In lieu of a trip home, or anywhere for that matter, this winter, we decided to take ourselves up to Sapporo for two days last weekend to do some Christmas shopping. Unfortunately, Japan doesn't offer the equivalent of Ryanair or Easyjet, so short, cheap trips overseas are out of the question. Even flying down to Tokyo, the cheapest airfare you could get would cost about 230 euros return. Travel in Japan is ridiculously expensive - and they wonder why they can't attract more overseas' visitors.
Anyway, the three of us hightailed it off to Hokkaido's big smoke - about as glamourous as it gets in these parts. We splashed out on the hotel and stayed in the JR Tower Nikko Hotel, reputedly one of Sapporo's best (I am, given my drunken, 'damn-slept-in-the-park-again' escapades of my previous JET years, in no position to make comparisons). We took Dad to the observation deck when he visited and he may recall that it is directly over Sapporo Eki, the city's main train station.
For Cian 'Choo-Choo' Gaynor, this was train-spotting heaven. Not only were we beside the station, but our room directly overlooked the railway lines, so he spent most of the evening and the following morning excitedly pointing out every single train that came in and out of the station. It was only by taking the boy for a ride on an actual train that we managed to get him to leave the room at all.
For Cian, Sapporo is now synonymous with our room in the JR Tower, so from now on, any time we visit the city we will have to acquiesce to his very expensive demands and stay at the hotel. (Though I reckon Sanae won't complain too much the way she devoured, sorry, enjoyed the buffet breakfast on Monday morning. It was only by taking her shopping that I managed to get her to leave the restaurant).
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