Page 291 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide: Japan

HOKK AIDO  289

in the north and Noboribetsu
in the south. Summer weekends
and fall tend to be busy with
visitors from nearby Sapporo.
By Lake Shikotsu is the
popular hot-spring resort of
Shikotsu Kohan, as well as the
remarkable moss-covered
Kokenodomon gorge. The lake
is dominated to the north by
the rugged peak of Mount
Eniwa, and to the south by the
recumbent forms of Mount
Fuppushi and Mount Taru mae,
with its cinder cone. Neon lights in Sapporo’s busy Susukino district
Lake Toya, 40 km (25 miles) P Sapporo Beer
farther southwest, contains the with friendly staff to help with
picturesque group of islands planning and booking. The city Museum
known as Nakajima, made up gives its name to the famous Tel (011) 741-1876. Open Tue–Sun.
of the central island of Oshima local beer; its brewing is shown P Botanical Gardens
and three smaller satellite at the Sapporo Beer Garden 10-min walk SW of stn. Tel (011) 591-
islands. Nearby stands Japan’s and Museum northeast of the 0090. Open end Apr–early Nov:
youngest volcano, the bare- station. Night life is focused on Tue–Sun. &
sloped Showa Shinzan (formed the Susukino area, two stops P Sapporo Art Park
1943–5), beside the extremely south of the station on the Open daily. Closed Nov 4–
active Mount Usu. Nanboku sub way line, with Apr 28: Mon.
The mountains in the park thousands of restaurants and
make for rewarding day hiking; bars. Local specialties include Environs
trails are well defined, and the “Genghis Khan” – mutton and Lying 14 km (9 miles) east of
views from the tops of Eniwa vegetables grilled at the table the city, the Historical Village
and Tarumae are superb. on a charcoal-fired griddle. of Hokkaido commemorates
A large collection of Ainu the official settlement of
artifacts is displayed at the the island in the 1860s. This
5 Sapporo Exhibition Room of Northern cluster of late 19th- and early
Peoples in the Botanical
Sapporo 20th-century buil dings has
Gardens. The gardens them- been gathered from around
* 1,930,000. k Shin-Chitose, selves are a refreshingly quiet Hokkaido. Some have displays
Okadama. £ n Sapporo spot, with a representa tive of traditional life inside.
International Communication Plaza, collection of Hokkaido’s flora.
opposite Sapporo Clock Tower (011) The large-scale outdoor sculp- E Historical Village of
211-3678. _ Snow Festival (1st tures at the Sapporo Art Park Hokkaido
week in Feb); Hokkaido Shrine Festival
(Jun 14–16); Summer Festival (Jul 21– make for an interesting hands- Tel (011) 898-2692. Open Tue–Sun.
Aug 20); Bon Odori (mid-Aug). on excursion. & ∑ kaitaku.or.jp
∑ plaza-sapporo.or.jp/english/
access_e.html Sapporo Snow Festival
Capital of Hokkaido, the modern The annual Snow Festival (Yuki Matsuri) transforms Sapporo’s Odori
city of Sapporo lies on the Park, the nearby Susukino area, and the Tsudome site into a fairy tale
Ishikari plain, strad dling the land of snow sculptures and ice carvings, drawing up to two million
Toyohira River. Four subway visitors. Watching the making of these imaginative and complex
lines, street cars, and a well laid- forms (from about a week before the start of the
out grid structure make getting festival) can be even more inter esting than
around fairly straightforward. At seeing the finished objects.
Sapporo’s heart lies the long The festival overlaps with
the Sapporo White Illumin-
Odori Park, dominated at the ation: (mid-November to
east end by the metal television mid-March depending
tower and at the west by a view on the location)
to the mountains. One block when strings of
north, opposite the his toric white lights adorn
wooden Tokei-dai clocktower, Odori Park, Ekimae-
is the Sapporo International dori, and Minami
Communi cation Plaza, an 1-Jo-dori. A night One of the elaborate snow carvings at Sapporo’s
essential stop for information visit is magical. Snow Festival
on travel all over Hokkaido,

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