateries for several weeks. I am so glad my friend Victoria got me out of the house and invited me to a pedicure and lunch on the Sunabe seawall. 

Masterpieces as always!

After I had flowers painted on my toes by the artists at Cocok's, Victoria took me to the family-owned Seaside Terrace. They serve breakfast all day! Breakfast foods are a very Western concept, so finding a place that serves a traditional breakfast spread is very rare and exciting. 

Our cafe latte designs!

I ordered french toast with bananas and chocolate AND eggs scrambled with cheese AND sausage AND hash browns AND a cafe latte. I was really excited about breakfast food, can you tell? Thanks Victoria for helping me with my favorite Okinawa hobby: eating!